The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Doha Chapter, recently held a seminar on Communication Skills for Finance & Accounting Professionals at the Doha Bank Auditorium, West Bay.

R Seetharaman, CEO Doha Bank Group delivered the inaugural address. Opening the seminar he said: Accountants can remain traditional book-keepers at their own peril. The profession is moving into a new paradigm where involvement in strategy development and communication is becoming the order of the day and therefore accountants must develop into good leaders.

Sonny Varghese, head of finance & administration of Qatar Aeronautical College spoke on the Importance Of Leadership Skills For Finance Professionals. Accountants often tend to be concerned about the past and fail to plan adequately for the future. By virtue of their conservative approach, they tend to assume minimal risks, he said. He emphasised the need for accountants to become leaders and synergise well with others in the organisation.

Rammohan Rai, learning & development coordinator QAPCO, spoke on Language, Voice & Vocabulary. The key reason for having good spoken vocabulary skills is not to impress others but to influence them, he remarked. Explaining the importance of good voice he stressed upon the need for speakers to develop a voice that will enhance their words and attract listeners attention.

Kurian Kuriakose, managing partner - Morison Menon, delivered a presentation on Speech Organisation. He explained how mind-maps can be useful in the development of a good speech. It is critical to develop the main idea first before embarking on the outline, he said.

Rajeswar Sundaresan, group manager - internal audit at Teyseer Group, spoke on Business presentation/ Business report writing. The speech was packed with humour as he dwelt on the critical aspects of good business report writing. Be conscious about whether you want to take a positive or negative tone in the report, he said. He went on to explain the key elements of an effective business presentation.

Earlier on, in welcoming the participants, Venkat Ramamurthy, Chairman ICAI Doha Chapter, said: Chartered Accountants must become market driven rather than regulation driven, offering more value-added and less traditional compliance accounting services. Accountants now need both generalist and specialist knowledge.