CA is one of those professions that need the right mix of theoretical learning and practical understanding. Your 3 or 3.½ year-long articleship is where you get the first taste of a professional environment. It is where your practical earning happens along with setting up a strong fundamental base in the concepts and practices. Your articleship influences you the most about the type of CA you will become.
Your approach towards articleship is most important, taking it too seriously or too lightly will have an adverse impact on your learning. During the articleship, there are certain areas that one needs to cover in-depth.
Who is eligible for Articleship?
There are two ways to qualify for Articleship
Foundation/CPT route entries are eligible for the articleship after passing either or both the Intermediate/IPCC groups and completing the four-week Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills (ICITSS)/Information Technology Training (IT) and Orientation Course (OC).
When it comes to Direct Route entries, They can commence the articleship/practical training immediately after registering for the Intermediate/IPCC Course and completing the four-week ICITSS/ITT & OC.
How to select your CA firm
CA aspirants normally have 3 options when they think about where to do articleship. Big4s, Big Firms, Mid Size firms. Each comes with its own pros and cons.
Big4 firms
Articleship with big4 firms will definitely add weight to your CV and it is indeed an excellent opportunity. It will bring you opportunities with the works of high-profile clients, experienced professionals, and insight into the top-quality corporate world. Their established systems and procedures are one of the best in the world, it will be well established and make the work easier. Learning from such standards will improve your learning and efficiency.
Along with all the positives, there are a number of challenges for a learner. One of them is the possibility of limited exposure to multiple fields. Big 4 firms have different departments such as Audit & Assurance, Direct Taxes, Indirect Taxes, Internal Audit & Risk advisory services, Mergers & Acquisitions, and many more. Since it’s the beginning of your career, it will be hard to choose a preferred department to work in, and also that difficulty might be faced when you try to move from departments later. So monotonous work and limited learning might happen in certain circumstances.
Big Firms
With 10-20 partners, a big CA firm will have diverse work that varies from Audit, taxation, internal audit etc. These firms might not have an extraordinary global presence but more flexible rules and opportunities to work with different teams, areas and cases enhances the learning experience. Doing articleship under big firms, the students will get more involvement and opportunities to experience diverse cases.
Mid-sized firms.
With a limited number of partners, they mostly work in two ways:
General practice in all areas
One particular specialized area of services.
Working with Mid-Sized will give extensive exposure to various work-related aspects. One of the major positives with doing articleship with small firms is the flexible hierarchy and getting mentored by partners directly. The practice involves various aspects and gets intense training in several of the practicing matters.
What to Study during articleship?
Learning is the most important part during the time of articleship, hence the primary objective must be to get a strong hand in the fundamental concepts and practices. Below we divided some of the most important areas that should be a strong priority of learning any article.
Audit
There is a high probability that the article will be introduced to auditing in the early days of their articleship. Developing a proper working knowledge of various auditing standards and procedures must be a strong priority at this stage. Learning the common errors in auditing, practices, correction methods, etc together with experience will give you a solid understanding of the subject
Accounting
It’s time for some proper schooling in accounting. Even a simple data entry of a client will make some of the fundamental accounting concepts clear. Master software like Tally prime, QuickBooks etc must be one of your objectives regarding accounting. This software are widely used and have detailed functions and features that comprehend requirements for various laws and procedures.
Taxation and Filings
Getting an in-depth understanding of various tax systems and filings is another important area that one needs to concentrate on while doing articleship. In general, even with GST, our country has a complicated tax system.
Communication Skills
One of the neglected areas where an article needs to have a good grip. Good communication skills is an important aspect and will be crucial in the development of your career. The articleship period is in the ebay items to address and improve the area of communication.
