Influential Woman · Consulting Finance IT

Shoma Sinha

Founder | Principal, Vikaraa LLC | WNBENC Certified

Sunnyvale, CA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Chartered Accountant qualification Cert Chartered Accountant

Her Story

About Shoma

I qualified as a chartered accountant in early 2000 and started in banking in Mumbai, India's financial district. At India's largest private sector bank, I progressed from financial planning and analysis to leading Oracle eBay's solutions for financial reporting, budgeting, planning, transfer pricing, and regulatory reporting. I became technologically curious about how to improve analysis using technology. After coming to the U.S. following a career break, I joined an advisory and incubator firm where we incubated startups and provided HR and finance services. I spent 3 years doing end-to-end work, helping companies form from legal documentation to financial accounting and planning. Then I worked with a startup to set up their finance systems as the lead finance person, capitalizing on everything I learned in enterprise and combining it with startup knowledge. After setting up that finance department, I realized I could do this for any company, so I started my company Vikara in May 2023. We run two practices as a boutique consulting firm in Silicon Valley, helping companies with accounting, corporate taxation, and digital transformation of finance.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Shoma

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say that we are always a victim of our imposter syndrome. Being a second-class citizen of the world, we are all trying to prove ourselves more, and that automatically, structurally, no matter which part of the world you are in, that is the way we think. We always want to have the cleanest way of doing things, and we want to justify ourselves more. I have grown, and I'm sure we hear that from everyone, that nobody's perfect, and there's no need to penalize ourselves for not knowing. To grow is to know how to know.

02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

There are two governing principles on which me and the company both operate, because you can't be two different people. The first principle is keep your intentions honest, the outcome will always be good. As a company providing services, we have the highest rights in the company because we're dealing with financial systems and financial data. We get to see your bank, we get to see everything about you. We can only do honest work. For everyone, from our team to our clients, you should be ready to receive honest service as well. The second principle is adaptability. This is a quote from Charles Darwin - the evolution of a species is decided not by the strongest or the fittest, but by the most adaptable. These are the two governing principles of our organization, and it's mine too, because in life, if we have to succeed, we need to be adaptable.

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