My Experience as a Chartered Accountant Intern At BDO (Transfer Pricing)

Sharing the journey of Sayan Banerjee, an article assistant in the Tax and Regulatory Services Division at BDO India LLP, Kolkata

He is currently enrolled in The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s (ICAI) chartered accounting program.

Even after clearing IPCC Group 2 in his third attempt, he still applied to BDO’s transfer pricing team and got selected.

MY JOURNEY as a chartered accountant

I am from a traditional Bengali family of engineers and doctors.

I am the only person in my entire family to pursue a career in chartered accounting (CA).

Having said that, it is the dream of every Chartered Accountant (CA) student to pursue their articleship at a Big 4 accounting firm, and I was no different.

I am not a rank holder, but I can confidently state that I am academically sound and rank in the top 10% of my class, whether in high school or college.

After my class 12 board exams, I joined the bandwagon of CA aspirants and enrolled for CPT classes (CPT is the 1st level CA exam from ICAI), and in between, my 12th grade results were also declared.

I took admission in St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, with another 750 or so students.

I didn’t have much guidance from anyone in my family to pursue CA, and likewise, all the decisions that I have taken are my own.

I had my fair share of difficulty, which I will touch upon later in the entire article.

CA IPCC Group 1 Journey

I cleared CPT with ease, and then came the time for my IPCC exams (2nd level CA exam consisting of 2 groups, Group 1 and Group 2).

While attending regular college, I took CA IPCC tuition.

So my day used to start at 6 a.m. and end at 10 p.m.

Honestly, it was a little difficult, primarily due to a lack of insight and guidance.

I faced difficulty in planning my tuition for the IPCC; it might not be a problem for most, but I did not have many acquaintances in this field, and I had to primarily rely on the little guidance I received from my peers.

I continued with my tuition and college simultaneously and eventually got used to the schedule.

I didn’t clear both groups of the IPCC in my first attempt, and that in itself was a little disappointing.

I thought I had no chance of getting a job as an intern at a large chartered accounting firm.

I started my preparation for IPCC Group 2 once again and chose to defer my term in hopes of securing an articleship with a big chartered accounting firm.

After failing to pass the second time in IPCC Group 2, I began my articleship.

Articleship experience in a small firm

• In small firms, the work is of a varied kind, so you can typically learn about things like filing IT returns, GST returns, statutory audits, internal audits, tax audits, loan documentation, ROC work, etc.
• So you will learn a lot about a lot of different kinds of work on a small scale with limited in-depth exposure to each of the lines of services.
• For one season, I worked in a bank audit assignment and learned a lot about how a bank operates internally.
• I also interacted with income tax officers and communicated with them regarding various client assessment matters. I drafted replies for assessment notices served by the income tax department and the sales tax department.
• The work in small firms is usually not well organized, and the clients are not so cooperative.
• The quality of work at small firms is also not on par with that at big firms, so in terms of your holistic development and learning, there will always be some degree of limitation.
• However, not everything is bad; the environment in small firms is very family-like, and the work schedule and leave policy are flexible even if they pay you peanuts (you shouldn’t be concerned about your salary; now the learning is more important).
• The other benefit is that small firms are also flexible in terms of attending tuition or coaching classes.
• If you want to start your own CA practice, a small or mid-sized firm is the best place to learn everything from scratch.

CA IPCC Group 2 and taking a transfer to the Big 10 firm (BDO)

• I gave it my all and passed my IPCC Group 2 exam on my third try. It felt great, however, and my desire to join a big firm for articleship was still alive.
• After clearing my IPCC Group 2, I came across an opening in the direct tax team of BDO Kolkata on LinkedIn.
• I applied immediately by emailing them my CV and reaching out to the respective person via LinkedIn.
• I received a call within a week, followed by an interview with the manager(s) of the respective team with the vacancy.

My First Day at BDO, Kolkata

• I reached the office half an hour early since it was my first day, and to my surprise, I found that already a lot of people were present in the office and had begun their days.
• I was greeted by HR personnel at the office.
• Later, I was introduced to the various seniors on my team, and everyone gave me a warm welcome.
• I had a meeting with my manager regarding the work proceedings and how I would be contributing to my team, my role, and some brief planning.
• Later that day, my manager introduced me to our team’s partner, the firm’s driving force. I had a pleasant discussion with him, and I was formally welcomed by him into the BDO family.
• Soon it was 7 p.m., and it was time to pack my bag and head back home.
• To me, it was a dream come true. I was a part of the corporate world, and I was like Mike Ross on the sets of Suits; the inner me shouted out aloud in my excitement.
• A brand new laptop (it felt so amazing! ), BDO stationery, and a corporate email ID were issued to me within a week.
• The best of all: They created a corporate email ID in my name and allocated me a separate work desk.

TYPICAL WORKDAY LIFE AT BDO

• The typical workday in my life is like this: I wake up at around 6 a.m., study for 1.5 hours, and leave for the office by 8:30 a.m.
• I reach the office by 10 a.m. and start my work, which includes a variety of tasks ranging from study and research regarding various aspects of direct taxation and transfer pricing (TP), Excel work, some client meetings, preparing presentations, benchmarking, and various other compliance tasks.
• I take a 10-minute walk down the street during the day to clear my mind of the clutter.
• On most days, we have a lot of internal meetings and discussions regarding work throughout the day, and a lot of learning happens during this time.
• The day ends at around 8 p.m. and I head back home (but many days the work hours extend beyond 8 p.m.).
• After reaching home, I relax for a while, like an hour or so with family (conversations with family or close friends really help!).
• I mentioned earlier that I usually try to study something for an hour before going to bed.
• I stay far away from my office, and it takes around 1 hour and 30 minutes to travel one way, so at times I keep some reading going during this commute time.

Work environment at BDO

• The work and learning environment at BDO is wonderful.
• The firm is full of vibrant young people who are very energetic, and they keep you energized and motivated so you feel good about yourself even after a typical 9 to 10 hours of work in a day.
• On the other hand, the seniors at the firm are extremely knowledgeable professionals in their respective fields, so the learning that you gain from them is impeccable and comparable to none.
• I agree that the work is very stressful, and it really comes with a lot of sacrifices, especially when it comes to your social life, but then that is the bargain for such a brand name and such specialized learning from the industry experts.
• Working for a Big 10 firm makes the already difficult life of a CA student even more difficult, and you will be required to push your limits.

Balancing Coaching and Leadership Classes

• In terms of tuition and studies for the CA final along with articleship at a Big 10, the work schedule will be stringent, so taking up tuitions in the morning and some pen-drive classes will be the only option available.
• The best way to plan ahead is to fully utilize your weekends.

A Small Firm versus a Big Ten Accounting Firm

• In a Big 10 Chartered Accountant firm, the quality of work you learn is vastly different.
• In Big 10 firms, you are treated equivalently to an employee and not an intern, so you need to work likewise.
• The Big 10 are very particular about the quality of your work and how presentable you are; for example, they scrutinize even the way you staple or stamp a document.
• In a Big 10, you become all the more polished as a professional, and you become all the more presentable.
• You adapt to the corporate world, and professionalism is inculcated in your personality. You will learn to create your own  brand, which is important in the long run, as per my seniors.
• However, in the Big 10, you are restricted to a particular field of work, and throughout your three years of articleship, you won’t be able to shift from that field.
• So in a way, your knowledge is in-depth in a single field, and in the others, you won’t get any exposure.
• But in the case of a small firm, you will not be confined to a single field and you will get exposure in all fields, which will help you find your core area of interest and will also be beneficial if you aspire to start your own practice in the future.
• If you seek a job in the future, Big 10 internship experience will be a significant asset on  your resume.
• On the other hand, if you specifically want to pursue a career in consulting at one of the Big 10 firms, then having an articleship at one of those firms will give you a significant advantage over your peers in the future.

TO CONCLUDE

• I agree that working in the Big 10 firms requires a lot of effort and hard work, but in the end, all that hard work is worth the learning, experience, and exposure that you will gain from the firms.
• I will definitely suggest that if you get an opportunity to pursue your articleship with these firms, take full advantage of the same; if not, then at least apply to these firms, and don’t lose hope because good things do happen. You just need to believe in yourself and hang on long enough to see the change happen.
• “I cleared my IPCC Group 2 on my third attempt and was still selected at BDO in one of the best profiles,” he concluded.