There were two turning points in the life of Avinash Brahmadevara. One was a train journey he undertook along with his father, who was a headmaster and teacher, where he was travelling for an interview with the selection panel of the Railway Recruitment Board. When his co-passengers questioned his father as to why Avinash, despite being a headmaster’s son, was opting for a job with the Railways, he said that at least in that way, his son would stop wasting his time and support the family instead.
The second turning point was in 2012, when his father passed away. Brahmadevara was working as a CFO in an MNC and was drawing a salary of rupees 3.5 lakh per month. So, the Osmania University alumnus, who topped the university exams and went on to become the Youngest Triple Qualified Post Graduate Professional (M Com, CA, CS, CWA), decided to quit his job and start Avinash College of Commerce because, “I did not want to open a commercial coaching academy, I wanted to nurture students,” he says.
Commerce has moved on from being the least preferred option to being a preferred one. “And with demonetisation and GST, the awareness about Commerce and Finance is on the rise,” says the 35-year-old, adding that the deteriorating quality of engineering education and decrease in Medicine seats are also contributing factors. Brahmadevara now wants to make sure everybody is aware that CA is just the tip of the large iceberg that is Commerce. “There are 25-plus options that one can pursue in Commerce, and we encourage students to understand their skill sets, assess their aptitude and then choose the course,” he says.
They counsel, perform psychometric tests and then advice which stream students should opt for, doing away with one-size-fits-all approach. Keeping this in mind, they have established two entities — Avinash College of Commerce - the regular plus-two and grad college, affiliated to the Board of Intermediate and Osmania University, and ISFS (International School for Financial Studies), which has Beyond CA programmes like Company Secretaryship (CS), Cost and Management Accountancy (CWA/CMA), Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Actuary and more. “We just want to make sure that everyone understands that there are many options in Commerce beyond CA,” concludes Brahmadevara.
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