Chartered Accountancy and Cricket

In this article, I will share some similarities between CA course and Cricket.

1. Stay in the game

• Cricket: In order to make runs and the scoreboard moving you have to stay on the field, if you are out (lose your wicket), then its game over.
• CA course: In CA course, in order to clear all the levels, you have to stay in the race, If you give up then its game over.

In order to succeed NEVER GIVE UP!!!

2. Practice

• Cricket: In Cricket, each and every player does net practice before going live on the field. If the player doesn't practice then he will never be confident to play on the field and most importantly be nervous which will affect his performance drastically.
• CA Course: Similarly, In CA course you have to do lot of practice, before you go live and write the examinations. If you fail to do the net practice like (writing, giving mock tests, solving past question papers), you will end up being completely blank in the examination hall.

That's why there is a saying: Practice makes a person perfect and eventually a Chartered Accountant. :)

3. Doing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis

Cricket: In cricket, each team does their homework prior to every game. They analyze the opponent's gameplay and accordingly devise their strategy. The analysis may typically cover as follows:

1. Strengths: Opening Batting line-up, Spin Bowlers, etc.
2. Weaknesses: Poor fielding, Tail order batting, playing a weak shot, etc.
3. Opportunities: Which bowlers to attack, Lose delivery by bowlers, etc.
4. Threats: Which bowlers to defend, Bouncer deliveries by bowlers, etc.

CA Course: In CA course SWOT analysis should be done to understand where you are standing and what are the missing dots which you need to fill. It may typically be described as:

1. Strengths: Self Belief, Subjects in which are confident and comfortable
2. Weaknesses: Subjects which are dicey and complicated
3. Opportunities: In CA you have to create opportunities by yourself, which can be securing an exemption
4. Threats: Subjects with no interest or practical experience involved

There are bouncer questions in CA examinations, its better to duck if you are not confident. If you know any related statement you can write it, it definitely helps rather than keeping it blank. Even 1 mark matters in CA.

The idea to do SWOT analysis is to convert your threats into opportunities and weakness into strengths.

4. Planning

• Cricket: After doing SWOT, planning plays an important role in securing desired results. In Cricket planning is done throughout the game, changing fielding, bowling order, batting order, which bowlers to attack, which to defend, etc.
• CA Course: In CA course, planning involves, which subject to aim for exemption, which subject to aim for passing marks (involves weak subjects), how much practice to do for different subjects, time allocation to each subject, preparing time table (if you follow it), etc.

Hence, it is said, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

5. Self-Belief

• Cricket: In cricket, when all batting line-up is out, and you have a non-batsmen on the other side and you have to score all the runs by yourself, you should have self-belief that you can do it. Eg. MS Dhoni (Former Captain of India Team) has played such innings.
• CA Course: Like in cricket if one batsman can enable the team to win by scoring runs himself, in CA course even one or two subjects can enable to clear the CA exams. For this you should have self-belief to bring exemption in one or two subjects and you are halfway there.

The point here is, you need not be a master of all subjects, even 1-2 subjects can carry you through the examinations.

Few additional points

1. Both require good sportsmanship spirit.
2. Both enables an individual to learn from their mistakes and improve by doing practice and hard work.
3. In both, you have to think before you act.
4. Both require a strong motivation and passion towards what you do.
5. Both tells us that, failure is not the end of the journey, it's the stepping stone of success. Never give up after you fail, on the contrary, bounce back with more effort, practice and determination.
6. Your temperament plays an important role while on-field for cricket and in the examination hall for CA Course.

Hope, this article motivates fellow CA aspirants and cricket enthusiasts to overcome the upcoming examination hurdle. You can read my earlier articles for knowing how I cleared my exams.