Dear all, quite some number of us have known, been through and have faced the brunt of managing between our Articleship and the respective Classes during our time in CA Finals. Maybe some of us are still facing the brunt of the same in some way or the other….
Students, on paper, are undergoing their Articleship in conformity with the guidelines but are they actually able to do so ?, does the fear of failing in CA Finals due to their inability to attend Classes because of Articleship not haunt them ?, do they not take Dummy Articleship or request their respective Principals, Chartered Accountant under whom they are undergoing their Articleship, to let them come late to the office or to allow them to leave early so that they can attend Classes ?
The issue is that a CA student wants to become a Chartered Accountant as early as possible and for that he/she needs to attend all the required Classes irrespective of their odd timings. Now, a student who is undergoing his/her Articleship training finds it difficult to manage between Articleship and Classes quite some number of times. This leaves the student with two options, either take a Dummy Articleship or request his/her Principal, Chartered Accountant under whom they are undergoing their Articleship, to come late or leave early at times.
Articleship is there so that a CA student can undergo practical training in order to learn Professional practices, communications and ethics and to get some hands-on experience w.r.t. our area of work. However, what actually happens is that quite some number of CA students, due to their inability to manage between Articleship and Classes, either come late or go early thereby disturbing the office decorum or they take Dummy Articleship which results in their being undertrained and lagging behind in terms of Professionalism.
Who is to be blamed ?, a student who wants to become a Chartered Accountant as early as possible or the Chartered Accountant Principal who lets his/her Articles disturb the office decorum on compassionate grounds !
We need to realise that the upcoming generation of Chartered Accountants will learn what we teach them. We can blame nobody, neither the student nor the Chartered Accountant Principal. Student’s desire to complete CA as soon as possible is genuine and the Chartered Accountant Principal’s allowing the Article to come late or leave before office hours are over is empathy. Hence nobody can be blamed.
No doubt that most of the CA students consider General Management and Communication Skills (GMCS) Classes a mere formality and it’s because we have taught them, directly or indirectly, that it’s alright to take Dummy Articleship and that it’s alright to not obey the office timings while being in the Articleship and that good communication skills are not that important because we are Chartered Accountants and that’s the end of the world !
We need to make a sincere effort to churn out top notch Professionals and well taught human beings. Classes which take place during general office hours should be kept under check by our respective Institute and its allied bodies. An Article should be comprehensively trained by the respective Chartered Accountant Principal. Communication must be given it’s due importance since it’s the need of the hour due to spurt in globalisation.
Various learnings are given during GMCS sessions but the practical and the most important part, the Articleship, is not given its due importance. Most of the learnings in GMCS sessions can actually be implemented and taught during Articleship.
The aforementioned issues are only a part of the lake, however, if taken care of then they can make a huge difference in a positive way to us, to our great institution and to our reputation and respect in terms how community perceives us !
(Author Details- CA Sahil Jolly – Jolly & Co. Chartered Accountants, Contact: +91-9999830077, Email : casahiljolly@gmail.com)
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Hi,
Thank you and your respective responses are always welcome.
@ Sabiha, I will not comment on how the curriculum is designed w.r.t. Law students. However, experience might vary from person to person but Articleship does give a lot of learning to a CA student in terms of the fact that a student can actually learn the application of knowledge being acquired which acts as a major catalyst in giving one a better approach towards studying.
@ Vasanth Kumar, this Article was mainly written in accordance with what is perceived in common parlance in order to promote understanding. Anyways, I appreciate your suggestion and will take care of the same in future.
@ Bhavesh Savla, I did not presume things mainly. This article has been written in accordance with what is perceived in common parlance by students, among others. Self-study is the best way and should definitely be promoted by our great institution but the same can not be done without providing some regular classroom guidance. Thus, most of the students, in want of guidance, have started believing that one can not make it happen without taking Tution classes ! Basis this premise I went ahead and wrote this article so that atleast the Articleship is taken seriously and once we start giving it its due importance, I believe, the need for Classes will comparatively lessen.
Regards,
CA Sahil Jolly
Sir,
I do’nt think that articleship should be compulsory for a C.A. student.
Articleship is not necessary for a student doing law, so why it should be compulsory for a C.A. student i do not understand. I feel that the C.A. Articleship is more beneficial to the principal than to a C.A. student.
Dear Sahil,
Your article on articleship and attending classes is well written and is very useful to CA students. Really appreciate your points on GMCS.
However I suggest that CA students should not purely depend on coaching classes (and now a days full day coaching) and develop more on self study, which is how CA course is designed.
Also note that there is no concept like “dummy articleship”. Kindly do not use such words in further articles.
Appreciate for writing such a good article and keep doing the good job.
Regards
CA Vasanth Kumar
But why are you assuming that classes are inevitable? Your entire premise that students have no option but to attend classes is not correct. This is reflective of our mentality.