Growth is an inevitable part of our lives. While some growth processes are natural and effortless like age and natural body physique, for some we have to put in extra efforts. Emotional, social, professional, educational and economic or financial growth are some essential aspects that need devout attention and sometimes expert guidance.
As it is with the current way of living, financial growth is crucial. While we earn, we feel the need to financially secure our today as well as tomorrow when we will not be able to earn. This can be done with proper planning and goal setting. Since no two individuals have the same financial needs, it is better to plan under the guidance of experts like Dahotre & Dahotre Chartered Accountants (D&DCA).
The firm methodically studies the requirements of the client with respect to managing the business, raising finances, timely complying under various laws, supporting their future vision and helping them out of the way, to help them align with the market. They guide their clients to set Long Term Goals and to achieve those through Short Term Objectives.
For tracking the client’s financial growth D&DCA regularly provides them with Interim Reports in writing or orally wherever required along with inspiration and guidance. “We educate them via Weekly Newsletters drafted by our Knowledge and Development Committee to keep them up to date with current affairs. This helps us educate them just like a mother educates her son. We educate them how to set routine controls, internal control methods, Budgeting and variances to control costs, pricing policies of the products and educate them about the difference between Tax Saving and Tax Evasion,” explains the Founder duo of Abhaykumar Dahotre and Diwakar Dahotre.
“Our mission is to expand and continually improve utilizing quality practices and employee involvement in both the domestic and international markets that result in customer and employee satisfaction.”
The Company and its Services
In the late 1980s, the co-founders and brothers started practising as CA through their individual firm. In 2003, they finally got together to form the current partnership firm and named it as Dahotre & Dahotre, Chartered Accountants. In 2019, the brothers extended the firm and warmly welcomed their family members, CA. Veena Abhaykumar Dahotre and CA Varun Abhaykumar Dahotre as Associate Partners. The now strong team of over 50 people comprises of five key personnel:
- CA Varun Abhaykumar Dahotre (Associate Partner)
- CA Veena Abhaykumar Dahotre (Associate Partner)
- Mr. Pramod Limaye (Chief Business Development Officer)
- Mr. Pravin Kulkarni (Credit Management and Business Development Manager)
- Mr. Gaurav Deshmukh (Information Technology and Systems Manager)
D&DCA provides services in the fields of Accounts, Audit and Assurance, Direct Tax, Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other Indirect Taxes, Management Consultancy, Finances and Company Law. Door to door services, minimal waiting period and fast clearance of visitors, acting proactively by identifying needs of the client, applying latest technologies and systems, excellent services especially to those who were in distress, solving the socio-commercial issues of clients similar to their own family, has been the firm’s motto.
“We Cultivated the culture from being Person Driven to a Process Driven Firm and implemented Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and policies. We have defined a strong hierarchical organisation structure for relevant and appropriate authority and responsibility as per the Job descriptions for all positions,” Says CA Abhaykumar.
Upgraded Services with Latest Technology
Foreseeing the advent of technology, the office of Dahotre & Dahotre Chartered Accountants started the process of going paperless as early as in 2011-12. The firm now boasts of various industrial scanners and printers. They also use a customized ERP which handles all their business processes starting from Client’s Master Data to Invoicing and Task Management.
The systems and ERP provide the clients with automated task updates via various communication channels (WhatsApp, Message, E-mail) on a real-time basis keeping them updated, always. Compliance and accounting services are taken care of, by outsourced software. The firm has developed a Project Report software in-house and all the Project Financing related services are handled through it. “We currently operate on a thin client architecture along with VPN for those having a preference of work flexibility. We have a dedicated lease line for uninterrupted services,” adds CA Diwakar.
The firm understands the necessity of data being protected at all times. For this, it is equipped with Disaster Recovery Servers capable of handling over 100 plus team members even amidst crises and Backup Servers with multiple layers of protection which has enabled us to provide much faster and safer services even amidst the COVID crisis without a 0.01% data loss. It is also using Microsoft 365 ecosystem for its mail servers and Microsoft Teams for internal communication and meetings during COVID-19.
This combination has made D&DCA a stronger player to fight the present COVID situation with 95% of its team capacity flawlessly working from various locations in India and providing a much better client experience. Adopting technology early-on also helped the firm to cope up with the digitisation of tax returns/tax, saved lots of labour, time and brought perfection in submissions.
“From our point of view, there are two facets to this digitisation. One is that it has helped us to reduce human resources almost by 50% and thereby the HR challenges linked to it. Second is that lots of efforts were put on educating the human resource with the use of new techniques, software, machines and systems. A decade ago, all the filings and processing were done manually thereby increasing the probability of mistakes. Whether digitisation is a boon or a bane depends upon your style of working or organisational culture. If you are alert, systematic and tech-savvy then the digitisation will be enjoyable and effective,” shares CA Diwakar.
Managing Money and Tax During the Pandemic
The co-founders assert that the main thing which they have noticed in this changing dramatic scenario of a pandemic is that now one will only survive if one opts for digitisation/computerisation. A big challenge is that human resource and companies both must be equipped with the best quality infrastructure, internet facility, anti-virus software and continual training and awareness programmes. To sail these rough waters, the duo suggests the companies and individuals maintain the quality of work and take some learnings from the present situation and plan future events. They need to be more disciplined when it comes to financial management and build and maintain a back-up plan. The members of a company should act as each other’s support system and the leaders should boost the morale of their resources.
To handle the constrained cash flow during this period, their suggestion is to first survive this pandemic by lowering down unnecessary costs and thrive until the market outlook changes.
“We will always suggest keeping a simple formula in mind for effective Financial Management (Provisioning + Reserves = When Times are Good). Break down all annual costs (includes taxes) into monthly costs and further into daily costs and make a daily provision of these costs,” explains CA Abhaykumar.
They also suggest educating human resource, vendors and customers for reorganisation and changes happening within the organisation. Educating the stakeholders is the best medicine to sail through this pandemic. Redraft credit policies with vendors and the customers and wage policy with the human resource for the survival of all three pillars of the business. Take the bankers into confidence and exploit the government’s Covid packages for survival. Consider Keyman Insurance Policies for Safety of Key Personnel. Last but not least as Ratan Tata said: “This year is about Survival and not about making profits.”
In the years to come, Dahotre & Dahotre Chartered Accountants are looking forward to upgrading the company to the international standards and expanding to new verticals like International Taxation, Business Process Management, Internal Audits, Information System Audits. They are also considering to open branches to serve better locally, develop fullfledged IT department within the organisation and circulate a monthly magazine to the clients to educate and update their knowledge in this field.
Realising Their Parents’ Dream
It was their father’s dream to make Diwakar and Abhaykumar Chartered Accountants. On the other hand, their mother did not leave a single stone unturned in their cultural development. Her saying was that a single cultured person can improve the life of at least four people in the society.
To fulfil his dream, since childhood, their father used to take them along at different CA offices to imbibe the importance of owning a business. Their organisational set up always brought an intrigue within the young boys. These visits acted as a stimulus in their mind, pushing them to study hard and work harder to make their father’s dream true and serve society on the other hand.
About The Co-Founders
DIWAKAR DAHOTRE CA Diwakar Dahotre, a qualified Chartered Accountant has been practising since 1984 for 37 years. He completed education from Bhave High School and his graduation from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Pune. His professional journey began with a sole proprietorship firm, namely Diwakar B. Dahotre & Co. in Pune.
ABHAYKUMAR DAHOTRE CA Abhaykumar Dahotre was an exceptional student throughout his academics. He completed his primary education from N.M.V. High School (Nutan Marathi Vidyalay), and his postgraduation M.Com from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, Pune. He scored 18th rank in graduation from Pune University. He cleared CA entrance, CA intermediate and CA final in the first attempt in a record time of two-and-a-half years at the age of 20. He had to wait for further three months to complete 21 years age to get membership of the ICAI. Immediately after getting a Certificate of Practice (COP) in May 1987, without wasting a single day, he started his practice and it has now been 33 years.
