International Seminar by Department of Commerce on New Age Technology and Its Impact on Financial Domain

“New technology is not good and evil in and of itself. It’s all about how people choose to use it.’
– David Wong

The Bhawanipur Education Society College, in collaboration with the IQAC, The Board of Studies (BOS) of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and EICASA hosted the International Seminar on New Age Technology and Its Impact on Financial Domain on the 1st of April, 2024, at the Jubilee Hall of the college from 10:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. The seminar focused on fostering amongst the attendees the knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on the financial sector of the country and also the significance of Blockchain in accounting and auditing practices. The audience majorly consisted of the esteemed faculty members of the B.com Morning, Afternoon, and Evening departments, also faculties from colleges across Kolkata. Amongst the attendees, students from postgraduate & few undergraduate students were also present both from BESC & EICASA.

The panel consisted of revered resource persons from prestigious organisations, like ICAI, EICASA, Kingston University, London & Brunel Business School, London. Amongst them were CA Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal, President ICAI and CA (Dr.) Rajkumar Adukia, Chairman BOS, ICAI , Dr. Monomita Nandy, from Vice Dean International (CBASS) from Brunel Business School, London, CA Sanjib Sanghi, Chairman, EIRC of ICAI, Dr. Suman Lodh, Associate Professor in Finance, Kingston Business School , Kingston University, London & ca Vikash Gangwal from Global Head for Finance & Supply Chain Application Advisory at Tata Consultancy Services for BFSI EAS.

The seminar commenced with the opening note by Prof. Urvi Shukla who addressed the audience with warm greetings followed by a brief introduction to the new technologies that are taking the normal forward and provided an overview of the various digital innovations and how they help ameliorate the financial system of our country. Next in line was the lamp lighting ceremony which was initiated by Prof. Dilip Shah, Rector & The Dean of Student Affairs, DG, Dr. Suman Mukherjee, Mr. Pradip Sheth, Ex-Officio member of The BESC along with the Coordinator of B.Com Morning, Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi, The Vice Principal of B.Com Afternoon and Evening session Prof. Saspo Chakraborty, and the other faculty members.

Following the lamp-lighting ceremony was the welcome address by Prof. Dilip Shah, where he acknowledged all the dignitaries and delegates present in the seminar and attributed the audience for taking part in this delightful endeavour; eventually going on to throw light on how proud he felt to have taught many of the esteemed delegates who were present there.

After his address all the dignitaries were called on stage for the felicitation ceremony which began with CA Ranjeet Agarwal who was felicitated by Shri Pradip Sheth & by Prof. Saspo Chakraborty; CA Sanjib Sanghi was felicitated by Teacher In Charge (TIC) Prof. Subhabrata Ganguly, Dr. Monomita Nandy by Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi & Dr. Suman Lodh by Prof. Saspo Chakraborty. Finally, CA Vishnu K Tulsyan was honoured by Prof. Dilip Shah.

The seminar entered its core topic of discourse through the special address by CA Rajkumar Adukia, Chairman of The Board of Studies, ICAI, who joined us virtually through Google Meet, from Mumbai. He began with how commerce and technology are facilitated by each other and the success they can yield, in various financial sectors of the country. To address the magnitude of artificial intelligence he mentioned how it is because of AI that there’s something called Google Meet through which he can communicate with the audience and take part in the seminar from the comfort of his home. He also took this opportunity to welcome the aspiring authors to collaborate with him so that their combined brainchild would give rise to numerous kinds of literature around AI in the days to come.

The special address was followed by the keynote speech by CA Ranjeet Agarwal, the President of ICAI who also happens to be a revered alumni of the college which was evident from his introduction and the fact that how this seminar felt like a homecoming to him. In his lecture, he elucidated his institution, and the significance of women’s empowerment, and how their involvement in the financial sector will help it escalate to newer heights. He also stressed the financial parameters for a financially developed country and provided statistics which read that 47% of the Total Global Digitisation of the world happens in India, amongst the youths. During his course, he also discussed the process of digitally auditing accounting data and evaluating answer scripts of candidates numbering four lakh, who sit for CA examinations every year in their institution. Despite remarking so much about digitization and its advancements, he didn’t forget to mention the truth that be it artificial intelligence, or digitisation; nothing can surpass human intelligence because it’s those who make use of these facilities to make their lives better and hence, the effective procedures to make use of these boons also lies in their hands.

After the Keynote speech began Technical Session: 1 which began at 11:30 A.M. and ended at 1:00 P.M. It comprehended the impact of artificial intelligence on finance and was presided over by Dr. Monomita Nandy, The Vice Dean of the International Brunel Business School of London, and CA Sanjib Sanghi, The Chairman of The Eastern India Regional Council of ICAI respectively.

Dr. Nandy began her session on an interactive note discussing the core idea and genesis of artificial intelligence, at the same time expressing her difficulty in arriving at a definite conclusion that AI has been ever dynamic since it came to the forefront and every day fresher evolutions are originating in the world. She went on to classify AI into its capabilities and functionalities and segregated the different hierarchies of AI: starting from Narrow AI, like in Siri, or Alexa which are made to perform specific tasks; General AI, which helps in pattern recognition, translation, and video audio generation; to Super AI which is said to perform tasks which are beyond human capabilities. During the rest of her discussion, she elaborated on their studies and research behind the application of AI in the fixation of prices of digital assets like cryptocurrency and the methodology behind the same by the demonstration of a model that is supposed to find out the best algorithm for their studies.

The second speaker, Mr. Sanghi started on the simplest notes by defining AI and providing its examples, in the process highlighting how we knowingly or unknowingly have made it an indisputable part of our day-to-day life: from making digital payments in shops through mobile and internet banking to using ChatGPT to calculate mathematical problems and exploring answers to various questions. He also emphasized the need for every human being to welcome AI with open arms and make it their friend and companion, hence staying relevant and up-to-date. Then he went on to underline the revolutions AI has been creating in the personal finances of individuals: from integrating various digital applications, and its undeniable existence in software programs to processing payrolls and designing internal financial domains. He too exclaimed that if the advancements of AI are reciprocated by the increase in awareness amongst the masses regarding it, then that day is not far when India will be called the accounting hub of the entire world. With this, the first technical session came to an end followed by Q&A session which was actively answered by both the speakers.

After the lunch which ended at 2:00 P.M, a contented audience made way for the second Technical Session on Blockchain and its impact on accounting and auditing practices; which began with Dr. Sreyasi Ghosh welcoming the first speaker of the session, Dr. Suman Lodh, from The Kingston University in London who was felicitated by Prof. Urvi Shukla, Faculty of the B.Com Morning section.

Dr. Lodh commenced his session by discussing the increase in the number of internet users across the country where he delved more into the statistics and informative facts about internet usage in our day-to-day lives and how it creates a difference in our lives. He went on to talk more about the utilities of Fintech, which is a blockchain service used to solve complex financial transactions and banking problems. The main core of his lecture dealt with the emerging challenges in accounting and finance and how blockchain technology and cryptography can emerge as saviors to us through examples like Mastercards, Spotify, Stripe, and Ripple. He concluded his speech by estimating the sharp economic growth trend that can take place in the future if blockchain technology is brought to the forefront.

The next speaker on the panel was CA Vikash Gangwal, The Global Head for Finance and Supply Chain Application and Advisory at Tata Consultancy Services for BFSI EAS, who was felicitated by Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi. Mr. Gangwal initiated his talk by describing the system of blockchain technology, and provided the audience with a different perspective on blockchain by recounting it as a technology adaptor. He also accentuated the importance of blockchain in the day-to-day life of an individual and why citizens should prepare themselves to adapt to it to be able to make use of it in their day-to-day lives. He further had discussions around the digital audit of accounting data and how it is done through blockchain where he illustrated the steps of digitally auditing data beginning from vouching to financial reporting and compliance check. Next was a Q&A round where the inquisitive audience flooded the session with their questions which evoked curiosity amongst the rest. With this, the technical session 2 came to an end at around 3:30 P.M.

The seminar was rounded off with the Valedictory session and The Vote of Thanks by Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi, the Convener of the Seminar where she acknowledged the acclaimed dignitaries for responding to the college’s invitation, thanked the audience for taking part in such a wonderful endeavour and expressed her heartfelt gratitude towards each and everybody associated with organising the seminar. She also went on to illuminate how enriched she felt by being a part of this seminar and why more of these initiatives need to be undertaken by the college to play their part in making society aware of the current times.

Reporter – Suchetan Bhadra
Photographers – Sourish Kumar Deb, Ankit Majhi, Arka Mukherjee