Again, related to CA-commerce..? Don’t
groan..just read; I promise it’ll be fun! Not all accountants are boring,
you’ll find!! J
Articleship, an ocean by itself, an
albatross around your neck if you don’t ‘watch it’ and a boon if you know how
to ‘handle it’! It’s actually a pretty much interesting phase as you get to
meet the maximum number of clients, offices, corporate cultures, people at work
and at the clients’, followed by the maximum number of files, assessment
orders, returns, revisions, vagera vagera.. again followed by maximum amount of
what-do-you-call-its from the clients as well and maybe even from your
principal chartered accountant which maybe as a result of a client meeting!!!
;)
So typically since we have 3 full years
here, we have a good scope to cover a lot of areas right? Broadly we have
audits, tax, accounts mostly and consultancy which gets interlinked on and off.
Being an articled assistant myself, I sometimes wonder what I would do when I
start an office or when I run my own office. Ok reader, whatever you do, don’t
dare to spill these out as my blog is my copyright!! We got a deal right? J
So here goes..a peek at the future..:)
“The day starts, as I walk in, my articles
and staff greet by saying ‘Good morning ma’am!!’ ‘good day srini!!’ I give a
warm smile and proceed to my office.”
Ok enough about me, now the real focus is
not on me, but on my articles and staff, teek hain? So what would I do for
them?
If new guy joins, I’ll give him a handbook
about the firm’s clientele, a quick look at what work we do and have done and
what he needs to read up on before starting an audit or a work. Also
familiarise him with the office procedures, rules and task
allotment-performance-reporting-follow up flowchart . . which will be the
ultimate flowchart of brilliance!! ;) Timely guidance, updates, discussions at
the end of each assignment/ team meetings and what not!!
Let me tell you that going for audits in
corporates educates you on the practicality of organisation structure and
management stuff you might have come across such as delegation of
responsibility, authority, etc. It is the clarity in the structure and the fact
that you can actually adopt it is what enhances its awesomeness!
One interesting thing I noticed during one
of my recent audits was this client company of ours..they have a huge LCD tv in
their cafeteria and also a billiards table!!
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy”..Eureka! an idea strikes!! When I see my friends cringing in their seats,
not able to sit and watch the full final of FIFA or IPL or World Cup,
mercilessly poking their mobile phones, craning their necks to peer at the next
guy’s monitor to catch up on the scores..!! it makes me think about our
brilliant client here, I say why not a tv in my office where people can
actually take time off in between work while feeling tired or exhausted; where
they can catch up on the news as well! (as we now do, secretly hoping for
strikes or hartals!!) and maybe even sit and watch a Federer - Nadal final
game-set-and-match point as a full office team and shut out the clients for a
while?! Let’s call it a stress-buster?!
Party!!! Atleast once a year..maybe on
foundation day (we have that in our office..kinda)..that’s good enough as we
aint being partial to anyone’s birthdays!!
Road trips..weekends
off..client-staff-convenience timings..bonus half day off to go watch a movie
if you complete your work before your target time or if a client’s really happy
with you..treat if anyone gets an Income tax refund.
Adequate seniors and knowledge bearers to
guide the freshers and just like how the MCA site offers info about companies
if you feed in the name, maybe I’ll have a site or program whereby each
client’s status and diverse scope or areas can be viewed and updated by us, of
course paper files are inevitable but this would be awesome too, don’t u
think??..oh and also something similar for my staff too, where they can update
their work status online for their seniors or me to review and comment so that
one doesn’t have to physically wait for another..Just like how factories have
plant shut-down, I’ll also have an office shut-down for a couple of days,
especially after the return filing rushhhh!!!
Yes yes I know I’ll make a brilliant CA.!! J
