CA, CS, & ICWA -Practice Or Employment?

CA, CS & ICWA - Practice or Employment – The Better Choice?
This is a million dollar question faced by many budding chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants at the beginning of his/her career. Being mere students who have just turned into professionals, finding an answer to it isn’t easy. You might probably find an answer to it quickly, but again to know whether your answer is right or wrong entails a long wait. Sometimes it’s only at the fag end of one’s career that realization dawns upon that the most important career decision made and acted upon all those years ago was wrong or might have been still better. To avoid getting caught in such turmoil it is imperative that you make a wise decision sooner at the beginning of your career itself. Several factors need to be considered. Some are objective while certain others subjective. Practice and employment are two sides of the same coin. Both having its own pros and cons. By giving due importance and consideration to each of these a well informed and suitable decision needs to be made. This article tries to give some guidance on this count to students as well as fresh professionals who need to make this decision soon.
During the last three decades the profession of a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary & Cost Accountants has made its indelible mark on the Indian corporate sector. They are the modern professionals without whom the corporate board room would be incomplete. Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries & Cost accountants have become almost indispensable to all corporate large and small. Today members of our profession occupy an enviable position in the corporate hierarchy. They are reporting directly to the Board and are considered to be the trusted lieutenant of the Chairman and Managing Director, donning the mantle of a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary or a Cost Accountant is indeed a coveted one. This sense of power, supremacy and control is probably what draws many of us towards the employment side of the profession. Add to this the more than the healthy pay packet that goes with it and you have landed with the best of the job. However, this is the rosy picture at the top of the ladder. The first rung of the ladder may not be quite appealing. As a fresher you need to slowly and steadily move up the ladder gaining everyone’s confidence and trust as you try to go the ladder. Learn and grow with and within the organization. Never stop your education. Equip yourself with additional degrees and qualifications. Prepare yourself to handle more than a single portfolio. Show the management that you are capable of handling multifarious functions. Make yourself indispensable. Never limit yourself to handling only the accounting or secretarial and company law matters or costing as applicable. This will retard your growth in the organization and your career will become stunted. Always look for new horizons to conquer. While in employment learn to take responsibility for your own actions. Don’t pass the buck to others. Be diplomatic in your approach. Remain unfazed by any and many problem/s. Be calm and focused. Firmly believe that there are no problems without solutions. Demonstrate to the management that you are in control of every situation and can be called upon to dissipate any problem. Once you decide to take up employment, firmly resolve that you will not give up without reaching the highest rung of the corporate ladder. Be confident and you will definitely reap the rich rewards.
Having said about the employment side of the profession, we now move to practice. Today we see more and more professionals moving to practice. For most of us freedom means everything. The freedom to make your own decisions, the freedom to work at your own pace, the freedom of not having to report to anyone and the freedom to come and go at your own time. Freedom is possibly the biggest advantage and attraction that is offered by practice. It gives one the freedom of thought, action and flexibility.
Other than your clients, you are responsible only to yourself. You are your own boss and can set your own deadlines and schedules. However this calls for an extra effort at disciplining yourself. You have to discipline yourself to be well organized, systematic and professional in your working because no external force compels you to be so. It will spell trouble for yourself as well as your clients if you are unable to organize yourself and your work systematically well.
Practice offers greater scope today when compared to employment. While in employment you are exposed to only such areas of work which your Company chooses for you, while in practice it is different. With numerous and multifarious clients and their myriad requirements you touch upon and gain in-depth knowledge and experience in a larger and greater number of areas. For instance in employment for you to gain exposure in handling an IPO or a buy back, it will be possible only if your company chooses to go in for IPO. You will probably have all the theoretical knowledge necessary but will still lack the required practical experience. And as always knowing is very different from doing. What you know need not always translate into what you actually do. This is where practice scores over employment. If one out of your many clients decides to go in for an IPO, it will help you hone up your skills in this particular area. And if you have done it once then you have done it all.
In practice the most difficult part is probably the initial decision and struggle. At the beginning stage, practice is not exactly a bed of roses. It has its fair share of problems, both financial and otherwise. You may feel you are losing out when you relate yourself with counterparts in the industry who draw fat pay cheques. But this is only a passing phase. Stick to it with all your determination and resolve. In the long run you will definitely stand to gain. The kind of growth that practice offers you both as a professional and as an individual is far greater than that of any employment. Once the initial hurdles are crossed, it will be a smooth sail later on. Of course it doesn’t mean that there will be no problems at all. You will have the occasional troublesome client or some work that you feel you is just not able to successfully complete due to external factors and influences beyond your control. But have patience. Be positive in your outlook and proactive in your approach. This will see you through all the problems big and small.
All said and done employment or practice-the choice is totally personal. One needs to carefully analyze his/her own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat requirements and compare them with its suitability to each of the choices above and then arrive at the right decision. After all what is good for one need not necessarily be good to another. It is for each individual to look at the choice which suits his/her own parameters.