A Chartered Accountant Who Stood Against All Odds

CA Rushabh Vora is an experienced transfer pricing (TP) professional. After completing his articleship at a reputed mid-size firm, he worked with one of the Big 4 consulting firms to gain specialized TP knowledge for 2.5 years. Presently, he is working with another reputed CA firm and handling TP and corporate tax matters.

His journey ‘from a vernacular medium student to an experienced TP professional’ is proof that –  If You Believe in yourself you are unstoppable. The only thing we have to overcome is our own psychological barriers.

How my CA dream started:

“I had no idea what being a chartered accountant (CA) was all about until I heard about it in the 8th grade when my elder brother opted for CA,” says CA Rushabh Vora from Mumbai, India. He is currently working as a transfer pricing and corporate tax profiler at a reputable mid-size CA firm in Mumbai.

“My father was in the accounting and taxation profession for more than 25 years. Even though he was not a CA, his vast experience and intellect were way more than a CA. Considering his profession, we always discussed topics like taxation, accounting, etc. at home. That is probably how my brother CA Bhavin and I became interested in this profession. Gradually, we realized that it was my father’s dream to witness both of us becoming CAs one day. So now, it became my dream to pursue my father’s dream.

Having an elder brother who is in the same profession always gives you an added advantage in terms of guidance and resolving queries. He has been my backbone throughout my life and has supported me in all my decisions.

My Academic Journey:

At school, I always managed to be among the top 5 most of the time, and if I was not in the top 5, it would upset me. But today, when I look back, I realize that standing first in class and being among the top 5 never really determines one’s success in life.

In school, I studied in a vernacular language (Gujarati). So when I started college, the initial few weeks were tough for me; however, once I realized it’s all in the mind and everything is possible, speaking and writing fluent English seemed very doable. No doubt, the transformation to the complete English language was a difficult task, and I had to put in lots of extra efforts to be on par with others, but I never felt embarrassed. I never felt that my path was more difficult than others.

I did the following to improve my English:

• Reading is the basic and easiest thing to do to improve one’s vocabulary.
• The more you speak, the more you can improve. It is better to speak English with friends.
• People say they don’t watch movies. But I guess watching English movies helped me understand English better.

My CA and articleship journey:

Passing the CPT (1st level CA exam) and IPCC (2nd level CA exams consisting of two groups, Group 1 and Group 2) exams on the first try did not surprise my family, but it did surprise me.

Then came authorship. It was Aug’10. I went with the flow and got selected for a reputed mid-size CA firm, M/s Suresh Surana and Associates, which was a life-changing event. The initial few days were tough working with my seniors. She was a perfectionist and wanted everything to be perfect. It was tough for me to cope initially, but with time, that very quality of being perfect helped me perform exceptionally well at work.

After realizing that I have a good logical thinking skill, the partner of our team offered me a position on our firm’s specialized transfer pricing team within 8-10 months. I accepted my partner’s invitation to join a specialized TP team and have never looked back since. My other colleagues were also super helpful and taught me so much.

During my articleship, my routine was as follows:

• Wake up at 5 a.m.
• Then attend college lectures at 7 a.m. for mandatory attendance.
• Attend CA Final coaching class (last level CA exam consisting of two groups, Group 1 and Group 2) at 7 a.m. (beginning April 2012).
• Then rush to work for my articleship.
• Work super hard in the office.
• Arrive at home by 9.30 or 10 p.m.
• I used to travel by train, so in that 1.5-hour travel journey, I used to revise a little.
• Later in the night, complete college projects and study a little again.
• On weekends, we had coaching class the entire day.

The above routine did make life boring at times, but this journey was full of wonderful memories. Articleship gives you friends for life. As the youngest child in the family, I was always pampered (in a nice way!). Thus, the articleship journey transformed me from a pampered kid to a responsible man. My parents really saw me grow up responsibly during those three years.

So to everyone out there:

• Instead of being a bookworm and taking an overly career-oriented approach, have fun during your articleship.
• Make friends. You never know; you might end up making another family among your friends.
• You will have tough days, sometimes super tough days, but it is all part of the learning process.
• You might find seniors You can be very tough on them, respect them, and learn from them. If it gets difficult to handle things, speak to someone who can help you deal with situations.

My CA Final Examination Journey:

In May 2013, I attempted my CA Final (the final level CA exam, which consists of two groups, Group 1 and Group 2).Now my CA coaching class started in April 2012. Long story short, the principal of our class expired, and all our lectures were cancelled for 3 months. They somehow managed to complete our portion just 2 months before our CA final exam. Many students in our batch skipped that attempt, but I was clear right from the start that I was NOT going to drop my attempt, come what may. During my study leave, I used to study for 15–16 hours a day to compensate for the lost time. My only goal is to be satisfied with my study preparation. I did not want to blame my circumstances and get away with an excuse.

On the exam day, I blanked out on the Financial Reporting (FR) exam. Somehow, I managed to calm myself and started attempting easy questions. There was one question for 20 marks that was really simple, but I goofed up and was not able to solve it. I was so disappointed with myself but decided to focus on my next exams. It is very important in CA exams to forget about the previous exam and just focus on the next exam.

The other exams were going quite decently. However, for another exam, I got dehydrated and blanked out again. I did not panic and instead took a short nap. Fortunately, I got up 10 minutes later, and when I opened my eyes, I felt better. Despite the fact that I had wasted 15-20 minutes, I was still able to finish my paper due to my fast writing speed. The remaining papers went well.

I had an intuition that if I passed my Financial Reporting (FR) paper, I would clear CA Final. However, I could only clear CA Final Group 2, and I failed in CA Final Group 1 because of FR, as I was just short of 4 marks to pass.

I was heartbroken. Failing for the first time in my life was not less than a shameful event. My family was extremely supportive, but I wanted to be a CA who passed the first time. I blamed myself for not being able to solve that simple question in French, which could have saved me. I even cried alone in there.

Failing can sometimes be a crime in Indian society. I overheard people gossiping about me, and a few relatives also criticized me. At the same time, a few of my friends cleared the exams and became qualified CAs. Undoubtedly, I was very happy for them, but I used to feel the pinch that I did not clear (a human tendency, you know).

Though I am a very self-motivated human, I still needed a push from others to help me out of this situation. My family, friends, and colleagues all motivated me. I too realized that it was not the time to lose hope, but rather to put in extra efforts and get those two letters “CA” before my name.

For my CA Final Group 1 2nd attempt, I prepared well; however, just 4 days before the exams, I got a stomach infection and was admitted to the hospital. I informed my family that whatever happens, I do not want to fail without giving it a try. I managed to convince the doctor, and the day before my exam, I got discharged. Luckily, that attempt cleared CA Final Group 1, scoring 66/100 in FR. Now I had the two words “CA” before my name: CA Rushabh Vora. It was not me alone who succeeded that day; it was my father’s long-awaited dream, my mother’s parallel support, my brother’s expert guidance, and my friends’ constant help that too helped me succeed.

My advice to others is:

• A fighter is not the one who doesn’t fail; he is the one who fails but gets up again and rises. It isn’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and still keep moving forward.
• No matter how badly I have struggled throughout my CA journey, in my view, luck played a vital role. Though it is true that luck cannot work until we work,
• CA coaching classes are not mandatory; however, their basic guidance to understand complex issues eases our way and helps save time. Classes are not meant to spoon-feed; they are just an additional way of learning. After that, self-study is mandatory.
• I really wanted to write mock test papers, have heard about its benefit from past students and friends. Unfortunately, I could not do so. When my friends were appearing for mock test papers, we were just actually completing our syllabus in Sukhsagor classes. Doesn’t matter as I said we can’t do everything that others are doing,” he concluded.