Till High school life is care-free one and there is a "go-with-the-wind" attitude and rightly so. All your friends in the same class, same daily routine, same exams etc..
The point of time one enters college and clears CPT (now after IPCC), there is a wierd question hovering around "articleship kahan karega" or "kahan kahan apply kiya".
Articleship is that point which embarks on a new journey for a CA student. It can be widely regarded as the stepping stone to the professional world.
DAY 1, I was sent to a pvt ltd co. in Park Street with one of the seniors(3rd year article) with the instruction from my Principal, "Isko audit mein saath mein le jao". After 2-3 hours of marking red ticks on the vouchers and mapping it with the TALLY print-outs, I started to wondered whether this is what is all about audit and is it for this that CAs charge hefty audit fees and command such respect!
However, my myth was soon broken. One good thing about mid-sized firm is that you get to work on a variety of assignments from statutory and internal audits to Tax Returns. From ROC work to concurrent audits of banks.
Of-course there are periods that test your patience: when you have an important tuition class to attend and you have been instructed to upload a few returns before leaving.
However, one of the audit mantras(which I reveived from one my seniors) that I would like to share, which kept me motivated during those 3 years was: "Always assume that your principal's work is your own work. Do not compare your quality of work with the meagre stipend which you pocket. "
Remember:
It is all about developing those niche skills that augment a win-win situation for both the client and the principal. It is all about gaining that confidence that even you can sign the audit report had you been the auditor of the Company!!!
CA. Vivek Agarwal
(AIR 49 in Final, 35 in PCC)