CA Naveen Ajmera discusses AI adoption in accounting practice

Good morning, Vijay.

Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Thank you to all of you for joining us today on AI topic. Deep gratitude to CA Naveen Ajmera, who is our speaker for the day. Today, we are speaking about AI, which is in significant demand when it comes to these sessions we have been doing since the month of February. The CA Speakers Forum initiated on 1st of January had been that forum for all of us, where we have been able to come on this stage every Saturday almost, until and unless there is a change of a day, and speak on different topics, whether it be taxation, IFRS, and whether it be a topic for you to make you a champion when it comes to leadership or management. The topics which includes taxation and IFRS and AI are the most in demand. And today, after long time, we are taking this AI session, and we want to make the most of it. And we will be making the most of it because we have a speaker, Naveen, who I know for more than 10 years very significantly. We worked together uh in I uh in ICAI, he was uh taking sessions, and he is the person who I call a technology guru because he just not only speak about technology, he has been adapting to technology for more than a decade very significantly. We There may be some of us we have not adopted those things, but he may have adopted more than a decade ago. And when you are fast in doing it, then you are able to quickly raise your standards to do try different things to do different things. And if you talk about 4 or 5 years back, we were not talking about artificial intelligence. We are talking significantly about it. Where where it is said that some of the leaders, some of the influencers from US I've heard who say that the power of AI is like 100X. Naveen is hearing to us and he can also share his views on how the things are progressing because and he will also share with us that how what are the common questions we have. He and he will be giving an answers to that. He will be taking us through a demo today. And he is a qualified chartered accountant, have decades of experience, and someone who I know left his corporate career in advance and went went on to a research and see that the corporates are able to apply the research he has been doing. So therefore um I'm not reading his profile. I'm talking from my heart that what he has done, whether it is be a students or whether it is be a professionals, the work he has done is amazing. And after long time I'm able to get on to this stage because Saturdays are something which I think keep him very busy and we do our sessions on Saturday. Earlier we had planned to do it on July 1st, but then there was a session of ICA Dubai chapter and somehow this Saturday was free for Naveen and you are here Naveen. So I request each one of you to please help us give a very warm welcome to Naveen with the emojis. Uh you have the love, the clap, everything. Let us give all out here so that our next 60 minutes are amazing for everyone. I know that he will be making it. So he deserves a very grand and warm welcome and thank you. Thank you so much each one of you. This shows your attentiveness. Keep everything away. Keep your phones away. Just focus on this session for 60 minutes and you will love it. So thank you. Thank you Naveen. Before I completely hand over the screen to you, what would be your opening remarks in 30 or 60 seconds?

Uh you said so many things Pradeep and I'll keep talking if the whole one hour what you said I can keep responding on that same only. But first of all, let me thank you. Our association as you said more than 10 years now. I remember the very first session which I did at the ICI uh branch office at Knowledge Village. 16 December 2016. It was my birthday so I'll never forget and that was the first session and people who attended there some of them are at the helm of you know their their organizations top and they still remember that some of the project which I got from those same students. So yeah, it was it was a journey and before you joined actually I was trying to share my knowledge through my own, you know, small circle of a circle meeting chartered accountant, telling them that what is there, something which was there in Excel since 2011, where my journey started. And in '11 to '15, when Power BI came, and Power BI was much more of an enterprise tool, that's where my approach to the data analytics completely changed. And uh yeah, coming back to many of the uh CAs who has got training during all these 10 years of my uh working. So I started my actually the data analytics journey in terms of my own consulting and the training uh small boutique firm which I run. Uh so that was in 2018. Uh till from 2016-18, I was just still doing a lot of knowledge sharing session. Uh with Microsoft, I created a Power BI platform uh community user group, and that was one of the so until COVID, it was doing wonderfully well, and post that everything changed. But uh the whole point here is uh how did it start, and you know, uh data, data is the key here, and I'm passionate about any data. It is not just the numbers what we see in accounts and finance, and you can give me any data, and that happens in my uh work as well as uh the normal conversation I would have with anyone when they talk about something, and I say it, "Can you show me the data?" And then I make them possible using that data in a way it should be used. Right. So this is how my journey started, and quite a good journey, I would say. Uh still passionate about means passion is going higher and higher. Now, what has happened from BI, so that was Power BI from Excel to Power BI, and now from Power BI to AI. So, you said AI is only for 3-4 years as you mentioned.

Yeah.

But, let me tell you, 2015 when Power BI got introduced, there was a small AI glimpse there.

Okay.

Feature called native query question and answer, native language question and answer visual was there.

Yeah.

And I remember it very well in all my demo or in all my training session when people would see that, their first question would be, "Hey, what will happen to our job if you have this kind of a easy feature?"

Yeah.

And that was the glimpse of AI, what the future was. So, since then I started, you know, more of as you said research and it is always still today I whatever I see new, I see how thing works and that's how you learn more about it. It is not that

are working and you're fine with it. So, coming back to the session,

Yeah.

now the AI, right? And let me share the screen because I have a small presentation as well. Are you able to see it now?

Uh I think it's uh still loading. Just a moment.

One second. Now?

Yes. Yeah. Perfect. Uh

So, this is where I'm starting this first from the presentation just to put this whole session in the in the perspective that what are we expecting. So, a lot of session going around AI because that is the hot topic, right? Nothing wrong. Everyone have their own perspective presenting their AI how it works and what AI and all about. Now, my perspective is little different. It is not about the tool uh whichever tool you might be using doesn't matter. In fact, in I use all the tools, so doesn't matter which tool is good or which tool is not good. It is more about how you use it. Right? And if you understand that, you will never ask this question which tool to be used. So, that is the key here uh in the session. And because I am a Power BI uh you know, my background is data, Excel, Power BI. So, in Power BI, how AI is evolving now, and that is where this session is all about. You might find this uh particular you know, the screen what you're the slide say the F and R. There are some encrypted uh you know, uh I kept it like that. What would you say that what may be the word missing here? Or what what it may be? Right? So, it is all about AI. When AI meet the numbers, what do you need that to happen? Oops. My click is not working. Oops. Okay. Yeah. We'll have little bit of glitch here and there. Let's see how to deal with it. So, this is a fair numbers what we are talking about. Now, we all come from finance, and we know what the fair numbers means. When you go for a presentation, when you go present something data to you know, any stakeholder or even when you use it, number need to be fair. Now, fair doesn't means uh the little fair meaning is not fair here, but it is the trusted number we are talking about, right? If people lose the trust in your numbers, then you failed in your in your duty or whatever you are presenting, right? And AI is making it more difficult, right? You all would have experienced. I remember when ChatGPT first introduced, there were a lot of meme going on for almost 6 months, 12 months. 2 + 2 is equal to 5. And it's still something comes up every time. But now it has evolved so much. Uh models got trained so much so we don't see that sort of a silly problem, but other bigger problems. It's still the problem is it's still there with the AI. It is not that AI is perfectly uh giving you what you require. Uh there's no perfection in AI. Right? But we need to learn that how do we make it perfect. That's where this session is all about. So, when I say when every number meets it intelligence from ledger to decision, how our ledgers are accurate, right? When you balance your book, nowadays no one balance the book, the software does it. But ultimately, your balanced books need to be balanced. And from that balanced book you make decisions, you make your report and all that. Now Power BI AI is somewhere uh you know, it can do and in in in the session I'll describe that more into detail. So, let me jump to the neck. And this fair is I created a kind of a uh these are the four uh uh letter word I use just to describe more onto each of them that what is this framework is all about. So, F stands for foundation here. And what is foundation? In any AI for that matter or BI or anything what you do, the fo