Thats correct. Most of the so called initiatives of ICAI are poorly implemented. One of the best examples being the compulsory computer course.

The problem I see that ICAI wants to do too many things at a time. It will come up with some stupid subject like Information Technology, Strategic Management in PCC and say that it is imparting training of IT and management among students. As if studying history of computers and writing short notes on some stupid things will make us IT literates and as if studying a few definitions and writing short notes is going to make us Management professionals....this is all bull sh*t.

Even Financial Management...itsa a good sucject, but most (not all) of things in our syllabus are too theoretical and practcally of no use...(see the various theories...the assumptions...they are so stupid...). I have worked in the Financial Advisory Services area for a longtime with one of the big 4's....and honestly...i didn't find our FM relevant. FM as such is a good subject, but without having a proper syllabus, its of no use. Practically, Financial Management works in a very different way than what we are learning in CA course. All these subjects like IT, SM and FM are big headaches for exams, a sheer waste of time and brain drain.

Maheshwari Sir, if you can, you should suggest ICAI to remove these subjects because as it is the current syllabus for these good subjects which we have is outdated, irrelevant and impractical. Either the syllabus should be made practical and interesting, or subjects should be removed. As jose, rightly said about the brochure part...i agree that by having these subjects for the sake of it and talking big, nothing will be achieved.

I agree with Krunal Raichura that many subjects are not being updated and even small part is relevant for the professional life. But we can't say that everything is just hogwash. The things in the syllabus is important to learn but not for all student. Reading all the above comments/suggestion, There must be a category which a student should select after passing entrance exam, where options can be PRACTICE, BPO/KPO, BANK/FINANCIAL/ACCOUNTS MANAGEMENT, OTHERS... like this.

I can surely state that cost accountancy, direct/indirect taxes, accountancy, forex part of FM, corporate laws etc. many subjects are good to be kept as it is but they should be updated regularly. I agree that practical part is less in Financial Management, Accountancy and Indirect taxes. and Procedural part is almost missing, that should be taken care of.

Please be continue at the forum... lets suggest/comment something new and unique...

Dear sir,

It would be more suitable to change the name of institute to  UABRYSI (Uttam Agarwal-Baba Ramdev  Yog Shibir Institute). Please do the needful.

Sure, everything is not a hogwash, I have indicated the same by putting a bracket to mention most (not all) things are irrelevant. As mentioned earlier, the subjects like IT, SM and FM are very good and interesting, but syllabus of the same under CA course is not. If that is amended to make it practical and include relevant things, getting exposure during articleship/jobs in areas outside accounting, auditing and taxation fields could also become easy.

Pre-articleship training is a good idea I feel. When I passed CPT, I was not even aware that the audit firms are not limited companies. When I had applied in a few places I was under an impression that they are companies so I even used the word limited next to firms name. I have numerous stupid things to share which I did in those days. I am sure many of you must have gone through various incidents after CPT which would have surprised everybody that you are a CA student.

I thank Maheshwariji for suggesting pre-articleship training to ICAI. I hope it is taken seriously and implemented well with proper syllabus and activites.

I also agree to Aldrine for the last two sentences. Thats definitely a point one needs to keep in mind while selecting a career. Scope and area of application of CA course is defined to a big extent I feel. Its just that on public forums, you may find sentences like say CA is the best course. But it wont be mentioned for whom it is best, for which type of students, for which type of jobs etc. EVEN IN FINANCE, CA CANNOT BE THE BEST COURSE  FOR EVERY STUDENT, EVERY JOB. The scope of CA course is into accounting, auditing and taxation and related areas. Outside these three and related areas also there are CAs, not denying that, but the number is very tiny and subject to other additional qualifications. See, because accounting, audit, tax is something every firm has to be involved with, you will find CAs in every industry be it finance companies, pharma, IT, Hotels etc, but everywhere CAs are doing work in areas of account, audit or tax or something closely related to it. There is nothing wrong or right about this scope.

"my experience during itt was horrible. for a class of 100 hours; not even 30 hours were taken. th same topics which i knew already by class 8; except for the tally portion. computers crash often."said one of my friends. see this is waste of time and cashing time of UPA pvt ltd.

4 months ago, board of studies jaydip n shah had announced with great "pride" that icai is gonna introduce "advanced itt" course of rs 8000. where is that? they are gonna teach erp,banking software,excel(again>>>>)? i am sure this too wont be implemented properly. icai wants to milk its students : a)cash as unnecessary fees b)cheap labour as articles  c)sometimes in terms of CPE from members in service in far off region like Cairns in rajasthan

Hey i think those IT and FM are interesting if we can be taught properly.. SM also is just a GAS paper...

But if anything should be removed from the syllabus, its WORKPLACE ETHICS from Law ethics and communication, becuase it is the one thing that ICAI is preaching but not practising. Reading it has brought me to tears. Honest.

Hello to all,

I went through all posts of this HOT discussion.. & I would like to add my viewpoint on this issue.

Well, regarding Pre-articleship traiining, I would say that its a good idea..but it should start from bothe the ends..ie it should be meant for students as well as from CAs aswell. This I m saying so because I have had a experience where my Principal sent me for an audit of a Hotel on the very first day of my articleship..HOw can a sound principal expect a fresher who doesnt know anything about auditing in a practical framework??& yes, that is acceptable that CA can send a fresher for assisting him on his audit work but in my case, my principal did not even care to see whether I do have some basic knoeledge abt computer or tax or audit or A/c & he started sending me on audit ALONE on the 4th or 5th day of my articleship...This is the height of  stupidity...

SO, my suggestion to Mr. Maheshwari would be to send a CONCRETE plan on how to start this training..I think members are to be trained more effectively on how to teach or assign work to article assiastant..& of course, students too are to be trained for some BAsic computer concepts & MS office tools.

I personally feel that sending a letter to ICAI would not help much..bcs deaf people are sitting at the top & again as happens ith all other discussions, this topic would be closed wiothout being noticesd by any of HEROES of ICAI.

 Dear G.K,

The subjects like Information Technology, Strategic Management and Financial Management are surely interesting. The syllabus of the same in CA course is quite irrelavent though. Barring aside a few concepts, most of the part in the syllabus is completely of no use and it misguides in a very big way.

I have been working with a big 4 right from the beginning. Unlike many of you, I have had an opportunity to work with all departments in all areas. Except for Audit and tax, Articleship training has not helped me prepare for any paper. Everybody at our firm is tech savy and we use the best technology in our official as well as personal lives. However, our IT syllabus is too theoretical, irrelevant and outdated for my articleship training to help me prepare for that subject. I have done hard core corporate finance work, worked with Private Equity guys, in debt, equity, PE, VC funding and honestly speaking I did not find any of the things in our FM syllabus relevant. We have been using the CFA and Damodaran's book always whenever we had to refer to books. Practically, there difference between FM taught to us and what goes practically is as big as the difference of plastic and gold...

Dear Sirs,

The ICAI does not read any suggestions nor do they solve any problems.Mr.uttam is busy enjoying life for a year.I have sent about 25 speed posts and over a 100 mails to him and the council members but all these people seem to be enjoying their lives.I had passed pee-2 exam in november,2008 and had converted to pcc.Now my final exam attempt is in May,2012.all thanx to mr.uutam.he cald me to delhi to meet him and then he made me sit for 6 hrs and sent me a msg to go home.This is what he is....