Articleship is one of the most important phases of a CA Journey which in fact guides what a person will be choosing as his career post the training so one must make the decision really wisely.
When a student clears his intermediate examination, he has to mandatorily undergo a 3 year training under a practicing chartered accountant as a part of CA curriculum. The biggest dilemma that a student encounters in this process is whether to opt for a mediocre firm, providing knowledge in every field of chartered accountancy be it audit, taxation, transfer pricing etc., or to opt for a Big 4 firm, providing specialization in one core field.
In order to solve this confusion a student, generally rushes to his friends or a professional pursuing the same career path. However, when it comes to this topic, everyone has a different perspective and view point. Therefore, this article discusses the pros and cons of both Mediocre and Big 4 firms which might help you in making an informed decision.
Pros of working in Big 4 Firms:
· Opportunities to work with listed clients
Big 4 Firms have a lot of listed clients (Fortune 500 and NIFTY 100). Thus, a person, at a very young age gets a chance to deal with top level management which increases his networking, communication and articulation skills.
. Adds value to your CV
Working with listed clients adds value to your CV and post the training period, it increases your chances to get recruited by top MNCs.
· Handsome stipend
Big 4 Firms pay handsome stipends generally as compared to mediocre firms that usually pay as per ICAI norms.
· Corporate culture
Big 4 firms provide corporate exposure which is necessary to witness if one wishes to lead his career in top multinational firms and wants to achieve white collared jobs, which is something that Mediocre Firms lack.
Cons of working with Big 4 Firms:
· Long working hours
Due to immense work pressure, one has to work for long hours which may start from early morning and continue till late in the night . CA - Final has a vast syllabus , one may not get proper time to complete his classes due to heavy workload even on weekends.
We all know that every coin has two sides , it totally depends upon us which side we want to see and chase. However, be it Mediocre or a Big 4 Firms, Articleship is a learning phase. Therefore, it is immaterial whether one is doing articleship from a Big 4 Firm or a Mediocre Firm. In the long run, what is more important is to complete the training period with dedication. During the Articleship phase, one should try to learn different models of business and should develop a problem solving approach along with good communication skills. Last but not the least, don’t forget to manage your studies along with your Articleship phase.
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