From Audit to Trust: Naresh Jain on Integrity, Relationships and the Power of Lifelong Learning

Naresh Jain is a former Partner at Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, with more than 25 years of experience in audit and assurance, spanning sectors such as consumer, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and retail.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Naresh has spent his career working with some of India’s and the world’s leading organisations. He has advised senior business leaders and led complex corporate audit engagements for global MNCs including P&G, BASF, Abbott, BP Plc, Castrol and GSK Pharma, as well as prominent Indian promoter-led businesses such as Pidilite, Ranbaxy-Sun Pharma and Godrej & Boyce.

His professional journey extends beyond traditional audit, with industry exposure, global professional experience and advisory assignments, including a stint at Deloitte UK’s London office, where he worked on a listed client during the first-time implementation of IFRS in the UK.

He has participated for several years in the Annual Audit Planning meetings of a multinational corporation, where audit teams from different countries come together at a common location to jointly discuss and plan the audit. These meetings have been held across various international cities, including Singapore, Geneva and Manila.

Naresh has also held several professional roles with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), including:

i) Member of the Financial Reporting Review Board (FRRB) Group, serving as a Technical Reviewer and thereafter also as Reviewer of Reviewers for the Western Region.

ii) Convenor of the Worli CPE Study Circle, as part of ICAI’s Continuing Professional Education programme.

Today, Naresh works on his own terms, advising organisations, connecting professionals and mentoring the next generation. His journey is as much about people and relationships as it is about numbers and businesses.

Business Now spoke with Naresh about the values that shaped his career, the lessons he learned from setbacks, the importance of relationships, and why, after more than three decades in the profession, he believes trust remains the ultimate professional asset.

1. What shaped your approach to work and leadership?

I grew up in a small town in Rajasthan, in a joint family where medicine had been a tradition for generations. My family was known well beyond our immediate community. People would travel from as far as 30 kilometres just to consult them.

What stayed with me was not just the distance people travelled, but the way my family approached their profession. They charged very little. In fact, patients essentially paid only for the medicines, and the consultation and advice came without a fee. There was never a sense that every interaction had to be measured in commercial terms. At its heart, it was service.

Looking back, I think that was my first introduction to the idea that some professions are, fundamentally, trust industries. You are entrusted with something that matters deeply to another person. The responsibility is to serve with dedication and integrity. Profit, I learned, should be a by-product of doing the right thing well, not the only thing you seek.

Growing up in a joint family taught me another important lesson. Our home was a place where people from all walks of life came and went, including tailors, carpenters, barbers, masons, cobblers and many others. You spoke to them, listened to their stories and, without even realising it, began to understand how differently people experienced the world.

Those everyday interactions shaped me in ways that formal education never could. They taught me to respect every individual, to remain grounded and, most importantly, to understand people before forming opinions about them. There was always something to learn from everyone.

When I eventually moved to Bombay and began my professional career, I carried those lessons with me. I entered the corporate world with tremendous passion, but I also realised that the principles I had grown up with were equally relevant in business. Quality and integrity were not things to be compromised or negotiated. They had to be the foundation.

“Your reputation is built over many years. Trust takes years to build and only a moment to lose.”

2. What were some of the early setbacks and lessons that shaped you?

Academically, I had always been strong. But after moving to another college in Jodhpur, I became complacent and my marks dropped significantly.

Nobody could believe it. People asked, “How can you get such low marks?”

It was a setback, but it taught me something important: whatever examination or project or responsibility you undertake, you have to approach it wholeheartedly and prepare properly.

After that, I never looked back, and I cleared both my CA Intermediate and Final examinations in my first attempt, at a time when the pass rate for clearing both groups was only around 2–3 percent.

Over time, I learned that setbacks are not failures. They are often opportunities to learn, reflect and grow.

As my career evolved, I came to realise that technical knowledge, while essential, was only one part of the equation. Early on, I believed that if you knew your subject well and had the right answer, that was enough. With experience, I understood that how you communicate that answer can be just as important.

This became particularly clear in my interactions with colleagues and clients. You cannot simply tell a client, “You are wrong,” even when the facts are on your side. You have to explain the issue, offer a different perspective and, most importantly, bring the other person along with you.

Over time, I learned that good communication is not just about choosing the right words. It is about understanding the person and the situation, and knowing the right time and tone. In many ways, building trust is as much about how you communicate an idea as it is about the idea itself.

“A setback can become a turning point when you stop looking at it as failure and start asking what it has taught you.”

3. How did mentors and difficult assignments influence your career?

I have been fortunate to have some wonderful mentors throughout my career. It is difficult to name just a few because, at every stage, there were people who influenced and guided me in different ways.

It began with my parents, who trusted me enough to send me to Mumbai to pursue my CA. My uncle and elder brother, both Chartered Accountants already working in Mumbai, helped me find my feet.

As I stepped into my professional life, I was fortunate to work with some excellent colleagues, seniors and partners. I started my professional journey with P. C. Hansotia & Co, which is affiliated with Deloitte. What stayed with me from those early years was the exposure I received and, more importantly, the trust placed in me to take on challenging assignments with some of the firm’s best clients. That experience pushed me to grow, take greater ownership and continually raise my own standards.

Those early years were formative for me in many ways. Working with organisations such as P&G, BASF, Hoechst, Essar, The Mumbai Samachar and SBI Mutual Fund, to name a few, gave me the opportunity to interact with experienced professionals, senior executives and board members. Every interaction brought a different perspective and taught me something new about the business, the profession and, importantly, how to conduct myself as a professional.

One of my biggest influences was a very senior partner I worked with early in my career. He had a wonderful philosophy: “All my Chartered are jewels and they must sparkle, wherever they go.” I have always remembered that. An organisation and its seniors have a responsibility to teach young professionals not just how to work, but how to communicate, conduct themselves and deal with people.

My first audit assignment was with The Mumbai Samachar. Within six or seven months, my partner’s trust in me was evident when he told me, “Why do you need a senior? You can handle this yourself.” For someone early in his career, that was a significant vote of confidence and gave me a strong sense of ownership and accountability.

Another defining experience came after the Harshad Mehta stock market scam, when we were appointed to perform special audit at SBI Mutual Fund. I led the assignment, which ran for nearly a year and a half. This was during 1992 and a very different world. SEBI did not yet exist, shares and debentures existed in physical form, and payments were made largely through cheques. There was no demat system, NEFT or RTGS, and much of the data and processes were manual.

The sheer volume of information meant we had to think differently. We decided to use technology and worked with Lotus 1-2-3 (Excel did not exist for us then) to analyse and correlate the data. We successfully completed the assignment and exceeded expectations. The appreciation we received from SBI and our own organisation significantly strengthened my confidence, both in handling complex assignments and in dealing with senior executives at large organisations.

That experience left me with a lesson I still carry with me: when faced with a difficult problem, don’t get overwhelmed by the problem itself. Look for the solution, even if it means stepping outside conventional methods.

“The most valuable assignments are often the ones that force you to learn something you did not know you needed to learn.”

4. What did working with leading companies teach you?

Working with organisations such as Procter & Gamble and BASF early in my career gave me exposure to global standards, systems and ways of working. I began to appreciate the importance of being organised and respectful of people’s time. For instance, meetings were scheduled with a clear agenda so that they could be focused and productive. Timely communication and responding promptly to clients also became important ways of building trust at every level.

I still remember one client where employees were encouraged to keep emails to half a page, covering all the information the recipient needed, and meetings to no more than ten minutes. It was a simple lesson, but it stayed with me. Communicate clearly, respect people’s time and make every interaction count.

By 1994, several senior colleagues had moved on for different reasons, and I suddenly found myself as the senior-most person available to handle some major assignments. My partner told me, “You run all these audits. If you have a problem, call me.” That trust gave me an opportunity to take ownership much earlier in my career.

I went on to handle several reputed clients of the firm, including large MNCs and listed companies. These assignments also brought me into regular interaction with CFOs, Company Secretaries, Legal Heads, Tax Heads, in-charges at various manufacturing plants, in-charges at sales locations and other senior professionals. Over time, those interactions and visits to manufacturing and sales locations expanded my professional network and gave me access to a wide range of expertise. It was easy to connect with people, seek their perspective and learn from their experience.

When you work with many different organisations, you also begin to see patterns. You realise that there can be more than one right answer, and that there is not always one prescribed way of doing things.

Later, I decided I wanted to understand business from the inside and spent three years with the Essar Group. I worked across accounts and finance, taxation and the implementation of SAP systems. Being part of a large business group also gave me the opportunity to work with and build relationships with many professionals, some of whom have remained colleagues and connections over the years.

Eventually, having experienced both sides (profession and industry), I realised that my temperament was better suited to the profession. I enjoyed thinking, analysing and solving problems more than the routine and processes involved in executing within an organisation, and I therefore returned to Deloitte.

Looking back, that experience gave me something invaluable, the perspective of having seen business from both sides.

“Experience becomes valuable when it changes the way you see a problem, not simply when it adds another line to your résumé.”

5. How did you approach client relationships differently?

When I returned to Deloitte, something happened that stayed with me. Some of my old clients, including P&G and BASF, approached my partner and asked if I could work with them again.

That reinforced something important for me about professional relationships. In audit, trust is built over time, not just through the quality of your work, but through the value you bring to the client.

Over the years, I developed a simple approach to audit. I did not want the audit to be about identifying problems at the end of the assignment and telling the client, “This is a problem.” I wanted to understand the client’s business and accounting systems early, anticipate where issues were likely to arise and discuss them during the planning stage itself.

I used to tell my team, “If you raise an observation at the planning stage, it is value addition for the client. If you raise it the night before an Audit Committee or Board meeting, it is of no value. In fact, it’s a nuisance for them.”

The objective was not simply to identify a problem, but to help the client understand what needed to be done to resolve it.

An auditor has a unique perspective. You have an added advantage in being able to access a client’s systems, processes, departments and people across an organisation. If you use that perspective well, you can identify patterns, connect the dots and provide insights that can genuinely help the business.

That, for me, is what creates value in an audit. If you are not providing meaningful insight year after year, you are simply becoming a cost to the client.

“The real value of professional advice is not identifying a problem late; it is helping someone resolve it early.”

6. What have relationships meant throughout your career?

In my personal experience, relationships have played a significant role in both my personal and professional journey. I have never looked at relationships transactionally or thought, “What can I get from this person?” I have always believed in asking myself, “How can I help?”

Some of the people I met when I first came to Mumbai in ’88 are still in touch with me today. They may now be living in different parts of the world, but the relationships have endured. If I meet someone and feel that there is someone else in my network who could be of help to them, I am always happy to make that connection.

For me, networking has always been very natural. Whenever I visit a client, I try to interact with everyone I come across, from the security guard at the entrance to the office support staff, the person serving tea, colleagues and senior executives. It has never mattered to me what someone’s role or position is.

You start with a simple conversation, and over time, familiarity develops into a relationship. It happens naturally when you take a genuine interest in people.

Even today, when I visit the clients I worked with 10 or 15 years ago, it is not unusual for someone from the old team, or even a security guard or office support staff member, to recognise me and say, “Sir, I have seen you after such a long time. Where have you been?” Those moments make me genuinely happy. They remind me that while assignments and organisations change, relationships built over the years can remain.

“Relationships become powerful when they are built on genuine interest in people, not on calculations about what they can do for you.”

7. What leadership lessons did you learn about people and work-life balance?

There is a perception that professional services means working from early morning until late at night, often including weekends. I always tried to take a slightly different approach. There will inevitably be periods, particularly around quarter-end or year-end, when the pressure is higher, but I did not want long hours to become the norm. In my experience, if a team is consistently working long hours, it is usually a sign that either the way of working needs to be improved or the team may need additional resources.

There was a common expectation on some assignments that the team and partner would work late into the night, often ordering dinner into the office. I tried to break that pattern. I valued having a life outside work, and I wanted the same for my team. Long hours were sometimes unavoidable, particularly around deadlines, but I did not want them to become the default way of working.

There were a few assignments where the pressure was particularly high, and I would step in to bring more structure to the way the work was planned. I would speak to the senior management on the client side upfront and agree on a realistic timeline covering what information they could provide, when we could deliver and how much time the team would need. It took some adjustment in the first year, but over time, the approach helped both sides plan better and avoid unnecessary last-minute pressure.

If someone in the team had any exigency at home, I wanted them to be able to be with their family. I found that when people came back to work feeling supported, they often gave much more than 100 percent. Over time, that naturally built trust, loyalty and commitment.

I have always felt that people come into an organisation with different strengths. Someone may be particularly good at one thing and need support in another. I tried to understand those strengths, help where needed and bring together people who complemented each other. That approach helped us build strong teams that could handle demanding assignments.

I also never insisted on changing the team when a client moved from another partner to me. I worked with the team that came with the client, understood each person’s strengths and worked around their areas of weakness. Over time, we developed a way of working together, and the teams consistently delivered.

Over the years, many of the people who worked with me went on to become managers, senior managers, directors and partners who continued in the profession. Others moved into industry and became CFOs or board members. Many of them remain in touch with me even today. That is one of the most satisfying parts of leadership for me.

I have always believed that a leader is someone who creates many other leaders.

In professional services, industry expertise can take you a long way. But beyond a point, it is your ability to understand people, manage relationships and bring the best out of a team that makes the difference. Ultimately, every industry is a people business.

I also learned to say no. Early in my career, I would accept almost everything that came my way. Over time, I realised that taking on too much can compromise quality and put unnecessary pressure on the team. Sometimes, saying no is simply about ensuring that you can do the work you take on properly.

“Supporting people when they genuinely need you is not a compromise on performance; it is how you build the trust and loyalty that strengthens performance.”

8. What advice would you give young professionals?

Looking back, there are a few lessons that have stayed with me.

The first is to build depth before chasing titles. Become genuinely good at what you do. Take on difficult assignments, keep learning and develop expertise. Recognition and titles tend to follow. But that journey becomes much easier when you have a genuine passion for what you do. When you are passionate about something, work does not always feel like work.

The second is to invest in genuine relationships. Every colleague, client and professional interaction can teach you something. Some of the most valuable lessons in my career have come not from formal training, but from people I have worked with and the experiences we have shared.

The third is to keep reinventing yourself. What worked yesterday may not necessarily work tomorrow. A long career is really a series of reinventions. I have found it useful to look ahead and ask myself what I want to learn next year, who I should reconnect with and what new areas I should understand. If you put these things on your calendar and make them part of your “to-do” list, you are much more likely to make them happen.

And perhaps most importantly, I would not spend too much time trying to impress people or comparing myself with others. Focus on doing meaningful work, creating value and building a reputation for integrity and reliability. The real competition is with yourself, asking whether you are better today than you were last year, or whether you handled your last assignment better than the one before it.

“Recognition should be a by-product of meaningful work, not the objective that drives it.”

9. What does life look like after Deloitte?

Whatever I am today, I owe a great deal to Deloitte. My journey with Deloitte began in July 1988, when I moved to Mumbai and joined P. C. Hansotia & Co., Deloitte’s affiliated firm in Mumbai, as an intern. I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in May 1991, continued my journey with the firm, and eventually became a Partner. I may have opted for early retirement as a Deloitte Partner, but in many ways, Deloitte has been part of me for nearly four decades. I may have transitioned from Deloitte, but Deloitte can never be removed from me.

I took early retirement from Deloitte as a Partner, but I never really thought of it as retirement. I simply moved to working on my own terms. My aim was to use the experience I had built over the years and the relationships I had developed to contribute wherever I could add value. It has been more than two years now, but honestly, I hardly feel like I have retired.

When I first transitioned from my formal role at Deloitte, I was curious to see how my relationships with clients would evolve outside the firm. After all, for many years, Deloitte had been the context in which we worked together. I wondered how many of those relationships would continue once that association was no longer there.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Most of my old clients stayed in touch and their doors are always open to visit. One even invited me for guidance and said, “When you were at Deloitte, you couldn’t say no when you came to meet us, but now that you have come after retiring from Deloitte, we know you genuinely cared about us.”

That stayed with me. It was a reminder that relationships built over many years can continue even when the professional association comes to an end.

Today, I work selectively with existing firms and advisory businesses rather than trying to build another large organisation. I advise partners and professionals across professional firms on developing their soft skills and other team skills, particularly around working with clients and managing people more effectively and efficiently.

I also continue to contribute to Deloitte through its Alumni programme, where I connect with alumni across several generations, including many who were much senior to me during my Deloitte years, as well as colleagues and professionals who joined later. The opportunity was particularly meaningful because Deloitte’s current CEO asked me to take on this role, recognising the tenure, relationships and trust I have built over the years.

What I enjoy most is reconnecting people and strengthening relationships across generations. It is a reminder that relationships built over a career can transcend positions and hierarchy, and that trust, once earned, stays with you long after a particular role or organisation has changed.

I also serve as an advisory board member with a global boutique consulting entity focused on digital platforms including AI and ML, and with a start-up engaged in the solar energy space.

A large part of what I enjoy doing today is connecting people such as investors, professionals, vendors, customers, bankers and business leaders. Over the years, I’ve realised that connecting people and creating opportunities comes very naturally to me, and in many situations, I’ve been able to bring together the right people and facilitate outcomes as effectively as those who do this professionally.

I also enjoy spending time with young Partners and professionals, helping them think through their careers and the decisions they face. In many ways, that has become a natural extension of what I have always enjoyed, using my experience, connecting people and helping where I can.

“Retirement from a position does not have to mean retirement from purpose and can instead mean having the freedom to choose where your experience can create value.”

10. What is the philosophy you have carried throughout your life?

For more than a decade, the first line in the personal goal-setting section of my appraisal has remained the same: “Simple living and high thinking.” It is a phrase that has quietly guided both my professional and personal journey.

I have always strongly believed in client-centricity. To me, it starts with a simple question: what does the other person really need? We may have the best product, the most sophisticated solution or the strongest technical expertise, but if it does not address the client’s actual needs or pain points, it has little meaning for them. The real value lies in listening carefully, understanding the problem and then finding the right solution to address it.

The same philosophy has shaped the way I build relationships. I have always believed in helping people without expecting anything in return.

I was reminded of this recently when I was speaking with a senior leader of a large consulting firm. He told me that he had been with a group of senior leaders, and they were discussing how I manage to remain connected with so many colleagues over the years. Their experience, he said, was that many people they tried to reach often did not answer their calls or respond to their messages.

My response was simple. Relationships cannot be transactional.

If you reach out to someone only when you need something, people eventually recognise the pattern. But when a relationship is genuine, built over many years, and based on mutual respect and a willingness to help without expecting anything in return, the connection remains strong, even when there is no immediate reason to stay in touch.

There is an analogy about Mount Everest that has stayed with me. Those who successfully make their way back down the mountain are often the ones who helped others on their way up, and, on the way down, found that someone was there to help them.

I believe professional life is much the same.

If you help people when they are moving upward, there will be people who will be there for you when you need help on your way down.

Looking back, I believe technical knowledge has been important, and professional expertise has certainly been the foundation of my career. Soft skills, communication and relationships have been equally important. But ultimately, the greatest asset a professional can build is trust, the confidence that people have in you, not only because of what you know, but because they know you will listen, understand, help and do the right thing.

That is perhaps the simplest way I would describe what I have tried to build throughout my career. It is not just a professional network, but relationships based on trust, not just clients, but long-term relationships, and not just success for myself, but the ability to create value for others along the way.

And perhaps that is what “simple living and high thinking” has meant to me all these years.

“If you consistently create value for others, your reputation becomes more than a professional asset and becomes a responsibility to use your experience to help others grow.”