Three years of your articleship is a very important phase in your CA journey and your life not just because of the practical knowledge that you gain, but also because of the wisdom you gain in the process. As an young individual, this journey makes you stronger but humble, since you come across various challenging situations and learn how to deal with them. And the beauty of it is this wisdom that comes to you without your knowledge.
As a student when you step into a work environment everything seems different. The people, the place, the behaviour, and all that one can think of. You no longer can be as carefree as you were in your school or college days. Every article should develop a sense of responsibility, since the assignments that you get to work on are real world and not simulations. While moulding yourself to take up responsibilities and be accountable at a young age it is an eternal characteristic that becomes a part of you, thus making it easier for you to face challenges at workplace, post qualification. Let us look at few basic and simple tips as to how to enrich your experience, develop responsibility and learn as much as possible during articleship :
- Always maintain a planner or diary to note down the jobs allotted to you and to update your progress. It is also fine if you maintain an excel tracker. However, a planner or diary is always handy for a quick jot down.
- When in doubt,consult. Do not take any decisions on your own. Always consult with your manager or partner before proceeding with anything.
- Do not look up to google for checking the provisions of any ACT. Always use the latest book to check any provisions and browse through authentic sources like the Taxmann website, MCA portal etc..
- Be at your office or the client office on time. Punctuality is the first step towards your own progress. Usually, client offices do not encourage the articles being late to work.
- Try to avoid usage of mobile during work hours as much as possible unless you have to attend any urgent call or any message. Even when you are at your client place the same applies. Also, it is important that you do not give your personal number to the client for clarification of his or her queries. It is always better to communicate via your office telephone during work hours.
- Ensure all communication takes place via an e-mail to the extent possible and also save the e-mail thread. This will help in maintaining an audit evidence from the client and also helps to eliminate any miscommunication.
- Develop a habit of sending a weekly work status to your manager or partner mentioning the assignments you have worked on and the time spent on those assignments. This is suggested even if your firm does not have any rules similar to this.
- Always speak to your client in a polite, yet firm manner. This shows your professionalism and builds your firm’s reputation as well.
- Discuss about your study leaves in advance with your partner or audit manager to avoid any last minute hassles. Also, do not take up any new assignment before your study leave. If you do, ensure you complete it within the time or have a backup in order to hand over the job to your peers with the knowledge of the audit manager/partner.
- Always ensure you complete your work minimum of 3 to 4 days before the due date or the dead line. This habit will help in giving you an ample amount of time for review and make any alterations to your workings if necessary, thereby avoiding any last minute hurry.
- If your client is using any ERP software , for eg, Tally, then it is advisable for you to take a daily backup of the latest tally version. Before you start your work the next day, ensure the trial balance totals are the same as the totals the day before. This gives you a control over the updates made on a daily basis by the client in the financial statements, if any.
- Do not have a single thread while communicating with the client. Always add your team members, manager and partner in the ‘Email CC’ while addressing even the smallest of the issues.
- Maintain a proper record of your conveyance and food bills along with the correct supportings for claiming bills.
- Ensure your files are always backed up either in the system itself or in your pen drive. Follow a proper folder management procedure. This makes your work more organised and also easier for the people to locate files and work on it in your absence.
- Learn all the keyboard shortcuts and excel shortcuts. This makes your work so much easier. It comes naturally with practice. These tricks do not require a textbook study.
- Last , but not the least, ENJOY. Enjoy the process. Enjoy meeting new people, interacting with professionals, forming friendships with not-so-like minded people.. Learn from everyone possible. Don’t forget to have fun while in the process of making yourself a better individual. 🙂
Hope these tips give a great boost to your articleship journey!