Not sure why..but too many kids who meet me (their parents ask them to talk to me, gutsy parents!) tell me ‘I do not want to do CA, sir’.

The reasons are:

– it is too tough, and the pass percentage is low

– compulsory articles for 3 years is too taxing

– attending college, office, classes for an exam is too taxing

-academically i am not good, weak in maths

– there is family pressure to earn money, because father is retired and sister is the only earning member

Frankly all these look like excuses. If you want to do CA, enroll after 12th and the basic CPT  exam..then the IPCC exam. By the time you are in your Third year you will be able to get into a decent firm. Let us say you do your articles in the big 4, the stipend (I guess, not sure) should be in the region of 10k?

Compare this to a 18k job in Hdfc bank or Icici bank which will take you nowhere.

Then you complete your CA..and start on a salary starting from 6-9 lakhs depending on the rank, marks, city, etc.

Now let us look at the other excuses:

yes it is tough and the pass percentage is low, but let that not fool you. If you are an average student and push yourself real hard you will clear it in the second attempt. Assuming a second attempt -even then the trouble is worth it.

Should you do your articles in a big 4 or a smaller company will also do? This is a 199 year old question, and the answer is ‘it does not matter’.

A big advantage of the CA degree (my personal views) is takes you through the whole business life of a company. If you do your articles in a big firm chances are you will do good quality work but pretty late into the night. If you do articles in a smaller firm it has its own advantages too 🙂 you learn IT, audit, company law…..there is really a toss up!

So if  you are academically inclined and are sure that you like the number crunching, go ahead and do your Ca…its a good degree to have.