First of all many-many congratulations to all the CA Intermediate(IPC) Aspirants who have stepped up in any way in this consecutive killing and drilling result for May/June 2014 term. I wish all of you to grow harder with keeping 3 C's always in your pocket i.e. Creativity, Confidence and Corporate sense, in your next step which will be your so called three years rigorous imprisonment in common parlance among CA students, and in our words it's a welcome step into real corporate to help you survive and better grow in this competitive era.
Also I want to say good luck to the ones who were remained untouched to the passing criteria of the exam, be passionate, because you'll gonna achieve better in next.
Being part of CCI family for years, and after becoming a Chartered Accountant and giving millions of such career boosting advices, I'm glad to say that the idea came to my mind, to use this platform to motivate the newcoming CA aspirants and change their mindset from dummy to practical, also to prepare them for entering into their desired firms with making up for interviews and professional grooming.
And simultaneously preparing the CA students, who received negativity in the result, to look it as an opportunity and to move ahead, as the course is slightly changed for them.
For going forward I've splitted the aspirants into Three Categories:
1. Both Groups (Those who are now CA Finalists and ready for CA Articleship);
2. First Group (Those who are ready for CA Articleship and Second Group simultaneously);
3. Zero Group (Those who are keen for above achievement).
1. Both Groups (Those who are now CA Finalists and ready for CA Articleship): At this moment you're really at the top of the world nevertheless the attempts were taken to achieve this. And congratulating for this, I want you to go ahead smoothly, following are the steps to pave your way:
- Before everything it comes to enjoy, rejoice the moments with friends and family you missed for studying, and at the same time remember that destination is far away and it's one milestone is achieved, many more to go. So, be determint for that always. And remember to take advices from seniors and experience holders, but do what your heart says.
- Now here you'll plan welcome step for your ideal future, i.e. CA Articleship. It is the backbone of your career, so don't miss this out ever. Otherwise after becoming a Chartered Accountant through dummy articleship, you'll feel like a CA Article in front of your colleague who has gone through rigorous articleship. And also this is a very enjoying phase in your life because you'll be working with your same-age colleagues and will learn the tactics of job and business very closely.
- So, Firstly quote your interest in areas like auditing, taxation, finance, or any combination and accordingly list out the CA firms where you can better get your interested work to learn.
- If you are unable to select your interest, go for the combination of all which will let you understand your core competencies and interests.
- Now the question arises that how to list out such firms for entering into. Even the confusion occurs when we think of Big, Middle and small firms. Each and every type of firm is distinct in its nature and scope.
- An ideal type can be said to be Medium-small CA Firms for the combination of all areas, because period by period you'll get chance of learning in each of the areas, and it's highly recommended if you're planning for practice anytime in future, even after few years of job.
- As the most queries occur for Big CA Firms, it's advisable to enter into such firms if you're keen for some specialization, although career opportunities are higher after doing articleship from Big CA Firms, as you'll have to follow uniform corporate policies and practices.
- Even you can opt secondment plan for getting some specialization for a period of six months later on during articleship, but you should not opt this if you're getting persified opportunities at the same place.
- So, before entrance you'd be interviewed to test your capabilities to fit for the CA firm. For which you're required to improve your communication skills, interpersonal/soft skills, linguistic skills in English formerly, computer skills and knowledge, as well as the knowledge you gained through your Intermediate(IPC) curriculum.
- For interview, you're required to prepare an impressive but correctly informative, in simple words Expressive Resume, because on the basis of resume you'll be asked the questions in interview for checking authenticity of such information. Remember "First impression is the last impression." And "Resume is the key for you to grab an opportunity to present and express yourself." Therefore, include as many as unique personalities and skills you have to your resume, so that you'll be identified as opportunity maker. If possible, make an interactive CV, i.e. which speaks the information itself and eye-catching.
- Include your strengths and such weeknesses which will not affect your work. Strength like 'I know my weeknesses', 'Thinker in team spirit' etc give weight to your resume, but don't copy these if you don't have. Do SWOT analysis of yourself for it which you learnt in Strategic Management Subject.
- As earlier I've suggested you to keep 3 C's in your pocket, viz. Creativity, Confidence and Corporate sense, and therefore, you're required to implement these C's during interview process effectively while answering the interviewer. And never answer negatively, but try to say NO for a question, you don't have answer of.
- Well prepare in advance for some interview questions like "Tell me about yourself", "Your area of interest", "Your strengths and weeknesses", "How will you make your weekness as your strength?", "Why have you chosen CA as your career?", "Where do you expect yourself after 3 years?", "Why should we give an opportunity to you?", etc.
- At this moment never prefer your stipend, but the work culture in the CA firm you're going for.
- Now coming to the Industrial Training option, it's very much understandable through its name itself, i.e. if you are interested to move into some specific industry like manufacturing, banking, etc after being qualified, you should opt it for being preferred for employment in that industry. For the students, who are planning for business or practice will gain better experience in articleship only rather than going industry specific.
- So, you've now got an idea of looking for your articleship. Simultaneously you're required to prepare your CA Final phrase by phrase, and brick by brick to attain the goal of being a Chartered Accountant in one go. For CA Final exam preparation, self studies are the only keys for success, although in some subjects guidance from teacher give well support in studying. Regarding CA final studies I will only mention one thing here, "The way to study concentric to exams in CA Final" is "the way to prepare practically at work" or vice versa.
- Elaborating this, just prepare each and every content along with concepts only, because what usually happens in exam, examinee without finding the root cause given in the question, answers in an imitated way, and when he/she is unable to get marks, blames ICAI. Going through concepts will also help in applying practical knowledge during articleship or later. This is the reason, you'll find ICAI Study Material headed as "Working Knowledge".
2. First Group (Those who are ready for CA Articleship and Second Group simultaneously): Even though your second group is pending, you're allowed to rejoice, but do care of your goal as well. Whatever I've provided for former category is also applicable for students cleared only first group. Further, you're required to take care of following factors along with former ones:
- Remember that when you'll be going for articleship, you'll be less preferred than 'Both Group' category, as in earlier learning days, you'll be asking for examination leaves for 2nd group, and none of the organizations will be comfortable to give leaves at initial learning stage.
- To overcome this negative point attached with you, if you're serious about your articleship, you should convey interviewer in such a manner that the second group is quite manageable by you along with articleship without affecting work.
- And you should not delay articleship for the sake of completing second group. Resulting of which will be delay in CA Final exam and your opportunity of being a Chartered Accountant. So, measure it on cost benefit analysis.
- Now your next question would be how to manage Second Group simultaneous to your articleship, this is easily manageable with only practical subject Advanced Accountancy coaching and studying Auditing and IT-SM through self. For second group ICAI Study Materials, Suggested Answers and Practice Manuals are preferable to study.
- And during examination, writing answers as per the stepwise presentation in practice manual and suggested answers, as well as with conceptual approach, will be helpful in grabbing desirable marks. It's due to the reason, the marking in CA exams is steps-based, therefore, even if you computed or justified the correct answer, and missed a single important step, you'll not be eligible for full marks. Hence, a proper presentation is also a necessity.
3. Zero Group (Those who are keen for above achievement): This should not be taken as a sad moment by you, but you should expose it as an opportunity because you gained some experience from these exams, and in such professional exams, it's very often to remain uncleared. Therefore, do not demotivate yourself and rejoice for next using following suggestions:
- Do not compare with others, just compare your past performance with present. Although it's always good to follow best practices followed by others.
- Learn from your previous mistakes, and try not to repeat those mistakes again.
- As New Companies Act, 2013 is enacted, you'll be having following changes in your syllabus:
- The Companies Act 2013 has been notified in the Official Gazette on 30th August, 2013 stating that different dates may be appointed for enforcement of different provisions of this Act through notification of the Central Government in this regard.
- Having regard to the above development, the Council at its 330th meeting revised the syllabus in a limited manner in the following papers of Intermediate (IPC) Course as per Annexure I:
- "Paper No. 2- Business Laws, Ethics and Communication", And "Paper No. 6 : Auditing and Assurance".
- The Central Government has notified 98 sections of The Companies Act 2013 on 12th September, 2013. Accordingly, those 98 notified sections are applicable for November 2014 examinations corresponding to their bifurcation into the Intermediate (IPC) Course, i.e. from these 98 sections, 53 sections have been included in the Paper – 2, Business Laws, Ethics and Communication, Intermediate (IPC) Course.
- For reference and benefit of CA students, the Board of Studies has released the following publications relevant for November, 2014 examinations for Paper – 2, Business Laws, Ethics and Communication, Intermediate (IPC) Course:
- Supplementary study material for Intermediate (IPC) Course, Download link: http://220.227.161.86/32794ssp-p2blec-ipcc.pdf
- Therefore you're required to change your mindset for only 30 marks consisting of company law in Paper-2, and about 25-30 marks variable weightage in Paper-6 regarding Companies Act, 2013.
- Also there is a change in syllabus in Paper-4 : Taxation, in Indirect Section consisting of 50 Marks, there is:
1.Introduction to excise duty, customs duty, central sales tax and VAT – Constitutional aspects, Basic concepts relating to levy, taxable event and related provisions
2. Significant provisions of service tax
(i) Constitutional Aspects
(ii) Basic Concepts and General Principles
(iii) Charge of service tax including negative list of services
(iv) Point of taxation of services
(v) Exemptions and Abatements
(vi) Valuation of taxable services
(vii) Invoicing for taxable services
(viii) Payment of service tax
(ix) Registration
(x) Furnishing of returns
(xi) CENVAT Credit [Rule 1 -9 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004]
- Hence, only this much study plan will vary, except this - stick with the present plan, along with following ICAI Study Materials, Suggested Answers and Practice Manuals without thinking that the book you've referred was not proper, because if you'll go conceptwise, you will not face such hurdles.
- And during examination, writing answers as per the stepwise presentation in practice manual and suggested answers, as well as with conceptual approach, will be helpful in grabbing desirable marks. It's due to the reason, the marking in CA exams is steps-based, therefore, even if you computed or justified the correct answer, and missed a single important step, you'll not be eligible for full marks. Hence, a proper presentation is also a necessity.
Conclusion: For CA students of all categories, I want to convey the same message, i.e. Work practical, live practical and study also practically, therefore you should prepare for your exams and answer in a manner that the question is for you. Hence, if you will answer considering yourself as a person characterized in question, you will be able to bring perfection in your performance and will easily achieve your goals.
Wishing you Good Luck again for your blinking future !!!
Author - CA. Akhil Maheshwari, a Chartered Accountant of November 2013 batch passout, a helping hand through CAR-The Professional Study Empire, can be reached at ca.akhilmaheshwari@gmail.com or on Facebook.
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