Arthotsav BTS: Finance Department

Out of all the different teams working in Arthotsav, it was a pleasure speaking with one of the most important departments, Finance.

The head and mentor of the department, Siddhikesh along with other members greet me as I enter the Economics department. Far from the most well known department in the festival, Finance prefers to do most of its work discreetly, the work is mostly ‘behind the curtains’ & yet extremely integral to the working of the fest.

On being asked on the exact role of Finance, Siddhikesh describes, “We basically keep a track of all the expenditure that happens during the entire festival, before preparations start, we make a rough budget detailing the cost estimations required by the festival and after the fest concludes we make an audit which we submit to the marketing department, who then present it to our sponsors.”

We then move on to discussing their modus operandi, how does the Department of Finance go about their daily tasks? Siddhikesh says, “We collect the bills incurred by every department on their costs and record their transaction on an online expense sheet, however we have to be extremely careful, if there’s even a minor mistake it creates complications during the audit.”

After getting the serious inquires out of the way, I move on the more casual, what does Arthotsav mean to you? I ask to the other members of Finance, Soumya says, “Arthotsav is much more than just a fest. It is a platform for us to grow: as a student, leader and as a human being. It's where we push all our boundaries without our knowledge and in the end, you realise that you come out as a different person!”

What does she expect to learn from working in Finance? “Spending my monthly pocket money judiciously was never really my thing! So, one thing I expect to take back is inculcating financial discipline into my life. Also, this is the first time that I’ll be involved in such an important wing of a festival. So I’ll be taking back an immense amount of knowledge about finance from my mentor!”

Surely handling such an delicate task bear hard on them? Is the responsibility of such work strenuous, I ask to which the Head nods affirmatively & says, “Yes, it's really hard to keep track of every rupee that is spent in the festival, but I have got a good team and we handle it with relative ease.”

Speaking about your team, what are your overall opinions of them are they nice people to work with?, “Well unlike other departments, I had been given the choice to select my teammates. After taking suggestions from our Chairperson, I selected Divyam, Shekara and Shrutika. Anita ma'am later recommended me to include Soumya in the team. All I can say is they're all smart and efficient. The two most important qualities a person should have to work in finance are honesty & responsibility. And I think they all are honest and responsible as well.”

As we come to end of the interview I ask them, if there could be any slogan for the department what would it be, to which one of the members says, “We are Fintastic”, while the Head signs off by saying, “Your money is in good hands.”

The Finance Department in conversation with  Param S., T.Y.B.A.