5 Observations about CA After 1 year of being a member
1. CA is not the gateway to success:
The one of the major reason why everybody opts for chartered accountancy is the ever prevailing notion that CA is a gateway to success. We have started hearing this since ages because the person who have told us this may have been hearing the same from someone....and maybe it was true.
But, the truth is that it has been the Hard work and Toil each and every CA student has to face during his pre qualification period which opens new and new gates of success and not the degree itself.
2. Being a Chartered does not mean that you are over and above any person.
Yes. Even if a person is a B.Com Graduate or 12th Class student or even a Play group kid, we CA are no better than him due to a well established and estimated designation. It is unsaid but ground reality is known by us and its time we faced it. So, underrating anyone just because of his academic qualification is not at all Beneficial for the profession.
3. NEVER EVER Underestimate yourselves
We start going to office at the age of 17-20 and work as if we are a grown up person. When most of the kids of our age are enjoying college life , we people are working in September returns and year end audits. Do we really need to do it. ?....a definite yes. For a better future we have to and hard work is never left unpaid.
8-9 Hours of continuous full time office with work which is the hardest and the most respected one. And then the cyclical tuitions in morning as well as evening. Sitting on plastic stools for 3 hours surrounded by hundreds of faces we just know by seeing in our class and never bother to even ask the name. And then the self study part too. We take extra tuitions for weekends.
All This we do at a age of mere 17-25 years . And after clearing CA(or otherwise too) we feel that we haven't done anything yet when we are not able to get the success despite giving and heart and soul to it for the initial period . Reason for this feeling is the journey through CA is extremely tough and we are completely exhausted by the time we reach our summit. But, coming as far is a thing to be proud off. We have faced the toughest of times in the most delicate years of our life.
You may not be getting a suitable job, the required reputation or anything u think u deserve is not within your reach. But still you have came a long way and you have the strength to survive this too.
4.You are free to do anything you want even after doing CA.
For 4 Years (or more) we are hammered with the concept that we have to clear the exams, which is necessary as CA exams being the one of the toughest exams of the world. But what is to be done after that is not even discussed before that. One of the only hot topics is whether ill go into practice or employment. Business category is hardly three or four in a pool of hundred students (Just a general observation, data cannot be vouched..;)). So, as soon as we clear exams we are Nowhere..
After Exams is it our only wish to do a job in the big four or practice.(Both are esteemed activities and have their own significance which is very huge and surely cannot be denied). We CA are extraordinary creatures and maybe that realisation is killed with the constant disappointment during our struggle. But we have came out of that and we deserve a round of applause first and after that a wide horizon to think what we want to do with our lives and how we can make the most out of it. New and new opportunities are opening and may be its time we have to show that we Chartered Accountants can get into other fields and prove that we have been through the hardest of times and got out successfully.
5.Search for Just one thing
Whatever you do, just see it through the eyes of your happiness. During our times of course we have been told that we have to be sincere and look into one direction. But if this is not the time for enjoying our life then what is the point of doing anything. Hard work and dedication is inevitable and needed to achieve anything in life but is it so necessary that we forget the real reason of our lives. Which is happiness.
I would like to share this thought I found on Facebook by John Lennon:
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
Your family, friends, relatives, mentors are people who will never ask anything but always wish for your happiness and well being. Being on target is good but you can be a little bit selfish and catch up some time with them. Go watch a movie, plan a surprise outing , give surprise birthday party to friends. Learn music, read novels , write or anything which makes you happy and come out of the continuous unwritten protocol we chartered are expected to follow.
Choosing CA as a career was the best decision of my life.
CA Ankit Sharma
CAclubindia
