Clearing CA Exams in the first attempt with articles at EY

• Can you clear CA Final exams in the first attempt while doing your articles from a Big 4 like EY?
• In this article, Linet D’souza shares with us her journey of becoming a CA and her strategy of clearing Final exams on the first attempt. 
• Linet is presently an Assistant Manager at Citibank India.

How did I decide to become a CA?

Between computer engineer, a doctor, and a psychiatrist, I thought of finally settling down on Chartered Accountancy (CA) and following my sister’s footsteps. She warned me against it, though!

I picked Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai, AKA the CA Factory to pursue my graduation.

Juggling the strict attendance rules and the hectic work life of a Big 4 (EY) felt impossible in the beginning. But it helped me to shape my personality and make me a stronger and confident person.

Clearing CA exams in the first attempt

Articleship in Big 4 proved a huge learning experience and I learned precious lessons here.

It made me an optimistic person

• Articleship has taught me to concentrate on the positive parts of life and situations.
• I used to hate the things I was doing. But every time that happened, I realized that whatever I was doing, was for my own good.
• Never complaint – It makes things more difficult for you.

Learn to speak up

• Don’t accept things as they are. Always be assertive.
• The quality of being curious helped me learn something new every day.

Understand the scope of opportunities for CA

• What’s the first thing before starting your articleship in a Big 4 or anywhere? Figuring out which arena you want to enter in your future. I say this because it helps you pick your job after qualifying as a CA.
• If you don’t know which area you want to enter before starting your articleship for the first 1.5 years, then experiment and explore and decide which area you want to specialize in.
• You could also opt for industrial training, but here study leave can be an issue, so decide wisely.
• It’s not easy deciding what you want at the age of 18-19. But you have to realize how to live with your decision, how to accept your mistakes, and work towards a solution.
• Don’t like what you pick/what you are doing? figure out what is going wrong for you and work towards what it is that you want to do.

Articleship at a Big 4 Accounting Firm – EY

Everybody will tell you that working in a Big 4 is hectic (including me!). but It will help you to understand corporate life and open doors when you clear the exam.

Leaves are not an issue in the Big 4 because of a well-defined Intern Policy.

My study leaves started in Dec 2016 for the May 2017 attempt. That’s good enough!

If you are making a number of exam attempts and want leaves every second month – then that could be an issue.

One problem you can face in a Big 4 is being stuck with one job role. If you are lucky you do get to move around a little but you have to be assertive. So learn to speak up and say that you want to move internally.

Be a good performer and show the company your worth!

How did I manage studies and articleship at Big 4?

• Articleship drama, college life, everything falls into place, one thing at a time but the most difficult journey is the one you go through during your study leave.
• The transition from attending articleship daily to suddenly studying the entire day could be tough. But you have to deal with it and get into study mode (if that’s what you call it!).
• One way could be – To start studying regularly at least 5 to 6 months before your proper study leave. This will help you get into the flow when your leave starts.
• When I went on a study leave I decided that I was doing this just once, so I had to give it my all.
• I shut myself from everything around me. I would study in a library, not talk to a lot of people, not touch my phone (Zero social media activity). Studying was my first (and only) priority.
• I often told myself – Don’t care about the result. You can’t change it. But if the screen reads FAIL, it shouldn’t be because you didn’t study enough. Period. This was my sole motto of studying.
• Maybe you would feel alone and stressed out to the point where you simply stop caring or you just want to pull out your hair.
• But the day your screen reads PASS you will know that you never have to go through all this again. All the lack of sleep, and sacrificing social lives will be worth it.

Personal lessons I acquired during the EY internship

• The biggest advantage of working at a Big 4 Accounting firm (in my case EY) is that you will become good at managing things – You have to manage college, office, coaching, and study.
• Working hours can vary from time to time. There will be days when you can leave at 6 pm and some days you will have to sit even till 3 am to meet the deadlines.
• Apart from the crazy study and work days – I made some amazing friends along the way. I had some great learning and have amazing memories for a lifetime.

I had almost decided to delay my attempt by six months as I did not want to lose the tag of a 1st attempt Chartered Accountant.

Wrapping up 

What CA teaches you – It teaches you to work hard. It makes you realize that all good things in life take time. Be determined to achieve it.

There will be multiple times when you will think of giving up, packing your bags, and just doing an MBA instead. I know the feeling as I felt the same but the one thing that kept me going was realizing –  How badly I wanted this.

I wasn’t studying to prove anything to anyone.

I wasn’t studying to make my parents proud – they are proud of me no matter what. I was doing it for MYSELF, to push myself to an extreme and be rewarded for it.

And this selfish desire kept me going and helped me study for 15-16 hours a day.

Today, having achieved this milestone in my life, I believe I can achieve more and will not stop until I succeed at the next big step