Before joining CA articleship, I am sure all the CA Inter students have a lot of queries and thoughts about articleship. In this post, I am going to answer one such basic question about CA articleship. Read on...
Scope of Work in CA Articleship - Can it be defined?
There was a time when a Chartered Accountant was meant to just conduct statutory audits of entities. But not anymore. Talking of current times, the scope of work in a CA firm, and in case of CA articleship can be endless actually. There are so many opportunities and avenues, that there cannot be a finite boundary to this anymore. And this is precisely the reason why there cannot be any one answer to the question which forms the title of this post.
Frankly speaking, the scope of work YOU do will depend on YOU only. It is going to be your attitude of learning new things and the curiousity which will make you ask to new areas of work. It is absolutely not necessary that you will keep doing only one type of work for the entire duration of your articleship, you can speak up any time with your manager and ask to be staffed elsewhere.
Areas of Work
There cannot be an exhaustive list of the areas of work where you as an Articled Assistant may be staffed. Below is an indicative list:
1. Direct Taxes
Preparing Computation of Total Income
ITR filing
Scrutiny assessments
Appeals & Tribunals (mostly as an assistant to some senior/partner)
Tax planning
Tax advisory
2. Indirect Taxes
a. Return filing
b. Tax planning
c. Tax advisory
3. Company Law
a. ROC filing
b. Incorporation of new company
c. AGM, Minutes and other secretarial compliances
d. Legal advisory
4. International Taxation
a. Transfer pricing
b. Tax planning
c. Tax advisory
5. Statutory Audits
6. Internal Audits
7. Tax Audits
8. Bank Audits
9. NBFC-related work and compliance
10. M&A advisory
11. Due diligence
12. Business consultancy
13. and the list can go on...
At the end of the day, what all work you will be handling will depend a lot on the capabilities and interests of the CA firm. But make sure you get a feel of almost all the core areas of work your CA firm handles.
Is Articleship daunting?
I know CA Articleship can sound daunting and tough when you read it, or when any senior shares his/her experiences with you (mostly the bitter ones). But trust me, it is the golden period of your life. After this period is over, who will pay you to commit mistakes and learn how to work? No one apart from your Manager/Principal will do this. So make full use of this opportunity.
How can Articleship be a positive experience for you?
Suppose there is an important eye cataract surgery which needs to be performed on your grandmother. Will you go to a novice or an experienced eye surgeon? Why? A surgeon is a surgeon, right? What then is the difference between a newbie and someone who has been performing 10 such surgeries daily for the last 20 years? The answer is EXPERIENCE. Experience is like gold, it is always precious. This is why articleship is important. The key to making this period worth it is having the right attitude, determination, and sincerity. The articleship period is all about learning new things, understanding how work is done and mastering the art. A Chartered Accountant's signature is more powerful than that of the Prime Minister of our country - such is the responsibility and trust placed on us by the society. The articleship period is just to make you ready to handle this responsibility and justify the trust reposed in you.
I can go on and on, but the idea here is to understand the message I want to communicate. Please don't go into articleship with negative thoughts associated with it. Go to your office everyday with a smile on your face, with only one objective - to learn something new every day. Some days will be good; some days will be very good, you will make countless memories and friendships. But at the end of the day, never forget to ask yourself this one question before going to bed - what new did I learn today? If you can answer this question affirmatively each day, no one can stop you from becoming successful in life.
Hope this clarifies some doubts regarding articleship and its scope. Please feel free to reach out to me in case of any comments, queries, feedback or suggestions.
Thanks for reading:)