Regulatory environment is getting a lot stringent: Deloitte SA chairperson

'Deloitte will focus on building its advisory business in India'

SHEFALI GORADIA, chairperson, Deloitte South Asia, became the first woman to be elected as Chair of a Big Four firm in India when she took office on April 1. She joined Deloitte as partner six years ago after the firm acquired BMR Advisors. In the midst of an industry narrative on the pros and cons of splitting audit and consulting services, Goradia talks to Ruchika Chitravanshi about other things that’s on her priority list. Edited excerpts from the interview:

You have shattered the proverbial glass ceiling in rising to your current position.

I think this will open the floodgates to seeing more women in leadership roles. Normally at the entry-level, there are a lot of women, especially in accounting. When you reach the level of manager, many women start a family, many move to industry rather than being employed in a professional service firm. Early on in my career, I had the support of mentors who coached me well. They never really let me quit.

You have not spent that many years in Deloitte. Yet how has the transition been for you?

I started with Arthur Andersen in 1991. Then I went to a law firm. I was there for about 14 years. I joined BMR Advisors. From there, I came to Deloitte. I’ve been part of the Big Four kind of teams at different stages in my career. It has been very welcoming and embracing.

Do you have any brief for your current role? Any goals you may have set for yourself?

The chief role is going to be to look into partner matters, governance, oversight of the executive, and stewardship because that is what the board does. I will also play a very active role in the market. Every time I’ve changed organisations, I have built client relationships from scratch. And that is what I do best.

There is a lot of artificial intelligence in accounting. What does this mean for professionals and how is it changing the business?

I think there is always going to be a role for humans. We will have to be more nimble and adaptive to these newer technologies and be open to rescaling and upskilling. Humans will always have a job, and they will always have a role to play; the roles may keep changing as technology (tech) keeps evolving. Being a large organisation, we need to keep up with the changing tech. We are a tech-savvy organisation.

What are some of the challenges you see in the Indian market?

We have just come out of the pandemic phase where we have seen so much transformation in how we work and where we work from.

The challenge is that many of the old norms will fall by the wayside. So you have to be far more open to looking at how the next-generation wants to work. These days even clients are not in office. Does it make sense for professionals to be forced to work out of an office?

There has to be a lot more openness to new ways of delivering business solutions. The complexity of problems is only going to increase. The pandemic has made us realise that we can do a lot more, but differently.

What do you think of the regulatory environment in India?

It is getting stringent. There is a need to be more conscious and compliant. Most firms are putting in lots of internal checks and balances. The maturity level of the economy goes hand in hand with the regulators.

Any changes you would like to bring in Deloitte?

It has been less than a month for me in this new role and honestly, I see Deloitte as a firm that has been fairly ahead of its time. Globally, we are the No. 1 professional service firm.

Where does Deloitte India figure in the global scheme of things? 

It is gaining a lot more prominence. There is a lot more focus and traction on building our advisory business. But we remain a small part because of the larger scale Deloitte has globally.

Every fourth employee of Deloitte is in India. It is an important market, and it is a very high-growth one. India is a very important player in the Deloitte network. Earlier it was largely known as an audit and tax firm. Now, the other advisory areas, such as consulting and risk advisory, are all growing.

Deloitte will still be regarded highly in the audit and tax space, but we are trying to build a lot more in advisory.