Following difficulties have been persistently faced by the CA student’s community in course of their pursuing their studies and article ship training. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India should consider appropriate solutions wherever possible.
1. Difficult Transfer Procedure: The Institute had restricted the Transfer of Articles w.e.f. Due to this restriction, various students are now being forced to continue working under their present principals even though they are not satisfied with their article ship. Due to this, the principles are exploiting their articled assistants, not only physically but mentally too, to work under the terms & conditions that suit the principals. Hence, the principal are enjoying a dominant position & the students are feeling totally handicapped.
2. Irregular/Non-payment of Stipend: This is one of the most common problems of all the students. In many cases, the principal is not paying any stipend to the articled assistants. Also, various principals are making deductions from the minimum prescribed stipend amount for leaves that are available to the articled assistants i.e. even if the articled assistant has not taken any excess leave still amount is being deducted.
3. Low stipend: The minimum stipend of Rs. 1000/1250/1500 prescribed by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is not enough to even meet for the conveyance expenses of articles. In view of increasing inflation, it becomes nearly impossible for a CA student to even meet his basic requirement from this stipend.
4. Lack of quality training: In offices, the principals are taking undue advantage of their trainees by delegating their personal work to them just for the sake of keeping them occupied. The students are being forced to follow their orders just because they have no other choice. Some Members are also using their Articled Assistants as Office Boys & Personal Assistants which is totally unfair on the students.
5. Leave During Exams: Clearing the CA Examination requires a lot of hard work especially in the modern age of cut-throat competition. Students need at least 3-4 months to prepare themselves mentally for the exams but the principals do not understand this & hence they deny their articled assistants from taking sufficient leaves during the exam season. This adversely affects the performance of students in the crucial CA examinations.
6. Timings of Article ship Training: 35 hours of articleship training in a week are very high considering the amount of coaching a CA student is required to undergo. Even when there is not much audit work, still the students are forced to sit in their respective offices & do some other unofficial/personal work of the principal which in no way is related to practical training. This results in wastage of precious time of the students which could otherwise have been utilised in studying.
7. Discrimination amongst Articles: It has been found that some Articled assistants enjoy a superior position than others just because they are the relatives/close friends or are of the same caste of the Principal. Such discrimination is totally unhealthy especially in a professional course like CA.
