I have talked to many of my seniors who are in the same field regarding C.A. as a profession, while discussing with them their experiences and their views, I found that there were some facts that most often upset them :
1. Less stipend (except for big 4)
2. Less exposure
3. Lack of General awareness
4.And I don’t know whether you people will accept me for this point or not but I have heard students saying that even after completing their c.a. final they can not crack an interview, reason is simple somewhere they lack fluency in English language, which is highly needed and demanded in this Era of globalization.
I m not here to play a critic for this profession, not of course as I m also one among you.
My idea is to ensure that if there are any limitations in this field, lets try to overcome them together, its just a humble effort not a criticism.
The very first problem is that of stipend which obviously is beyond our control, the only solution to it is to ignore the money factor, because:
“We are here to learn not to earn. You can easily find the people who though are not well qualified but their experience and knowledge count. So our first priority should be on the quality and quantity of work, not on the money we make during the articleship process.
Now the second problem is of Exposure:
Do u remember the time, when we were in school, every year we used to participate in sports, debates, skits, extempore, speeches, dance, singing. In short school was a platform to explore our hidden talents. Most of our friends who are in college still avail this opportunity , but somewhere ,despite having confidence booster programmes like gmcs-1,2,itt,ot in this profession, the opportunities are attenuated and limited..
-To this, I just have to say, remain thoroughly active in any programmes that held in your city, become a member of an NGO, work for a noble cause on weekends, if you can afford time for the same.
-Try to attend all the seminars conducted by ICAI in your city to keep yourself updated, and your job does not end with attending seminar but ensure that you have to be mentally present there with an inquisitive mind.
I can see many of you not accepting my 3rd statement which says that an article lacks General Awareness. My purpose is not to doubt our ability. My idea is to convey the fact that due to tight packed back -breaking schedule right from 6.30 in the dawn to the 9.00 or be more late at night, (especially for the students currently taking the coachings), we don’t get enough time to focus what is going on around us.
And the 4th problem most of us face is proficiency and fluency in speaking English language, and that is quiet obvious, because here we focus on technical terms and not on Grammar. English, as a subject, is utterly out of our touch. May be most of you are not able to associate yourself with the mentioned last two side effects, but few of you certainly do.
Firstly, I would say that if you find yourself caught in the same problem, then remember you need to put in efforts to improve your English, vocabulary, General Knowledge from this day onwards only.
-Make it a habit to refer Dictionary at least once in a day and learn five meanings everyday. Once learnt, try to bring them in use, so that you remember them for long.
-You must have heard the tip to start conversing in English in your group so to improve it, but this tip proves to be failure quiet often, because all of us have got some friend who makes fun of us on doing so 
So it’s better to speak to yourself in English while standing in the front of mirror for 5-10 minutes.
To augment your general knowledge, refer Weekend Newspapers and go through summary of events that occured in the week, that is the best way to update yourself besides daily reading. This is important to remind you that if you work on your English and G.k., there are oodles of advantages. Firstly you become confident, it helps you in appearing for other exams as well, if you wish to go for IAS, Bank P.O. etc. Communicating in English will instill in you a sense of confidence, help you to argue and put forward your views effectively in G.D. and Interviews etc.
Besides this, if you want, I can try to get G.K. quiz and English Vocabulary posted for you in the forum of this site every weekend
Your feedbacks are welcomed.
CAclubindia
