Youngest to get CA+CS+ICWA

Garima Upadhyay Rawat

A long stretch has passed since the honour of being the youngest to complete CA, CS and ICWA in India was conferred upon him, but the thrill of the achievement still rings in the voice of Amar Kakaria. From being a commoner to a topper, he has come a long way in his professional life.Today, Amar runs an investment advisory firm ‘Fusion Advisors Pvt Ltd’ and hobnobs with high-profile clients. But his life was not as high profile always. Born in a mediocre family, Amar’s success story is an ode to commitment, hard work and passion to realize his dream.

Ask him the secret of his success and he says, “Lack of options made me what I am.” Nudge further and he explains, “I was born into a middle-class family and had access to very limited funds for higher education. At that time, CA was one of the cheapest courses available which had the potential to catapult you to the greener pastures. Thus, it was my only chance. I could either clear it and join higher ranks or fail myself and start a smaller business enterprise.”

Amar chose the former and gave his heart and soul into it, emerging the topper at various stages of his exam, be it foundation or final. Emerging victorious in examinations “gave him a new high and helped overcome his inferiority complex.” Elaborating more on it, Amar says, “I did my schooling in Marathi medium throughout and was embarrassed to speak in English. Since I was from a tier two town I lacked the confidence to speak my mind. However, topping my exams gave me the strength and motivation to speak my mind and learn by making mistakes. Later, after completing CA, professional life taught me a lot and helped me brush up my language skills.”

Though a good command over English is essential and is required to progress, ask Amar and his views are no different. “Language is absolutely essential in our professional lives, because cannot communicate a message clearly, all your knowledge is of no use.”

Such was his allegiance to his dream of being a CA that he started preparing for CS simultaneously to brighten his chances and also create a fall back option, just in case he could not clear the prestigious exam. Once he completed both, he wanted to join the triple-crown club (CA, CS, ICWA) and enrolled for ICWA. At 23, he was the youngest professional in the triple-crown club.”

Here is a lowdown on Chartered Accountancy and some industry forecasts by Amar Kakaria:

What is the life of a CA all about?

It will not be wrong to claim that Chartered Accountant’s life is usually full of challenges which certainly call for enormous courage and leadership skills. However, it also provides numerous opportunities to convert dreams into actual reality. To summarize, life of an average CA is all about respect, leadership and opportunities.

Due to sheer complexity of the course, Chartered Accountancy is considered to be one of the most respected professions in the world. Moreover, ICAI has framed very strict code of conduct for its members and strict disciplinary actions have been taken on the defaulters. Every CA is expected to have ethical behavior and should also demonstrate high level of integrity throughout his life.

What are the growth prospects in this industry?

Being finance experts, CAs usually handle the financial nerves of the organisation. Irrespective of industry, every organisation has several important functions like accounts, audit, taxation, statutory compliances, etc. Either they can hire a team of people with multiple disciplines or hire a person who is good in multi-tasking. Needless to mention, many organisations prefer CAs due to their versatile approach with highest level of integrity while performing such key functions. Over the years, some CAs have dared to dream big and even gone further to become business leaders by taking responsibility of actual operations of their companies.

How has the profession fared in the past one year?

There has been a steady growth in demand for CAs and perhaps, there would hardly be any jobless CA in the history of the profession. ICAI has been regularly conducting campus placement programs for freshers across India and many large companies regularly participate in the same.In the last year, most of the CAs were suitably placed, however, due to recession there had been stagnant growth in the packages offered by the companies. It is a temporary phenomenon and situation should be back to normal in the coming fiscal year.

What is your daily schedule like? Can you paint a picture of an average day of a CA's life...

Being an Investment Banker, you need to be always ready to serve your client and hence, they are supposed to have very hectic schedule. However, due to ongoing recession, capital / money markets are witnessing pressures due to which many finance professionals including myself have been able to take out more time for family. My daily schedule is as below:

7am: Get up in the morning

7am to 8am: Physical exercise. Playing with daughter. Having tea / snacks

8am to 9am: Getting ready for office & offering prayers to God

9am to 10.30am: On the way to office after dropping daughter to school. Its time to have good fun with friends in the local train and also get acquainted with people with different cultures and varied back-ground

10.30am to 11am: Tea / Coffee break. Discussions with colleagues about strategy for day

11am to 1pm: Client Meetings / Working on ongoing Projects

1pm: Lunch break

2pm to 4pm: Client Meetings / Working on ongoing Projects

4pm to 4.15pm: Coffee break

4.15pm to 6.15pm: Client Meetings / Working on ongoing Projects

6.15pm to 7pm: Meetings with clients in their office

7pm to 8.30pm: On the way back to home. Its time to read management / professional journals to keep updated.

I follow a five day work week model where weekends are usually spent with family. However, there had been some exceptions when we had to work daily on few complex projects without taking any weekend breaks for couple of months at a stretch.

Usually practicing CAs have extremely busy schedule from July to October and some of them do not take any weekend breaks. They also have regular work load during other months and are supposed to meet several deadlines under different statutes on behalf clients.

Q5. What is the payscale?

Earning good salary is not a constraint for Chartered Accountants. Fresh CAs usually get an average annual salary of around Rs 5-6 Lakhs for domestic jobs through campus placement of ICAI. In case of foreign placements, salaries were offered more generously and have even crossed a milestone of Rs 1 crore.Many industries usually prefer to have young graduates over experienced seniors. However, CA profession is an exception and there is always a huge demand for experienced finance professionals. In fact, more the experience, higher is the salary offered. Normally, initial package witness a multifold rise after gaining a few years of experience.

Q6. Specific skills required for the job?

CAs usually are offered top positions in the organizations and hence, they must have leadership skills to motivate the team and get the work done successfully. Further, they must also possess good communication and analytical skills to be successful in career. With these traits, they can quickly study various dimensions to find out solution for any given problem and also communicate it effectively to the senior management for taking subsequent actions.

Q7. What are the pros and cons of the job?

Besides low pass-out ratio, Chartered Accountancy course offers every possible avenue to successful candidates to make their dreams come true.

Pros:

•             One of the most admired profession across the world

•             Assured respectable job with healthy salary package

•             Opportunity to perform and advance further in corporate life

•             Highest level of visibility to the topmost management / investors

•             Part of generic function and can even move to any other industry

•             No threat of retrenchment / VRS. Always have an option to start own practice.

Cons:

•             Compulsion to consistently perform within given deadlines

•             Balancing between personal and professional life is a key challenge

Other interesting reads:

- Confused between CA vs CS?

- Institutes offering CFA, CPA, CIMA courses