Santhariah, together with his mother and siblings, also contributed to the family’s survival, opening a stall selling tea, coffee, noodles and home-made banana fritters.
“Most of the time the workers were too poor to pay cash, so our sales were mostly on credit,” he says. “I was 13 and I kept the books and did a debt collection task to collect the money on payday. This gave me first-hand experience of how to manage money in a business environment.”
Yet it was a job as an articled clerk at a British chartered accounting firm, from 1972 to 1977, that would cement his passion for accounting and finance and admitted him to the Fellowship of Certified Practising Accountants.
In fact, after retiring at the age of 64, he completed research on Malaysian GST for a masters in taxation at the University of New South Wales and, at the not-too-tender age of 73, gained a PhD for his thesis on Malaysian GST compliance costs of taxpayers at RMIT University. A series of articles on GST in its many forms, for international tax journals, followed.
“Learning is the best anti-ageing drug I know,” says Santhariah.
In 1983, he joined the Swedish-owned Malaysian Match Company as financial controller, gaining knowledge of manufacturing financial accounting, human resources and labour relations. He was seconded to New Zealand in 1986 to work in a consultancy role setting up a general, computer-based accounting system incorporating GST.
The only member of his family to graduate from university, Santhariah says his experiences and hardship during childhood reinforced a sense of discipline that allowed him to escape the poverty trap.
“Where there is a will, there is a way to achieve success in business and education and break the poverty cycle.”
Santhariah embraces Hindu Karma yoga, which embodies the belief that we have a social and moral debt to repay to society what has been given to us, and this is evident in his many charitable commitments that have included work for church, education and Indigenous services groups.
He says his achievements so far have been due to help rendered by kind people along his journey.
Recently, he earned a certificate of appreciation for services to the underprivileged at the World Humanitarian Drive.
Currently, the retired accountant is gathering a like-minded community of professionals who can offer free advice to small businesses via Zoom and give regular talks on financial topics to the Malaysian small business community.
One piece of advice
“Don’t be idle or retire and say you want to play golf. Spare some time to help others and you will activate regions of the brain associated with pleasure, social connection and trust.”
Ref: CPA
0 comments:
Post a Comment