Hi Ramya
I would provide the following three suggestions based on scenarios.
1) If you are the bread winner for your family where you cannot compromise on your earnings with an increasing necessity to support the family, then continue with your present employment, if there is not an increasing pressure or stress in your job. What I mean here is that if your contribution is limited to the 8 hours and nothing more you are expected to go beyond, then do not leave that job, however irrelevant it might be. Because not every industry or audit firm can offer that. Use the spare time available on daily basis, get leave on exam holidays and complete your final (either as single group or both groups together based on your plan & preparation).
2) If there is really no necessity for you to take up a job, but you feel like you should keep yourself occupied then join a mid sized audit firm, where you can learn something that will be useful for you in exams as well rather than working on a field that is altogether different from your core areas of interest. But again, try to balance your studies as well, the nature of work might be so fascinating and you might be so much attached to it, however at the end of the day qualification is very important.
3) The third one is the extension of second, having been into an industry even for a short stint, I am sure that by this time you would have felt the difference between the treatment for qualified vis-a-vis the same for semi-qualified. The harsh reality is that you will carry a brand with you when you enter the industry as qualified otherwise, you will be treated as yet another commodity / workforce as a part of the lot. So if there isn't any real necessity for you to take up a job and if you had really been part of this differential treatment in your own industry, then you must drop your papers straight away with an intent to take up the upcoming exams and clearing it in one go with flying colours. Then its all going to be a fresh gaurd in the new employment after qualification with a never look back experience.
Hope you consider these factors while taking a decision. Wish you all succession of success
Regards
Sathish
CAclubindia
