Dear BCAJ Lovers,
You may have read the BCAS Vision Statement. There are four limbs to it. One of them deals with students. It says that “BCAS shall provide to students an environment conducive to the pursuit of knowledge, and encourage them to achieve their potential to become complete Chartered Accountants.”
Lately, we have been conducting many programmes for the benefit of students. Recently, we had organised an Annual Day for our Students’ Forum. The HR Committee worked very hard for this event and the efforts bore fruit when more than 150 young, enthusiastic and bright students gathered under one roof and had a wonderful time. My brief presence there took me down the memory lane and I recollected my student days — both in college as well as during articleship. As the cliché goes, I thought about the “good old days”.
When I compare my student days with the days that our present students are facing, I find a huge difference. Earlier, the pressure on students was much lesser. First of all, very few students did their articleship along with their graduation. I, for one, could have begun my articleship after successfully passing the Entrance Examination. But I was asked by my principal late Mr. S. V. Ghatalia to first complete graduation and then join his firm as a student. I am ever so grateful to him for giving me this advice. This not only allowed me to enjoy my college life and take part in several activities (which, in turn, have helped me a great deal in life), but also made me more mature and capable of handling the various assignments that were allotted to me during the articleship. At the same time, because we students already had the basic knowledge of tax and audit and a few other laws, we did not have to attend coaching classes. This in turn, saved us a lot of time. We were all able to leave our homes in the morning at decent timings and also reach home when our parents were awake.
In contrast today, our students are leading completely different lives. They insist on starting articleship during the graduation process. When I tried to reason with my own daughter and convince her to first become a graduate and then start articleship, I nearly started a war in the family ! Because they go to college and also for articleship, the students are out of their homes for long hours. Also, for reasons best known to them, they believe that without attending coaching classes, they cannot pass the CA examinations. And so, they also go for classes. Thus, in effect, an average CA student would leave his/her house in the morning at around 6.30 a.m. and return at around 10 p.m.
Further, the focus of today’s students is only to pass the CA examinations. They forget that the period of articleship is supposed to be the time when they have to gain know-ledge from their principals and seniors. Instead of aiming at absorbing knowledge and experience, the students channelise their energies only towards the examinations. In the process, the most important aspect of articleship i.e., learning, is either ignored or given secondary importance by the students. Also, attention span is very short nowadays. Although the younger generation is far more smart than the earlier generations, when it comes to common sense and grasping of fundamental principles, the present generation is far behind the ‘oldies’. This, of course, is a sweeping statement. But I am willing to begin a debate on this.
What is it that we CAs can do for our students ? Can we make life less stressful for them ? Can BCAS do something that will supplement the efforts of the ICAI in providing the students with much more than merely a degree ?
I believe that BCAS certainly has a very important role to play — nay, it is our duty to do something for the students. We need to bring about a paradigm shift in the thinking process of our students. First of all, we need to remove from their minds the wrong notion that without coaching classes, they cannot pass the examinations. Secondly, the students need to be mentored carefully. Today, their focus is to pass the CA examinations. The golden opportunity of gaining knowledge and experience during the articleship days has been sacrificed at the altar of examination-oriented approach. Many students make compromises in the quality of work that they do (or, in some cases, don’t do) during the articleship. I appeal to BCAS members to mould their students in the right direction. Let us impart not only technical training relating to taxes and accounting standards. Let us also educate them on how to become fine human beings apart from becoming fine professionals. Let us spend some time on how to make them good leaders and exemplary members of society in general. This year, at the BCAS, we will make sustained efforts to reach out to the students and create a sense of belonging in them towards the BCAS. Help me in taking this mission forward by enrolling your students for our programmes. Also, now that the Final CA examination results have been declared, I hope your students have qualified as Chartered Accountants. As they step into a new world and begin their careers, it would be a fitting gesture on your part to gift them an entry into BCAS. I invite you to gift one year’s membership of the BCAS to your successful students.
The recently concluded ITF Conference organised by the International Tax Committee of the BCAS was a resounding success despite the fact that participants and their family members were very worried about the repercussions of going to Lavasa which is very near Pune where the H1N1 virus is currently playing havoc with normal life. Thankfully, everything went off well for us. We would now be focussing on the new Direct Tax Code which was unveiled recently by the Finance Minister for public debate. The Annual Referencer of the BCAS which is a prized possession for many will be released shortly. The BCAS has also made two representations on tax matters — one to the Finance Minister and the other to the CBDT. Copies of the same would be printed in the BCAJ.
Lately, certain mails have been doing the rounds on the Internet which have cast our parent body — the ICAI and also its top leadership — in very bad light. One hopes that the controversy is resolved very soon. Ultimately, mud slinging of this kind and washing of dirty linen in public is bound to hurt our profession and, thereby, all of us. The ICAI elections would soon be held in early December. Let us all resolve to exercise our valuable franchise and that too wisely. Ballot is the biggest weapon in a democracy. Let us not waste it. We have worked hard to become Chartered Accountants. Can we allow a few people to let that hard work go down the drain ? Rabindranath Tagore once said — “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water”. Now is the time to act !
