Specialisation takes a student a notch higher, says Mayur Joshi, Pune-based forensic accountant

Mayur Joshi is one of the country’s first forensic accountants and certified fraud examiners. He was instrumental in introducing India to the world of fraud auditing. With eight books to his credit, he speaks to Hindustan Times about his journey into the world of investigating frauds and scams.

Tell us about your educational background.

I graduated with a B Com degree from Sir Parashurambhau (SP) College in 2000 and completed my chartered accountancy (CA) in 2003. As a college student, I was mostly average. I became more focussed with time.

When did you discover your goal and how?

While preparing for CA, I was also working in a company where I accidentally exposed an internal fraud. It excited me and I got interested in the field. At that time, there was hardly any scope for the field in India. So, I did a distance certification course from the Association of certified fraud examiners, US. I completed the course on September 11, 2001, the date of the 9/11 terrorist attack. In the midst of the chaos, I got thinking about the economical aspect of such a large-scale attack. I thought how the goal of the attack can be more than just spreading terror, it could also be for monetary gain. Having seen the oil, aviation and insurance stocks crash after the attack, I began to analyse how Bin Laden could have had a hidden monetary agenda of earning money. All this helped me dig deeper into the area of forensic accounting.

When did you start your company, Riskpro?

In March 2008, I started my company Riskpro, to provide management consulting and risk management services to diversified organisations and clients, by helping them deal with complex business challenges. We also provide educational and training services related to anti-money laundering (AML), fraud risk management (FRM) and anti bribery compliance.

How has your career journey been so far?

In 2009, the Satyam scam was exposed and it opened up huge opportunities for us, because suddenly people and the government started to recognise the importance of fraud auditors . It was a huge high when we were approached by the government to look into the investigation and were made part of the multi-disciplinary investigation committee. It was great when V V Lakshmi Narayana, (retired ADGP, Mumbai) who was part of the high-profile probe, recognised our work out in the open and. My lows are usually associated with the negative publicity. Also, you often form a natural critical outlook towards most of the incidents around you which has its consequences.

What are your future plans?

Spreading awareness about the field is on the cards. Also, we have plans of expansion across South-Asian countries.

Your message to the youth.

There is a lot of opportunity out there, if you want and have the courage to step out of the box and do something different. Education and your profession does not have to be one-track and run-ofthe-mill. For instance, because of the rising number of white collar crimes across the globe as well as in India, opportunities in Forensic accountancy is on the rise. It is indeed becoming the need of the hour. At the end of the day, specialisation always takes a student a notch higher than his or her competitors.