Introduction
The joy of passing CA. Examinations is unequaled. However, immediately after qualifying CA. Examinations, the million-dollar riddle to solve is whether to go an employment or start one's own practice.
The puzzle does not stop here because if practice option is selected, the next dilemma is-whether to go for practice in traditional areas such as auditing, direct taxation etc. or to explore new areas of practice for instance, GST, customs, foreign trade policy etc.
A modest attempt has been made in this article to throw light on the issue of starting and flourishing GST practice by a chartered accountant.
Once take a decision of GST practice, then never look for any other option
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. Therefore, once decided to go for a practice after taking into consideration all the pros and cons, stop thinking again and again about your decision. Every decision (irrespective of the field such sports, films etc.) has an element of risk in it. An ancient saying that "no risks, no rewards" still holds true.
Thus, once a chartered accountant decides to go for a GST practice, he must rigidly stick to his decision. He need not look at the lucrative offers such as going for a job in a public or private sector, going for investment in stock market etc. On an average, first five years of professional practice are most challenging and demanding.
Therefore, after commencing the GST practice, a chartered accountant should not entertain the idea of quitting the practice and venturing into other fields for five years or so at any cost. He must always bear in mind the famous and time-tested quote "winners never quit and quitters never win".
Timely and efficient professional services to clients
In order to win the confidence and reputation of the clients, it is absolutely necessary to provide timely and efficient professional services to the clients. Every endeavour must be made to stick to the timeline given to the clients. Delay in providing professional services may prove costly to the client because of the possibility of imposition of the late fee, interest and penalty by the Department. Common knowledge tells us that possibility of retention of a client who suffers any financial loss due to any lapse on the part of a chartered accountant is very remote.
Reasonable professional fee
A practicing GST Professional must charge reasonable fee from his clients particularly in the initial phase of his practice. Reasonable fee coupled with high quality professional services shall prove beneficial for him in the long run.
Humble behaviour
Humble behaviour of the GST Practitioner has an immense psychological effect on his clients and staff. Every endeavour must be made by him to avoid anger and arrogance because no one appreciates a person who gets angry at the slightest provocation and / or who is arrogant by nature. The attribute of humble behaviour commands greater value in case of supplier of services (including a GST Practitioner).
Increase your popularity through writing of articles and delivering lectures at seminars
A GST practitioner can increase his popularity in the professional fraternity by writing articles on certain important issues of GST. Another way to increase or supplement his popularity is to deliver lectures on important topics of GST. In the initial phase, he can make use of the colorful but effective powerpoint presentations.
Sober but impressive attire
A practicing chartered accountant must wear simple and formal clothes during office hours. Moreover, he must wear simple and comfortable footwear. The kind of attire and footwear used by him has its own influence not only on his work but on his colleagues and clients also.
Sound administrative skills
Management is the art of getting things done through other people. In professional practice, a chartered accountant has to necessarily take the assistance of other people such as paid assistants, accountants, administrative staff, peons etc. Therefore, with passage of time, one must gain and master administrative skills.
If a chartered accountant is a good administrator, he can manage even with limited resources at his disposal. Contrarily, in the absence of sound administrative skills, even large resources may not be utilised in an optimum manner.
Good communication skills
In order to have good communication skills, one must have good command both overwritten and spoken language. There is no substitute for good drafting. However, skill of good drafting can not be gained overnight.
But if one is conscious and makes persistent efforts to improve one's vocabulary and knowledge by carefully going through the judgments delivered by leading jurists, the drafting skills can be improved. There is no substitute for good and impressive drafting skills.
Constant updation of knowledge
GST is a new Law and is still evolving. On top of it, an unprecedented situation of COVID-19 arose in 2020 and 2021. Consequently, Government is frequently issuing Notifications, Circulars, Instructions etc. Further, many case laws and advance rulings are also being reported regularly. In order to keep abreast of the latest professional developments, a practicing chartered accountant must constantly update his knowledge.
He can guide his clients correctly only when he has updated knowledge of the latest professional developments. In the 21st century extremely competitive world, that practicing professional shall survive and thrive who is well-informed with the latest professional developments. Knowledge can be updated by subscribing to various sites for instance- taxmanagment.com, taxindiaonline.com, VILGST.com etc.
Additionally, knowledge can also be updated by subscribing to one or two offline journals such as ‘Goods and Services Tax Cases' [A weekly journal published by Taxmann] ‘The Chartered Accountant' [a monthly journal published by ICAI], etc. In fact, there is no scarcity of availability of information nowadays, if one is genuinely interested and inclined to grasp the knowledge.
Updated knowledge shall go a long way in improving his goodwill amongst clients, tax administrators and his own staff. There is a thin line of distinction between a ‘good(common) chartered accountant' and a ‘great(exceptional) chartered accountant'. There are disproportionate financial and non-financial advantages of being a ‘great(exceptional) chartered accountant'.
There can not be two opinions about the fact that clients including potential clients prefer a ‘great(exceptional) chartered accountant' even at the expense of higher professional fee.
Self-discipline
In the context of professional practice, self-discipline implies on time for appointments and meetings. In fact, self-discipline is a foundation and not an embellishment of professional practice. It has a great psychological impact not only on the clients but also on office associates and staff.
Create a team of dedicated and loyal employees
A GST practitioner must realise the significance of dedicated and loyal employees. He must remember that he alone can not manage everything in his office even in the initial stages. He has to necessarily take the assistance of certain employees. He can succeed in his mission of establishing and flourishing his practice quite rapidly if he has a team of dedicated and loyal employees.
Adequate care must be taken of own health
In an attempt to qualify CA. Examinations as early as possible, most of the students do not pay adequate attention to their health. In order to qualify CA. Examinations, students have to study for long hours. Consequently, their health is bound to suffer in one way or the other. However, same mistake should not be repeated while establishing and flourishing GST practice. Therefore, a practicing chartered accountant must take sufficient care of his invaluable health.
Conclusion
Success in any sphere of life (including commencing and establishing GST Practice) is a jealous mistress which demands wholehearted attention and unwavering dedication. At the same time, if a chartered accountant is willing follow the above suggestions, no one can prevent him from earning name, fame, status and prosperity.
Finally, it is also important to bear in mind that the exemplary success of Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Lata Mangeshkar, and Narender Modi was attained and maintained only after years of persistent hard work.
Article contributed by: CA Raj Jaggi and CA Harpreet Kapoor
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