14 July 2011
My articleship is ending this November 2011. I have a extension of about 4-5 months. But i have worked for long hours in office. We also maintained a office dairy. I have recorded my office timings in the dairy. Now on calculation of total working hours my extension gets reduced to 1 month. 1. Now the main question is are working hours really counted in Articleship? 2. If Yes then is there a method presribed by ICAI for calculation of working hours? 3. Are there fields/columns in the Form for completion of Articleship? 4. Are full 24 hours to be counted as working hours in Outstation Audits? There are lots of other questions as well. I request you all to please help me as this matter as we all know is very important to us.
14 July 2011
Some firms ask the Articles to work for 60 Hrs a week as the Articles are paid more stipend then the suggested by the ICAI and for the excess leave it is deducted and extension is given. As per ICAI the following is the regulation for calculation of working hours.
a) The working hours for the articled assistants shall be 35 hours in a week excluding the lunch break. b) The office hours of the Principal for providing article training to the articled assistant shall not be generally before 9.00 a.m. or after 7.00 p.m. c) The normal working hours for the articled assistant shall not start after 11.00 a.m. or end before 5.00 p.m. d) The working hours for the articled assistants should not exceed 35 hours in a week excluding the lunch break and normally an articled assistant be required to work during the normal working hours fixed for articled assistants. e) In case of exigencies of work with Principal, an article assistant may be required to work beyond his / her normal working hours. However, under such circumstances, the aggregate number of working hours shall not exceed 45 hours per week. The requirement to work beyond 35 hours in a week should not be a practice but only in exceptional circumstances. Further, where the articled assistant is required to work beyond normal working hours, and aggregate of such hours exceed 35 hours per week, he / she shall be entitled to compensatory leave calculated with reference to number of completed working hours, over and above, 35 hours per week.