Inspired by her father, himself a professional accountant, Malavika Vishwanath ACCA always had a clear vision of the career path she would follow.
Ironically, it was her unblinkered pursuit of that future that enabled her to diverge into a non-traditional accounting role, and has sustained her stoicism during the Covid pandemic – including the devastating current second wave in India, her home country.
‘It’s important to have an end goal, but building your entire career towards that goal is in my view too static, too restrictive,’ she explains. ‘As Covid-19 has shown, things can change in an instant. I focus on the shorter term – what is my one-year, two-year and three-year plan, and where will it take me? This is not just a promotion track, which I find a narrow way of looking at career progression; it’s more about the profile I want to build.’
'While audit is focused on analysing what has happened, consulting charts an improved future'
Standing out
Vishwanath, at just 26 a lead analyst at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in India's technology hub Bangalore, believes a robust resume is an essential foundation for a young professional. Wanting to distinguish herself to employers as an outstanding candidate, she first completed the ACCA Qualification in the Middle East, then returned to Bangalore to add an MBA to her professional toolkit.
Like many of her peers she started out at a Big Four firm, where she developed an interest in exploring different projects and clients. This led in turn to her MBA studies, then to PwC's consulting team and now BCG, where she works with clients on corporate finance and strategy transformations.
The big attraction
What appeals to Vishwanath about consulting is that it is about thinking forward. ‘While audit is focused on analysing what has happened – of course an important perspective – consulting charts out an improved future,’ she explains.
When mentoring students in her role as an ACCA advocate, Vishwanath advises anyone curious about consulting that they’ll need an enquiring mind and plenty of investigative skills.
‘It’s not just about understanding the numbers, but also about investigating the rationale behind the business decisions that led to those numbers,’ she explains. ‘You have to get to the root cause and fix it, in order to help the company in the future.’
Another nuance of consulting is the unstructured environment it demands. ‘You could have many different requirements from the client, many diverse stakeholders you need to manage, and large variances in terms of scope and type of project.
‘No two clients are the same. It is important to be flexible and quickly adapt according to the situation.’
CV
2019
Senior analyst, now lead analyst, BCG Advanced Capability Centre, Bangalore
2017
Management consultant, PwC US service delivery centre, Bangalore
2016
Summer intern, Deutsche Bank, Mumbai
2013
Senior associate, tax advisory, Deloitte Middle East, Oman
Advice for newly qualifieds
'Keep building your resume - it's a dynamic record of your skills and learning. If you’ve been doing the same thing in your current role, ask for something different. If you find a particular topic of interest – for example, digital finance – consider how your skills relate to that, and what you can do to bridge any gaps. It’s about building your profile with an array of different types of projects and skillsets. From that, career progression will come.’
'Play to your strengths. Give people confidence that you are a good person to work with and can get things done.’
'Adopt an active attitude to work. Take end-to-end ownership of whatever work you’re assigned. Actively plan your approach and what steps you need to take to get the project to success. Waiting for your manager to tell you what to do is not going to build your skillsets for the next level.’
'Be open in expressing your view. As a junior you’re closest to what’s happening on the ground, so your input is also valuable. There is no harm in having an opinion. You could be right, you could be wrong, but you need to kickstart that thinking process.’
Maximum exposure
To equip herself for her chosen field, Vishwanath decided early on that she wanted to build all-round skills, even when that meant challenging herself.
‘When I started at Deloitte, I tried to give myself exposure to different things,’ she explains. ‘Large accounting firms are flexible, so I’d ask to work on different projects so I could understand the different types of careers in finance and build my career aspirations accordingly.’ This gave her a grounding in tax, audit and internal audit – which she says is a bit like consulting in the sense that it helps you to understand the business of the client more deeply.
Qualifying with ACCA was also part of that strategy. ‘The ACCA Qualification is not just finance-focused; it provides perspective on a range of subjects, including business strategy and performance management,’ she says. ‘That forms a basis from which to explore many different roles.
The holistic learning and practical experience gained through ACCA continue to be valuable every day in her work at BCG, where she is engaged in helping transform and enhance the value impact of clients' finance functions.
‘ACCA emphasises the practical aspects, so the learnings are readily applicable in real work situations,’ she says.
Network benefits
Having worked from home for a significant time as a result of the pandemic, Vishwanath has particularly appreciated opportunities for learning and connecting offered by her local ACCA branch.
‘Especially during lockdown, the virtual coffee connects and other programmes run online by ACCA India provided me with a good support network,’ she says. ‘The number of webinars also increased, which was a great way to keep learning, especially in this remote work situation.
‘ACCA has done a lot for me, and being an advocate is my way of giving back,’ she concludes. 'I would like others to have an equally rich experience.'
About BCG
One of the Big Three consulting firms globally, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was a pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, with an annual turnover of US$8.6bn, it has 22,000 employees deployed in more than 50 countries, working with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders empowering organisations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage and drive positive societal impact.
