‘Oh, hell! What a disgusting profession! I wonder why I chose it!’ A Chartered Accountant was cursing his profession.
‘What happened?’ I asked in a sympathetic tone.
He continued, ‘It’s very easy to say from the dais – “A dignified profession”. But in reality nobody cares for our profession.’
‘But people feel very highly about a CA. Your course is so difficult. The passing percentage is so low.’
The CA: ‘But what’s the use? You become “out-dated” every six months! Many things change every day! Zindagi mein kitne saal padhate rahane ka ? (How long to keep on learning and studying in life?)’
I pointed out, ‘But your signature is valuable. Government requires your signature on many documents and certificates – Not only on financial statements.’
‘But that is only a responsibility, a burden without commensurate rewards. There’s too much of regulation. It is impossible to keep track…’
I said, ‘Audit is your monopoly.’
He countered: ‘That is killing us. Nobody really wants audit. Nobody wants to pay tax. So our services are unwelcome…’
‘But you alone can guide the clients to comply with all laws and the rules and regulations.’
‘The client has no value for all these things. He says that all that we are doing is for ourselves; just to save our skin. He never feels any value addition in those regulations and compliances’.
I ventured, ‘But since these things are mandatory, you get fees…’
‘Fees? Bah! This is the most unremunerative profession. Payment of our fees is at the bottom of the ladder. And they bargain even for small amounts.’
‘But due to the system of articleship, you get good assistants at low cost?’
‘Articles? The less said about them the better. Everybody dictates to us – clients, staff, articles, regulators – and also the wife at home!’
‘But you do get the satisfaction of rendering good service?’
‘Satisfaction? There is nothing but frustration. Don’t you know that without corruption you cannot give results.’
I pointed out that there are many opportunities in the corporate sector. There are many other avenues and a variety of other services that one can render.
The CA agreed with me and added, ‘But for that you need not be a CA. And in corporates there is slogging like glorified slaves… No personal life… No independence. There is hypocrisy everywhere. And now everything is technology-driven. There is no application of mind.’
I said, ‘But don’t your clients maintain a long relationship with you?’
The CA responded sceptically with, ‘As soon as the fees are increased, the relations come to an end! There is no loyalty.’
The discussion was endless. We stopped after two hours – with his final remark, ‘I wonder why people go for this course at all! It was a wrong decision on my part. This profession has no future’.
We dispersed.
Next morning, I received a WhatsApp massage from my CA friend: ‘Pleased and proud to inform you that my son has passed his CPT exam and will be joining the CA course…’
In the Mahabharat, there is a very interesting chapter called ‘Yaksha-Prashna.’ It is an enlightening dialogue between Yudhishtira and a ‘super’ human being, Yaksha. He asks, ‘What is the most paradoxical situation in the world?’
Yudhishtira replies, ‘Everybody knows that death is inevitable; yet they behave as if they are immortal’.
I think many CAs feel that this profession has no future, yet their next generation takes up the course. Perhaps this applies to all professions.
