A finance career built by widening the question

Mandate

Make the financial consequences of research subscriptions, commitments and portfolio decisions intelligible

Outcomes

• Kept subscription receipts distinct from service revenue and remaining obligations
• Compared data-licence terms through actual commitments rather than annualised price alone
• Separated avoidable costs from continuing allocations in a research-line decision
• Corrected a recurring-demand measure while preserving valid commissioned-study sales

Decisions in context

I became CFO in February 2020 and report to Rohan. Thirty-one finance colleagues work through four managers within ₹4.6 crore FY 2026–27 function expense and a separate ₹80 lakh capital programme. Qevmori has 460 employees, 57 institutional clients and ₹186 crore FY 26 revenue. Anita retains research leadership, and I have no personal ownership allocation or statutory directorship. The cases concern what the company's numbers mean for decisions: service still owed after an upfront receipt, the term behind a supplier discount, the costs closure would actually remove, currency assumptions and the evidence for recurring demand. I attend board discussions to explain those matters without claiming director authority. The role requires finance to correct its own labels when they invite a stronger conclusion than the record supports, while keeping valid commercial achievements visible. It does not make the finance function the author of research conclusions or a provider of personal investment recommendations.

Reason for the move

Continuing finance leadership while preparing for a first external board role

Mandate

Connect portfolio reporting with the resources and obligations affected by management choices

Outcomes

• Developed financial comparisons for research portfolio decisions
• Examined which costs could change under closure or continuation
• Connected supplier terms with the timing of research and customer commitments

Decisions in context

The head-of-finance role began in June 2013. Qevmori employed 260 people and recorded ₹93 crore FY 2014 revenue. Nineteen finance colleagues worked through three managers within ₹2.1 crore annual expense, and I reported to the CFO. I became more involved in decisions about research lines and the resources they used. A common allocation could make a line look unattractive without describing what closure would change. At the same time, a positive contribution could be insufficient when another credible use of research capacity offered more value. I learned to show alternatives rather than defend a single reporting measure as the answer to every question. Supplier terms also became more important as the company bought data across periods that did not always match customer commitments. The appointment prepared me to connect financial reporting with the enterprise choices behind it, while leaving research quality and conclusions with their responsible leaders.

Reason for the move

Promoted to CFO

Mandate

Relate customer contracts and data-source obligations to the research business's financial account

Outcomes

• Distinguished subscription service from commissioned-study delivery
• Followed data commitments across operating and accounting periods
• Built finance explanations that preserved the scope of research leadership

Decisions in context

I joined Qevmori in September 2007 and moved to Surat. The business had 138 employees and ₹41 crore FY 2008 revenue. Eleven finance colleagues worked through two leads within ₹86 lakh annual expense, and I reported to the finance director. The move from publishing broadened the kinds of customer promise I needed to understand. Continuing research access differed from a commissioned study, and the data required to support either could be bought on a different timetable. I learned to read those relationships together before describing the apparent margin. Finance needed an account of the contract and the work without deciding what the research should conclude. The role taught me to ask the right owners for an explanation rather than translate every uncertainty into a financial assumption of my own. That discipline became important as the company expanded its portfolio and the number of institutional relationships it served.

Reason for the move

Promoted to head of finance

Mandate

Make the relationship between receipts, service periods and financial reporting clear to management

Outcomes

• Managed period reporting beyond individual accounts tasks
• Explained differences among receipts, commitments and earned service
• Developed supervisors capable of tracing a reported amount to its underlying event

Decisions in context

I became financial controller in April 2000. Tevqani employed 112 people and recorded ₹22 crore FY 2001 revenue. Nine finance colleagues worked through two supervisors within ₹58 lakh annual expense, and I reported to the finance director. The role required me to explain how a reporting period related to the work customers had purchased. A receipt could arrive before production or service was complete, and a familiar report heading could encourage managers to treat the two events as interchangeable. I learned that an accurate total needed an equally accurate explanation of its meaning. Leading supervisors also meant developing people who could trace an amount back to the underlying event rather than merely reproduce the previous month's format. I moved to research because I wanted to apply that discipline to a business with more varied contracts, data dependencies and institutional expectations.

Reason for the move

Moved into institutional financial research

Mandate

Maintain accounts support while learning the timing between subscription payments and delivery

Outcomes

• Traced customer receipts to the service periods they related to
• Supported accounts records under the finance manager's review
• Learned to distinguish an event from the interpretation attached to its report label

Decisions in context

I began at Tevqani in July 1993 after completing commerce that June. The company employed forty-four people and recorded ₹5.6 crore revenue for FY ending March 1994. I worked in a four-person accounts group under the finance manager, without reporting staff or spending authority. Subscription receipts and production schedules made the timing of a commercial relationship visible to me. Money could arrive while the company still had work to perform, and a completed task might belong to a payment received earlier. My role was supporting accounts, not choosing the company's reporting policy or controlling the production plan. I learned to take an uncertain item to the responsible reviewer and preserve the question rather than force it into a familiar category. That habit later helped me recognise when a precise figure was being used to answer a different question from the one its underlying record could support.

Reason for the move

Promoted to financial controller