Most of students after clearing CPT try to figure out Where to do articleship from? They wonder what and from where articles should exactly be done. So many questions like which firm? Which dept? Etc.
No wonder a great articleship experience may defiantly land you in Job, you desire. Unfortunately many due to lack of knowledge available end up in wrong place in right time. The purpose of my article is to help young entrants to our profession in some way. All views expressed here are personal.
Firstly one should be clear where does one want to land after becoming CA.
1. Practice / Partnership
2. Industry
Option 1: Practice / Partnership
In case you are planning for practice in future or may like to join in partnership then it would only be better for you to gain experience in both fields namely, Audit and Tax by joining some Mid Size firm and learning varied aspects of same. One can also try luck at Indirect taxes which is relatively unexplored.
Well you can also gain experience only in either fields and then may join Big 4 for few years then go to some Mid size firm to join as partner ( Caution: Big 4’s look for name first then your articleship experience so make sure to have articles from firm having good repute). Moreover you should hunt for firm wherein you can continue after articles as you would be preferred and in case you manage to impress your Boss then partnership offer may soon come up.
Option 2: Industry
In case you belong to category who aspire to be part of corporate world then you need to decide on How.
Options are you would like to join:
1. Audit dept
If you want to part on audit/tax dept of companies all you need to is gain exposure in relevant area and try to do audits of that sector as much as possible. You can also get CISA degree.
2. Finance Dept:
Those thinking getting in here is cakewalk let me take you through some negatives here:
(a) More competition since you have to compete with CFA, MBA, felloe CA’s and others.
(b) Since our syllabus is not sufficient to get job in this area you many try your hand through articleship experience.
(c) There is no looking back once you enter here since you are left behind in Audit and Tax domain field of CA’s.
(d) Not field for one’s who can’t work under someone else. Its all about not only listening but impressing your seniors, for performance bonus.
Here’s your list
Corporate finance / Merger Acquisition – Impressive it sounds doesn’t it? First of all not part of our syllabus, and even MBA don’t get this easily since openings in this profile are less and they are mostly taken by those having jacks. One thing you can do is do articleship in corporate finance / M&A from Big 4 or other offering same although not hardcore Corporate finance/ M&A but Finance through Tax perspective. It would definitely help.
Investment Banking – Paisa paisa can be synod for same but don’t you forget the life style here day and nights job, appealing a lot but being C.A may not help you need to have CFA degree and also Jack since these banks don’t hire frequently. During articles you may try doing Industrial training in Investment banks.
Analyst – Analyst falls under evergreen category since few humans have habit of analyzing things to death. You again can do audit of rating agencies or try to get exposure of as many sectors you can and then industrial training.
Banks and Finance sector – During first 2 years do auditing of these sectors or sector of your interest then gain Industrial training from Branded Bank / FS. But be careful of dept they give you. Beware of back office profiles since you may in back office which is as helpful as dummy.
Those who are planning for industry should make sure their firms have Good name in market may be in top 20 slot also try to get industrial experience in relevant sector but make sure you are in profile you wanted.
Before joining any firm/Industry try to locate people already working there since this is only way you would know what you are getting into. At most you can always ask HR what would be your responsibilities and job profile.
All suggestions are welcomed from my seniors regarding improvements to be made here.
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