Girish's Blog

Recently I had to travel to Idukki in Kerala for a Residential Refresher Course conducted by the Alleppey Branch of the South India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India from 23 May to 25 May. I had a 3AC train ticket which was wait listed when I booked it. I had an emergency quota letter from a MP – curtsey of CA Ramaniji of Goa, who was to join me at midnight at Madgaon. About three hours before departure, when I checked online the reservation had come down to RAC, and by the time I got onto the train I had got seat. When I got into the train I saw that B63 berth had two people – so effectively I had got half a seat. When the TC came he said that he will check and allot another berth to one of us. Mentally I was positive that I will not have to shift. Around 9pm, the TC came and told me you stay on B63 and he shifted the other gentleman to another seat. Ramaniji to got a berth and I caught up with him the next morning. We reached Alleppey at 5pm – for...

Current ICAI philosophy: Over the years the ICAI has quite literally liberalized the passing out percentage to such an extent that today more than 30% students pass out every six months as qualified chartered accountants! It is good that so many CA’s are passing out, but, I repeat but – is the Institute ensuring that each freshly qualified CA is competent and based on that competency does it ensure that the fresh CA gets gainful employment?? I am a relatively small practicing CA, and I get almost 600 mails a month for article-ship and for jobs for freshly qualified CA’s. Where has this sudden flood of applications come from? Is the ICAI following a sane education policy? Does the industry have the capability to absorb so many CA’s? or are we devaluing the profession by just pushing in numbers without taking care of quality? I do not deny that there will be brilliant students – but at the same time we are also stuck with mediocre students who proudly prefix their name with ‘CA’! ...