

During the initial
few months of the articleship, my principal and seniors asked me to read a lot
of previous audit reports, process notes and the checklists.
Also, our seniors would
prepare Permanent Audit File (PAF) for every client which contained detailed
information about his business structure, major compliances applicable to him,
processes running in the company and other key points to remember while
auditing the company.
I had to read them all
thoroughly and discuss with the team leader or boss during their free time.
Every day during the first
4 months, I would sit in the office from 10 AM to 7.30 PM just to read
those documents and reports.
It was a very boring task.
I thought of articleship as an exciting period, however, it was dull and
monotonous.
Yet, as a part of reading
those reports, I also had to make a note of key observations and actual working
done by the seniors to identify those points.
Sometimes, the seniors
would give raw data and ask me to conduct the audit checks, frame observations
and tally it with the actual reports.
Two years later, when I
was leading a team while auditing process of a multi-national giant, we got
stuck at one point. None of us (even the principal) could identify further
steps.
However, since I had read
a similar point during the initial phase, I took the charge and successfully
identified the observation.
Sometimes, you have to
read previous documents, observe working done by others and find out patterns
from similar cases. It can be a boring and monotonous task.
However, nothing goes
wasted. When you learn something new, it benefits you at some point in your
career.
A lot of students must
have started their articleship recently or in the phase of finding a suitable
firm to begin their articleship.
First few months might
become dull, boring and monotonous because your principal or seniors might ask
you to read the previous audit report.
But, trust the process,
read them carefully and jot down the crucial points. Few months or years later,
those points will act as a ready manual for you to conduct an audit of a
process, however tedious it may be.
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Wouldn't it be a good idea to create a course?