To start with, I would like you to read the whole discussion before forming a prejudice.
CA as a course is without a doubt one of the best options to form a strong and successful career, BUT 3 YEARS OF ARTICLESHIP TRAINING IS JUST WAY TOO MUCH.
LET ME ELABORATE ON THIS.
1. The reality is that EVERYONE deep down know how unfair the rules are towards CA students, and so does the institute (ICAI). But the president and the committee cannot decide to change the existing rules regarding the articleship tenure (which is ridiculously high) and the basic stipend limit (which is ridiculously low), because they need votes and the votes come from the members of the institute ( who has already completed CA and registered under the institute as members).
2. Half of the existing members in the Institute who disagree about this are all these small scale practicing members and all these Mid and large scale companies who are getting CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP LABOUR (SLAVES) for 3 years. Where the amount of work done by all the people (articles and employees) remain more or less the same after the first 2-3 months of training, but when it comes to stipends, they act as though they are doing these articles a favor by paying them Rs.5000 - Rs.7000 by saying "institute had actually set the basic limit to be Rs.2500/Month, but we are paying you this much.....etc etc". (My firm is guilty for this as well)
3. And the other half are the ones who have a mindset of a 9 Year old who believe they've gone through the same and doesn't want the rules to change after they have completed the course (this is one of the conversations I overheard some of the people discuss in my work place during a break).
4. I personally believe Articleship period shouldn't be more than 1.5 to 2 years long, because lot of students tend to quit and sometimes forced by the situations to quit even before completing the course because of the financial issues, as we know how GREAT our articles get paid ( IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE A JOKE). Not to mention, lot of students end up in depression as well.
5. Another point to be noted is regardless of how sincerely one has gone through the articleship phase. When he/she joins a company, they have to mandatorily serve the training period where they anyway learn to get stuff done.
6. Also many students move to a different city to study and get into articles, and they're not able to pay for their basic transportation charges from their so called stipend and neither are the parents in the situation to provide their child with enough money after paying for the ward's PG rent. I felt so sad and pity when I saw one of my old coaching friend living in a place which CANNOT be called home. And some of us who were lucky enough to be able to get money from our parents without much issues till this date find it a little funny that we had to ask for money from our parents even after working (slogging) 10+ hours a day.
To conclude my discussion, I just wanna say that 15 months might be just a tiny bit early but, he has probably done the right thing suited for him whether people consider it acting on impulse or whatever. It is a little risky but he has already gone through it so it should not be an issue.
I hope all of you have a nice day and successful career ahead, Thank you.
CAclubindia
