NEW DELHI: Ajay Goel, the Chief Financial Officer of Edtech startup BYJU’S, has left the company and is going back to Vedanta after concluding the financial year 2022 audit process, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday. The edtech firm has brought in seasoned businessman Pradip Kanakia as a senior advisor, and President (Finance) Nitin Golani has been granted more authority as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of India to manage the company’s financial operations. “I appreciate BYJU’S founders and colleagues helping me put together the FY’22 audit in just three months. During my brief but significant tenure at BYJU’S, I am grateful for the support I received,” Goel stated.According to the statement, he will move on after the financial year (FY) 2022 audit procedures are over. Sources claim that because Goel’s departure was still being processed, the company’s scheduled board meeting to approve the outcome in the second week of October could not proceed. The company’s audit process will be materially impacted by the CFO’s resignation, therefore even if Goel’s audit is complete, the auditor BDO (MSKA & Associates) will sign off on the audit after conducting due diligence. Following the completion of the procedure by BDO (MSKA & Associates), the FY 2022 result will be presented to the board of BYJU for adoption, the source stated.After working for the company for six months, Goel has resigned. In the first week of April, BYJU’s announced his hiring as Group CFO; however, as a result of internal reorganisation, he was tasked with overseeing finance at the Indian level. Deloitte, BYJU’s auditor, quit in June, two months after Goel joined the company, alleging a delay in the completion of the financial accounts for FY 2022. Deloitte Haskins and Sells announced in a letter to the board of Byju that it is leaving its position as Think & Learn’s auditor three years before its contract expires because of a protracted delay in the edtech company’s financial statement for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022.Following the resignation of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, the company named BDO (MSKA & Associates) as its auditor. Kankia, a senior advisor at BYJU’S, has over 35 years of expertise, having held executive roles at Price Waterhouse and KPMG. Prior to moving into an operational role at Aakash following the acquisition by Byju for USD 1 billion in 2021, Golani served as Chief Strategy Officer at Aakash Education.He started his career with Grant Thornton Bharat and has since held positions at Accenture Strategy and MetLife. Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, the founders of BYJU, praised Goel for his work as CFO and showed faith in the new group. Golani declared he will assume the new position with a committed group of people.
