5 THINGS YOU MUST LEARN DURING YOUR ARTICLESHIP

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Your articleship is the golden time of your period as a CA student. How you go through it will have an impact on what type of CA you are going to become. Taking your articleship too lightly or too seriously will have an adverse impact on your training and your overall learning experience. In this article 5 basic conventional things that every article should learn during articleship tenure would be briefly discussed:

1) AUDIT

It’s highly likely that the day you join your articleship you will be sent out for the first phase of audit called vouching

What should you learn?

The point here to know is that developing a working knowledge of Standards of auditing and getting to know history of accounting errors and system’s problems at a particular client’s place can easily benefit you in understanding how things are done in real life.

2) ACCOUNTING

“What’s a Chartered Accountant who hasn’t done some real accounting work?”. Simple data entry of clients can help you understand fundamental accounting concepts better.

What you should learn?

Familiarise yourself with 2 basic accounting softwares in use-Tally and Busy. Both are powerful softwares and misjudging them for simple accounting tools would be imprudent . Both offer powerful reporting facilities as well as assist in managing business.

3) COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Even though this is stressed by CA speakers but often neglected by masses as most of them chase marks. You should know that an average CA with good communication skills will reach great heights than toppers with poor communication skills.

How to go about it?

Start small, taking initiative requesting your principle that he allows you to attend his meetings with clients regarding audits etc can be useful or if you are in second year you yourself can hold regular meetings and develop communication while discussing your audit related queries etc. You can also go big and take part in ICAI’s student convention held regularly throughout India.

What you should learn?

When you are in a meeting you should realize that the person you are dealing with holds a vast amount of knowledge regarding his company and matters related to it. If your query is good but your presentation is bad then he can easily outwit you. Ever wondered if you are a Practicing CA with same communication problems, how adversely it can affect you?

It’s never late! Start now!

4) DEALING WITH THE BABU

Your articleship training is incomplete until you have witnessed the reality of a government office. Government offices working at snail paces, double sided drawers for easy transfer of bribes, constant running out to submit ITR at the Central Revenue Office , standing in the queue for hours and trying to set up an appointment with a high rank officer for days only to get it after paying 1000 rupees to the peon are some of the things you will witness there.

5) TAKE A CHILL PILL

Remember that your 3 years of articleship may be most important but they are not the only 3 years of your career. Learn when to relax. Some people are unable to cope up with too much work and study pressure all pressing on them at the same time. Also know that you may be asked tyo go over and above your capacity. While that is acceptable at times but you should know where to draw the line and ease yourself.

Why you need to learn this?

Young Indian professionals are the most stressed out in world. Their ambition for money takes a toll on their health and leads to restlessness, depression, heart problems and many more. But what is the use of the extra money you make when you can’t be happy with it? Learning this important point and relaxing when you should, during your training will complete your experience of becoming a successful CA later on.

These are the major points to be learnt during articleship. These major points form the core of your learning experience