Chartered accountancy is one of the most challenging professional career choices, requires dedication and effort. Students aspiring to pursue it thus have to qualify for the Common Proficiency Test of the new CA course to enroll for it and continue to appear in the examinations that follow, i.e., Intermediate and Final exams.
Students also have to complete a rigorous practical training of 3 years known as CA articleship before appearing for their final exams. It trains them for accounting, finance, taxation, and other practices their profession demands. A student must complete his/her articleship training under a practicing CA to be eligible to appear in the chartered accountancy final exam.
However, before joining articleship training, you must know a few important things that will help complete practical training with proficiency.
Things you should know before you join CA articleship–
The firm you will work in
Your choice of CA firm to continue with your articleship has an essential contribution in creating your knowledge graph for real-world practice. CA being a demanding profession, requires you to have considerable knowledge across subjects like accountancy, financial management, strategic management, taxation, audit and more.
Choice of the right firm can give better knowledge regarding these subjects. Here, it is advisable to avoid the much-hyped audit firms as they work in departments. It may ultimately result in constriction of knowledge, and you wouldn’t be able to acquire all the necessary skills.
Work availability
The type of work your chosen firm deals in also counts in as an essential factor you must consider. Along with the qualities of an accountant, you also need to have analytical abilities, business acumen, IT proficiency, communicative and such other skills. The firm you join must be receiving projects of this variety so that you have a chance to get an all-rounded training within 3 years.
Considering the expectations of a CA student from articleship, you must look out for services like audit varieties available during CA articleship, like internal audits, statutory audits, tax audits, etc. Other services may include business laws and their compliance, IPO advisory and solutions, etc.
Such expertise can help you with your career growth, whether you work as a practising professional or as an employee. With growing opportunities for chartered accountants, the possibility for career success remains high.
Further, the availability of additional finances to meet a chartered accountant’s personal and professional needs further makes this profession lucrative. For example, a CA can avail a loan for chartered accountants with high-value, low interest and other attractive features. Lending institutions like Bajaj Finserv make this possible through their exclusive suite of Loans for Chartered Accountants.
Possibility of leaves
The examinations you need to qualify to receive this degree are quite challenging. Hence, when you have completed your CA articleship, you also need to study rigorously for the CA final exams.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider whether you will get the required leaves during your training period for exam preparation or not.
Career consideration for the future – Self-practice or employment
Your career objectives also count as you need to consider beforehand, whether you want to pursue a self-practice, which is almost every CA aspirant’s dream or want employment.
If you choose the former, acquiring a vast base of knowledge during your CA articleship is a must. However, for the latter, you may focus on a specialization.
Hence, it is imperative to consider all these factors along with the job as well as chartered accountant practice opportunities before starting your articleship training. A proper analysis will help you find a suitable firm and gain proficiency by the time your training ends.
