A Must For All CA Students Seeking Articleship Mediocre: So easy yet so tough to define it. Google says mediocre is something which lies in between. But I why wonder what lies above and beneath these firms? I went for an interview in XYZ & associates. The nice looking partner asked me why you want to join us. Just like any other articleship seeker I replied I want to work in a mediocre firm. His expression changed in no time when he heard the word “MEDIOCRE” and he started explaining the concept of mediocre firm. I thought he was just defending his firm’s position in the market. I was not convinced at all. This trigged a series of serious questions in my mind. Who all are mediocre firms? What is their scope of work? How will I get to know them? And this continued till I reached home. After some days I realized everyone has a vague idea about these questions. Then we did a comprehensive research for this ajeebsa word “MEDIOCRE Firms”. Working in a mediocre firm is just like playing a Blind Game having CA life at stake. If you are lucky enough then it will be party time for you but if you are on other side of it then there can be some serious consequences. We are not defaming these firms in anyway but we are trying to put forward a very valid and logical point. We have seen a number of articles working on tally in their training period. BY doing this they will a very good Accountant but not Chartered Accountants. Some of the articles end up their training by performing Bank Audit only where on their hand they could have learned the auditing of Amalgamation & Mergers, Acquisitions or could have achieved the expertise in tax field. Let’s pin point some existing problems and myths Problem: No one can have any idea about mediocre firm. Even practicing CA finds it tough to pick and choose between two mediocre regarding their scope of work and exposure to article. Even Google will show no results for such type of query. Solution: Choose the firm very carefully. Names which can be easily recognized by public at large are generally considered as good firm. Now you can judge them by number of partners they have, number of articles employed. These things will give you fair understanding of firms position in the market. Problem: I realized after working in XYZ firm that I am not in good place and there is no exposure for me and my partner will not allow me transfer. Solution: India is place where JUGGAD matters. You can get out of any situation by using this 6 letter word. And yes no one is born with this. So if you don’t have this then always remember this “It’s never too late”. Start this juggad thing now. Myth: An article working in good or top firms does not have appropriate time to study for CA Final and thus he or she will find it difficult to clear their CA Finals. ca-cult-articleship Reality: Every top firms offer a minimum of 100 days preparatory leaves for exams. Just assume why a firm will negotiate their Bread and Butter for your sake. At the end of the day it’s all about that bottom line (profit) and it’s completely logical. Moreover, an article should be versatile else you will not survive in this cut throat competition. Deal with it or go home. It is as simple as that. Myth: I don’t want to work in top firms because I don’t want to gain specialization at this point of time”. It is too early for me to decide. Reality: Do you remember your school days. You did specialization when you choose Hindi over Sanskrit or Vice a Versa and then in 11 grade by deciding your stream to study in future. And recently by opting for CA over other professional careers. So, why not now? You have to pick one option. Those days are gone when you were expected to have expertise knowledge of every field. Current market demand specialization. Go for it. Problem: If you have contacts then only you can get into Top firms else you have no chance Reality: yes this is 100% true. No one can argue on this. BUT you need to understand a thin line difference between Contact and Reference. Contact is something that works in Mediocre firm. By this I mean you do not have appear for interview and your selection is done whereas reference will take you till interview and rest is upto your talent and skills. Firms ask for reference because they think that they have employed best human capital available in the market and their reference will also be of that level. Look for reference not for contacts and remember no one has that till they find the required one. MYTH: Everything is OK but I don’t have that kind of Resume. Solution: Don’t be negative about this. Almost everyone has quantity and quality of information to display but they fail to discover this. Introspect yourself very deeply. Look for the things that you have added in past years not just academically or ECA wise but things which have created some values for yourself or the people around you. If you still fail to discover them then go for professional advice or there are lot of internet portal like monster, naukri. They can provide a helping hand you. Just try these thing and we are sure that this will work. Abraham Lincolnsaid“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” That is the story of mediocre firm. Parameter to judge a Mediocre Firm. Client Portfolio: This is the most important thing to be considered while choosing a Mediocre because this will tell you the insight to an Article’s work exposure. A good Mediocre should have the following clients: Multinational Companies (MNC) Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) Listed Companies If any firm has these clients then it is almost at par with so called top firms. The question is where will you find these information. In case you Google it you are unlikely to find your DESRIED result. Log into their website, ask them via an email or on a phone call, etc. Best thing is to get in touch with their current Articles at least 5 to 7 articles because one or two article may give their own views but not the information you want. Number of Articles employed : The logic is simple more articles more work and you will have better oppurnities to learn and grow with firm. Some people argue that less articles means we will get more exposure to work. But keep in mind what kind of work. Conduting a Bank Audit is not enough at least not for you. Most of the firms who employ less articles have work similar to this. More number of articles means that they have a lot of work. At the end of the day they are there bread and butter. Keep in mind this very small but important point. Stipend to article: You might have started laughing after hearing the word stipend. Stipend is always low. Right? Ernst and Young India offersRs 7500 per month, BMR Advisors offers Rs 15000 per month and this list is endless. Why does these firm offer so much as compared to mediocre firm. Simple they have lot of work, a hell lot of work which means a chance for you to learn more. In this 21 century no one offers a single penny extra for nothing. How often you give charity to beggars in and around traffic light. Not all the times I guess. Do you know why? Because every single penny is important to us. We can’t give away that easily. This thing applies to Firms as well. They will make sure that they extract more out of you. So more stipend means more work. Always considered this while selecting a firm to work which you want to work for three years. Location of the firms: Most of us think that this is not important but this is as important as anything else. Location of firm plays a vital role for the firm as well as for an article. Why good firms are mostly located in Gurgoan or CP and not in low profile area like Daryaganj? A firm located in Cannught Place (CP) or Gorgoan or any other prime location means they have high cost of running the firm. Mainly because they have huge cash outflow towards rent of the premises or meeting those day to day expenses. In the end we would like to define mediocre firm in our way: Mediocre is a relative term by which we mean this is always seen in comparison with other firms. For BIG 4 Grant Thornton (GT) might be a Mediocre firm but they call themselves as NON BIG 4. For GT Mazars might be a mediocre but it is not true when they are compared with firm below them. It’s up to you to decide. Just keep trying till you get one and remember “jomaaza struggle karke achieve karnemeinaatahain. Uski koi value nhilagasakta”
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 00:14:15 +0000