IT is no secret that chartered accountancy (CA) trainees endure a spartan regimen during their professional articleship. Long hours, late nights, early mornings and terrible working conditions characterise the time they spend at firms. One could find some semblance of satisfaction if one could take a decent amount home after all the grunt work. Life, however, is not that simple; not for CA trainees at least. As such, the stipend policy has always been questioned, but given the weak bargaining power of the trainees against industry giants, such efforts result in nothing substantial.

Furthermore, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) recently announced the new stipend rate for trainees, which is Rs22,600 per month. This amount is around 61 per cent of the recently announced minimum wage of Rs37,000. This percentage has decreased over the years. It used to be 74pc in 2021, when the stipend was Rs14,700 and the minimum wage was Rs20,000. Adding insult to injury, ICAP has also increased the annual subscription fee by 51pc.

The stipend, as is stressed by council members as well as firms’ partners time and again, is just to cover day-to-day expenses, that is, mere pocket money. It is well known that many students come from lower middle-class or middle-class backgrounds. Given the skyrocketing inflation, this amount is utterly insufficient for the interns to sustain themselves in their own city, let alone in another city.

Furthermore, to save face, it is often contended that firms provide professional learning in addition to the despicable stipend amount. However, it is crucial to understand the dynamics of accountancy firms active in Pakistan. Unlike trainees in other professions, interns associated with accountancy firms are not merely novices who are getting acclimatised to the professional environment without contributing significantly to the work.

On the ground, CA trainees are essentially the labour force that does all the laborious tasks that enable the firms to earn and thrive in the professional arena. This truly makes the trainees fully eligible to at least get the designated minimum wage in the country. ICAP must realise the folly of its ways, and the relevant authorities should look into the prevailing disparity and take action to peg the stipend to the minimum wage.

Furqan Ali
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2024