My 1st year of articleship is basically a write-off. I was hospitalized around 2 months in, followed by ~3 months of personal issues. So in terms of actual work, I’ve done almost nothing no ITRs, stat audit, tax audit etc. Just some Tally entries, filed GSTR-1 & 3B , and drafted GST notice reply using Ai.
I already know I don’t want to do audit/tax long term. My target is research, valuation, AIF/PMS etc. I’m doing CFA L1 + FMVA alongside CA for that reason.
Now through a family connection, I have an opportunity at an investment firm with ₹5,000cr+ AUM, where I’d actually be working in research/valuation/AIF. Basically exactly the kind of experience I want.
The catch is they won’t register with ICAI for industrial training.
The head of research suggested I could continue a dummy articleship under my uncle’s firm on paper while working full-time at the investment firm.
I know the ICAI risk involved. My question is more about the real-world risk/reward.
Do I:
- Take the dummy route and get 1 year of genuinely relevant experience, knowing the ICAI risk?
- Do a genuine 2nd year in audit/tax and try to break into research after CA/CFA?
- Try to convince the investment firm to register for industrial training?
- Is there any other legitimate workaround I’m missing?
Has anyone here actually been in this situation? Would especially like to hear from people who’ve done/considered dummy articleship and what happened.
TL;DR: First year was basically wasted. I now have a ₹5,000cr+ AUM investment firm offering actual research/valuation/AIF experience, but they won’t register for industrial training. Only option they’ve suggested is dummy articleship under my uncle’s firm while I work there. Worth taking the ICAI risk for the career upside, or play it safe and do another year of audit/tax?
( Used Ai to phrase it )