Inspiring Stories of CAs - First Story - Prema Jayakumar

CA Prema Jayakumar (CA Final 1^st Ranker, Nov’ 2012)

Let me put some facts to the reader and then will proceed for lessons out of the same.

Ms. Prema is from very normal family of four family members, her parents and her younger brother. Her father Jayakumar Perumal is from Tamil Nadu, and was an auto driver for 20 years. Her mother used to work for a private company. She later stopped working later on for health reasons. They lived in a very small house in Malad, Mumbai (India).

With these given facts, it’s very easy to make you think on this. This case really inspires me at this very moment (even though its almost five years I have cleared my CA). This story really motivates me to believe that if you want to give your 100% to something, then you can achieve anything. Not just studies but for me, it is a lifetime lesson, a true inspiration. A candidate with moderate amount of available resources but abundance of confidence and dedication can of course create history. This gives me at least a fair bit of idea about the motive behind her hard work. Am sure she would be working hard in studies just to see her family a lot happier at later stage when she becomes a chartered accountant. This has served as a great motivator for her. I have seen many chartered accountants studying in my hostel had this purpose in their mind, to make their family so richer and happier that they would never have imagined as possible (To admit, I was one of them). This one thought of making others happier (especially parents) can move mountains. Based on this thought, all other things are just branches of the big tree. If you are firm on the grounds on which your actions are based, all other thing happens automatically.

“Faith allows things to happen, it is the power that comes from a fearless heart and when a fearless heart believes, miracles happen. (Shared this message which I happen to receive from one of my friend at the time when I was typing this article)

Important Pages you may want to go through. 

January 23, 2013 Livemint Article Heading "Prema Jayakumar's Journey"

http://www.livemint.com/Specials/DKVaMP7Vo8pL6FzP25SqfN/Prema-Jayakumars-journey.html

Short Interview on ABP News. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YzcPOy6gd8&noredirect=1

Video Interview with Mid-Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRZOqJ7fXQ

Messages from Chartered Accountants (Will update this from time to time)

This post will be updated as and when we hear from various existing qualified Chartered Accountants

Dream and Do work on it: Dream and do the required hardwork to convert those dreams into practical life. One has to keep dreaming to keep himself motivated. - CA Gaurav Shrawagi, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2013.

Which Reference Books are good (will Keep on updating this post from time to time)

Which Reference Books are good? (Since this post is not exhaustive, we will keep on updating this post from time to time) in case of any questions or suggestions to be asked, kindly email on inspiringcastudents@gmail.com

CA Sudhir Rajpopat: People sometimes ask their friends for reference books and they use it blindly without even knowing the facts about authors or without knowing the book contents. Ideally one should do whatever he/she is comfortable with and not what your friends are comfortable with.

CA Rajesh Pabari: Choosing reference books should be based on opinions obtained from at least five to ten persons. Preliminary knowledge about the length of the book and your requirements out of it should be clarified first. The same should be evaluated with your time availability.  

Arti Jain, 2^nd Rank, CA Final, Nov 2011 suggested reading:

·         Munish Bhandari for Law

·         Bangar & Bangar for IDT

·         The Institute's Study Modules & Practise Manuals for all other subjects

Maitreyee Rajput, 1^st Rank, CA Final, November 2011 suggested reading:

·         Direct Taxes: Vinod Gupta

·         Accounts (Accounting standards): D S Rawat & M P Vijaykumar

·         Indirect Taxes: Dipak Gupta

·         Law: Munish Bhandari

·          ICAI practice manuals

·    ICAI publications (Recent circulars, notifications, case laws, suggested answers and RTP)

·         Coaching class notes

CA Charmy Sheth, 3^rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011: Don’t go for random study. There are limitless books in the market. Believe me 90% the books will say the same thing. When I go to a book store I check how I feel about the book – format, font, readable quality. Shuffling books – is sheer wastage of time and energy. So, settle down with one book. Suggested reading:

·         ICAI Study Modules/Practice Manuals

·         Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics: VK Agarwal

·         Corporate and Allied Laws: Munish Bhandari

CA Mridu Garg 2^nd Rank Holder, CA Final, November 2013: CA Institute’s practice materials, RTPs and the mock tests with the CDs that they initiate, that had been a big help that takes place in the month of September. That was indeed a big help because you got to know where you stand.

Why Articleship is Important

Balance between Articleship and your studies (Helps understand various subjects like Direct Taxes, Accounting, Finance, Indirect Taxes, Helps to handle pressure situations)

Exposure to Finance and Practical Accounting: The articleship is the most crucial part of CA programme. Students get excellent exposure to various areas of finance and accounting. It would be difficult to swim in the accounting world, if you don’t have a hand-on-experience. - CA Maitreyee Rajput, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2011

Building Confidence and Handle Pressure Situations, helps technical and conceptual understanding: Practical experience gained during Articleship really helped during the preparation of CA final exam. It helped in building the confidence required to handle and sustain pressure situations, how to meet deadlines and managing time effectively. These qualities acquired at the workplace were very helpful in studies straightaway. Doing an articleship sincerely did help a lot not only in developing technical understanding and conceptual clarity of the subjects we studied.  - CA Pawan Sarda, 2nd Rank, CA Final, November 2011

Helps understand complex theoretical Concepts: Some people ignore Articleship to focus on theory subjects. But I took articleship very seriously and it enhanced my practical knowledge and its applicability.  It also helped me to understand complex theoretical concepts. - CA Arti Jain, 2nd Rank, CA Final, November 2011.

Articleship plays a very important role in CA student’s life because I got much benefit in subjects like DT, IDT because there you can get practical exposure in office. It was something very brilliant especially in Direct tax, IDT. So, articleship plays a very important role. - CA Gaurav Shrawagi, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2013

Coping up with Articleship phase and its importance– CA Charmy Sheth, 3^rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011:

My articleship at Purvesh & Associates, Borivali, Mumbai was icing on the cake – It gave me practical exposure on audit and taxation. The audit and income tax paper was a breeze. My boss, who is also an All India ranker was a great motivator at work. Positive colleagues and meeting clients helped me gain confidence. Indeed, I got a good grip on the subject and work life. But at the end of the end, both coaching and articleship is important, but it is supplementary.

On an average I spent 15 hours starting from college and ending at office. The schedule was very hectic at times as office comes with endless responsibilities. To prove myself at both places was a real challenge. I never wanted to compromise one for the other. So, I made sure that I attended my college lectures regularly. Luckily, it was not a lonely journey – as 90% were CA students in my college (Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai). We shared similar sentiments.

Facing the Exams

Facing the exams

(Solve Everything, write every answer and Devote Calculated time to each question)

CA Pawan Sarda, 2^nd Rank, CA Final, November 2011: We need to solve everything of the Question Paper because even if you don’t know the answer you can at least write something, there will be hardly anything in the paper which you will be completely blank about.

One more thing was that those 3 hours during the exams are very crucial. Whatever you study during those one or two years won’t does not count if you do not do well in the 3 hours. So, I had planned that if you have 180 minutes for 100 marks paper, you have 1.8 minutes for each mark and hence, you can calculate for a 5 mark question you have 9 minutes in hand, for 10 marks question you have 18 minutes. So, while giving the answers we can keep a track of time of how much paper is completed and how much is remaining and accordingly we give importance to each and every mark. This is very important because if you skip 15-20 marks paper unattended then automatically the examiner will assess you on 80-85 marks. If you have attended 95-100 marks, naturally there are more chances of getting higher scores.

Yoga Exercies and Pranayam Helps, Keep Cool and Calm before going to exam hall: CA Charmy Sheth, 3rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011: “My regular yoga exercises helped me release out all worries. I used to do pranayams before I left for exam.  I was very calm, relaxed during my exams. I would not carry any materials to my exam hall. I would rather break my calm cycle if I start flipping pages at my exam hall. I believe you just have to give your best and rest will fall in its place.”

CA Gaurav Shrawagi, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2013.

Sequence of Attempting in papers: “I always used to do those questions which I was very confident of. I didn’t follow the questions serially. I used to start with only that question which I was very confident of because once you start writing question it helps saving time and in solving those other questions later. So, I used to start with those questions that were very easy for me.

Revision and Managing things on Exam days

Importance of revision on last day:

CA Pawan Sarda: If you study something for 4 months but if you don’t study the same thing just before the exam it could possible a biggest mistake because when you go into the exam you should have the confidence that you have read everything, everything should be fresh in your mind. After you attend one paper, you will get at least 20 hours’ time for the next paper. Plan your revision techniques in such a manner that the whole portion can be revised in those 20 hours.

CA Jay Kothari (Mumbai): You can select some easy topics which can be studied on exam’s previous day. On the exam day, from morning till exam time, most important things should be studied like those things that need to be focused without a choice e.g. important recent case laws, formulae, important sections, ratios, percentages etc.

CA Rajesh Pabari: In some subjects, it’s near to impossible to revise the entire portion in last one and half day before the exam. For ex. Direct Taxation of CA final, in this kind of subjects, you need be sure that you have conceptually understood everything and can answer any type of questions that you may come across. Understanding various concepts in clear manner helps it remain longer in our brain and it can be easily applied to any practical situations when asked to. Make sure you have prepared your notes or at least highlighted important paragraphs in your reference books which you think you need to revise at last moments. Again, you have to plan in such a way that even important selected readings are completed in available time. If possible, kindly do mock revision to check whether you are able to revise the subject in 20 hours time. 

One important tip I want to share here. Whenever you read any paragraphs in theory books, highlight only few key words of the para in such a way that when you re-read those paragraphs, you should be able to recall the full paragraphs just by reading those four to five highlighted words. This will greatly improve time management while revising the subjects.

CA Gaurav Shrawagi, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2013.

During the exams, don’t try to leave anything; you have only 20 hours to revise the whole content. One should go through all those contents of the portion which you have read at least twice or thrice. Don’t go for a new book or content for that one day or 20 hours, you are not going to get much out of that new book. Go through the short notes and highlighted important portions because for subjects like DT, SFM, you have really very short time to prepare. So, Its beneficial greatly if you have taken down important points so as to recollect all those points just before exam day.

CA Charmy Sheth, 3rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011:  I observed that a one-day preparatory holiday is not enough for most students. And the reason is that they do not plan well. Last-minute studies require a good planning.

Strategy during the exams (Plan studies, Take Proper Rest, Sleep Well, Don’t Panic): Dhruv Jain, 2nd Rank, IPCE, November 2013

Schedule Plan, Hourly Targets: “I prepared a planned schedule for myself which I used to maintain in my diary. My exams started from 6^th Nov and we got a gap of one and a half day before each exam. After the exams got over, I used to return home by 6 and then sit for study from 6 to 11 PM. I had already planned what topics I have to go through from each subject on an hourly basis during each exam and this is how I have retained my strategy.”

It’s All Mind Managing Game: “One shouldn’t panic during the exams as this can lower your confidence. Proper sleep is must as one shouldn’t take his/her health at stake. I have seen some of my friends who didn’t use to sleep or take rest during exams and ultimately this affected their other incoming exams and their health too. So, I would suggest – don’t panic, take proper sleep and then study well”.

Revising the subject before it gets far deep in the brain and becomes irretrievable:

Revising the subject before it gets far deep in the brain and becomes irretrievable: CA Rajesh Pabari - 

One important lesson I had learned long back from a theory called Super-Memo that was developed by Polish Researcher Piotr Woznaik. Many students might be unknowingly applying this concept but it is advisable to learn this concept so that it can be applied in actual situation in correct scientific manner.

The summary of the theory goes like this. Suppose we read something today, the same is forgotten within around 50 Days to the extent of 90% without any revision. The theory also finds out that the process of forgetting is very fast in the beginning. In the given example, after around 5-7 days (or may be less than that), almost 50% of what you have studied today is forgotten. In around 20 days, around 70% is forgotten and in 30 days almost 80-85% is forgotten. Does this ring a bell in your mind? Perhaps by now, it must have. But if it has not, then let me now tell you what we can do for this. We should devise our revision techniques in such a way that before the things are forgotten, we should be able to revise it. It is most advisable to revise first time within 24 hours (Applies for everything). Then again within next seven days. Then again in 30 days. Then again in 60 days. As and when we are revising it again, it will take lesser and lesser time because we have already revised the same thing number of times and it has become part of permanent memory.

You might be thinking that we don’t have this much time. But let me tell you that our brain is capable of doing what we cannot think of as possible. If you will try it, you will find that what you studied today for 8 hours can be revised tomorrow within 1 hour because the same is very much fresh in your mind. (Remember when the exam days comes, we do revise this much in 1 hour, then why not now?). And after a week, same should be revised again then after a month once again. This may take you around 1-1 hour each time. So spending 3 additional hours gave you three revisions and the confidence of revising it for three times by now.  This method allows you to retain the things in mind over longer period of time.

Now take another situation where the same thing is revised directly after a month, in this case you will need at least 3 hours to revise what you had studies in 8 hours because it will be almost forgotten what you had studied. And this time you will realize that you have almost forgotten 80% of what you had read. There is psychological disadvantage after spending almost the same amount of time as against the first example. And the 3 additional hours applied gives you only the second revision. While in the first case, you have revised it thrice.

If you want to retain something in your brain for future retrieval on demand, revision is important. There are neural science concepts behind this theory but for the time being just keep in mind that the more you revise, the more you can recall.

Dealing with Exam Stress

Dealing with Exam Stress:

CA Mridu Garg 2^nd Rank Holder, CA Final, November 2013

Take a stroll, discuss with family members or close friends: “Yes, I think that pretty many times it happens that we are so frustrated with the continuous study that probably going out for a stroll (say) 30 or 45 minutes a day really eases you. Time and again I was discussing with my parents. Whenever I was in doubt, my parents were always there. So, discussing things makes it all easier.  

Giving Equal Importance to All subjects

Giving Equal Importance to All subjects:

CA Gaurav Shrawagi, 1^st Rank, CA Final, November 2013.

“My first plan was to give equal weightage to all the 8 subjects. You cannot compromise with one subject and give favour to other subjects because all subjects carry 100 marks. So, my first plan was to do all the 8 subjects in 1 day. When I took my articleship leave in July, I used to dedicate one and a half hour to each subject. So, if you take one and a half hours for each subject, 12 hours a day, it’s not a big matter and the rotation of subjects in 1 and a half hour for one subject, you can put better concentration on that subject, otherwise if you go on studying one subject the whole day, it doesn’t sounds good. So, I always gave only one and a half hour for each subject, each day so that I do not lose any one of the subjects and I was confident that all the 8 subjects are under my control. So, that was my first plan to go through all the 8 subjects concurrently and one should not compromise for other subjects.”

Blogger Team Input: In continuation to above point, I would like to clarify that it is not be possible for everyone to read 8 subjects in one day. The aim of mentioning the above note is to present the idea that rotating subjects in a day is better than studying one subject at a stretch. Mind needs change; hence, it is advisable to take at least two to three subjects in a day, if you can manage more, then you can take more subjects as per your comfort. 

Dealing with Theory Subjects

Dealing with Theory Subjects - CA Charmy Sheth, 3rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011: Most people find theories dull – there is a negative attitude towards it. You can find it interesting if you give a repetitive read. Mugging up doesn’t work in CA. One should understand the objective of the particular chapter. Focus is must. The last 4-5 months should be only dedicated to studies.

Studying at Library with Group of Friends

Morning Hours of Studies and Importance of Studying at Library with Group of Friends:

CA Charmy Sheth, 3^rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011: I am an early riser. So, my preparation begins with the fresh mind. At that time, due to some construction in front of my house, it was difficult to fully concentrate. I joined a 24X7 library where I used to spent nine hours of the day. I am thankful to that library in every sense – I got peaceful space and dozen passionate CA friends. We all turned out to be very resourceful and helped each other as we used to discuss, share notes, books and views.

Tips to cope up with tough Papers:

Tips to cope up with tough Papers in Exams:

CA Maitreyee Rajput, 1^st Rank, CA Final, November 2011: In the last few days, she used to write mock exam. “For me, Information System Control Audit (ICSA) and Indirect Tax (IDT) were easy papers. Rest of the subjects were quite difficult, especially Cost Management and Direct Taxes. In Costing paper, I kept my cool and solved those questions about which I was confident. The tougher and tricky ones needed more time, so I approached them at the end.”

Study schedule and Importance of Planning

Study schedule and Importance of Planning:

CA Maitreyee Rajput, 1st Rank, CA Final, November 2011: I started full-fledged studies six months in advance. I used to study for eight to 10 hours a day. I had made my time-table and tried to stick to it. For practical subjects like Accounts, SFM, Costing – I invested a lot of time in practicing.

CA Arti Jain, 2^nd Rank, CA Final, Nov 2011: I used to take up three subjects a day. I always woke up early at 5 am. I used to finish my studies by 11 pm. I had a good grasp over practical portion of the syllabus. My personal favorite areas were Accounts and Costing. I never counted the number of study hours. The focus was on topics to be completed and not on how many hours I have studied.

CA Charmy Sheth, 3^rd Rank, CA Final, November 2011 - Importance of Planning: “Failing to plan is planning to fail” is a mantra I randomly read somewhere. After contemplation, it was interesting to note that I was following it since childhood. My studies were all well-planned. I had made a small diary in which I used to design a 15-day timetable. I took two subjects in a day – one theory and the other practical. I was clear at what time I have to carry Subject 1 and Subject 2. Every evening post studies, I would take stock of chapters finished on the same day and subsequent days. Before sleep, I used to always put down black and white. My timetables are always on paper. Discussing verbal time table with friends mostly go vain. Your mind can forget but paper hits your mind.

Akshay Jain, IPCE, November 2013, 1st Rank - I made a strategy that how much time should be devoted for each subject and then revised those subjects accordingly. Apart from that, I made a schedule- which particular topics I have to go through before each exam. I also practiced some Mock test papers which helped me to know how one should write one’s paper in those 3 hours of examination.

Dhruv Jain, IPCE, 2^nd Rank, November 2013 - “I started my schedule at the end of March (for November Attempt) and made a routine in a systematic manner as to which subject should be studied in which month and how much time to devote for each subject. I devoted maximum time to those subjects which I felt were pretty hard for me such as– Business Laws and Corporate Law. I decided to finish up the portion by the month of October so that I could get the time to revise those subjects again. I focused much on Theory subjects – like ITSM which I used to revise again and again. Practical subjects I found to be easy and used to clear my concepts in the class itself so that I could devote my maximum time to the theory subjects.

Keep revising or updating your Plan, whenever required

Keep revising or updating your Plan, whenever required:

CA Pawan Sarda, Rank 2, CA Final, Nov 2011: “I used to revise my study plan. According to me, it is not always possible that 100% of your plan will be followed, so I used to revise my plan every few days, even the daily plans I had, something or the other used to come up but somehow there was the determination that I have to do it and there is nobody else who can help me. I took this responsibility and finally it was done.”

Plan Properly, Take Required Rest and Breaks, 3 times revision before exams

Plan Properly, Take Required Rest and Breaks, 3 times revision before exams:- 
CA Mridu Garg 2^nd Rank Holder, CA Final, November 2013: “On the first day of the leave, I made a time table for myself, a deadline as to when would I complete my 1^st revision, 2^nd revision etc. and also made a schedule of how long would I take for each subject. So, basic thing was that around 10 hours a day I used to study. I didn’t compromise with my sleep. Generally, what CA students do is, that they study over the night and at the end takes hit on health. So, I would say 8 hours of sleep is really important plus giving yourselves small breaks when you are studying is very important plus I feel that 3 times revision will help us to retain what we studied as it is a vast course. So, in order to retain what we studied, ultimately 3 times of revision would be enough.”

Welcome to the Blog "Destination CA - Mentoring Your Journey"

Dear Reader,

The blog has been created with a motive to help the reader students to smoothly carry out their journey of Chartered Accountancy course.

The guidance being shared in this blog is obtained from various Chartered Accountants who has been through this study phase and are now successful chartered accountants.

We hope that the guidance which is shared here will be of great help to you and will serve the purpose of mentoring your journey to Destination CA.

We wish you all the best and any suggestions, comments or compliments can be emailed to inspiringcastudents@gmail.com


Thanks and Regards,

Team of Chartered Accountants Behind the Efforts.