Updated on July 5, 2024
Are you a CA aspirant? Do you want to know what it takes to be a Chartered Accountant in India? Are you aware of the profession inside out along with the rigorous processes that every Chartered Accountant in India goes through? In this article, you will find the first-hand account of CA Kapil Malhotra, a professional Chartered Accountant, who shares things every CA aspirant must know and follow for success.
Every CA Aspirant Must Follow This Mantra | CA Kapil Malhotra
Kapil Malhotra helps you gain all the confidence you need to become a Chartered Accountant and leave you taking the biggest leap of faith. Through his real-life story, he tells you what it takes to become a Chartered Accountant in India. He faced it all- being told that he wouldn’t be able to become a CA. In spite of all the difficulties, Kapil Malhotra chose to do Chartered Accountancy.
Kapil Malhotra never stopped chasing to achieve his goal to become a CA and run a successful business. An astrologer had told him that his dream will not come true. but he never stopped believing that he will become a Chartered Accountant. He became a Chartered Accountant. He started his own company, being the Secretary, Peon and Managing Director of his own business. Today he runs The Total Solutions Group of Companies with a spirited team of over 200 employees which are a mix of CA’s, MBA’s, Engineers, Post Graduates & Graduates.
Read How To Set Goals To Become Who You Were Meant To Be
Kapil Malhotra offers business advice and entrepreneur advice from his life of CA for any aspiring Chartered Accountant or Chartered Accountant student. Kapil says, the business motivation behind his success story is his determination, hard work and the constant belief in his dreams and goals. An image of standing on a cliff, lions chasing, and the only option to achieve his dreams was taking the leap of faith. That was one mantra which gave him all the entrepreneur motivation that he needed.
With all the power and motivation, Kapil Malhotra, changed ‘You Can’t Become A CA’ to ‘Yes You Are A CA’. Kapil Malhotra believed in his dream of becoming a CA in India. Today he is not only a Chartered Accountant but also a successful businessman. Let’s find his real-life story of success and also listen to his motivational talk.
CA Kapil Malhotra sharing the secret mantra made him a CA at 22
Although I became a chartered accountant, in class 11th in my mathematics exam, I had a compartment. So I failed in mathematics. So for the first two/three years, I was literally at that stage that will I be able to survive.
Your perseverance your hard work will never go waste is what I can promise you If I have achieved this being a guy who had as a compartment in class 11 as a failure in that. And luck will come to you at the right time.
So the story goes I think it was the Year 1994 where I was totally focused on one goal in life and that was to become a chartered accountant. And no one in my family like my father or grandfather was a chartered accountant. So you know I just had one goal in mind can we just see her but now I have to become a CA.
Read How To Set Effective Goals And The Science Of Achieving
It was one of the family holidays that we had gone to Shimla. If I remember correctly and I had a chance to stroll down knee at the mall road and there was an astrologer sitting there on the roadside. And as every inquisitive kid, you know I went to him and I sat with him and said, “Babaji, I’m pursuing a very important course in my life and I wish to know what will happen to me”. So I showed him my hand and he looked at my hand. After a couple of minutes of you know discussing with me and talking to me he finally says committed is something which is not good news for you, you will not become a CA. And for me it was a very heartbreaking story.
I remember going upstairs to my room and my sister was there and she said what happened? and I said, “I met a panditji and he said I’m not gonna become a CA“. And she took it in a lighter note and she said: “what are you saying do you think that an astrologer or panditji can dictate your life?” And I think that was the moment that I realised that, no, I will, I will become a chartered accountant and at the age of 22 I became a chartered accountant.
I was amongst the younger CAs in India that point of time. Thank you and from that one situation, I realised that if there is something that you really want and if you have that belief in you, I think there’s nothing that can stop you. The most important thing is having that self-belief and obviously working towards that goal.
About Kapil Malhotra
Friends, let me introduce myself. My name is Kapil Malhotra. I’m the founder and managing director of Total Solutions Group which is a consulting and advisory company. I started this company in 1998 just then the day I became a chartered accountant. I started this company of my own without having a single client. I started on my dining table at home. I used to be in a two-bedroom flat without having a single client. I was my own secretary, I was my own peon and I was also the Managing Director of my own company without having a single client.
My mother was kind enough and she said that don’t worry you can file my income tax return and you can file your Masterji’s income tax return. And I thankfully said, of course, I would do that but you’re not my clients. So I think that is when the journey started and today when I fast forward 20 years from 1998 to 2018 now you know we have more than 9,500 people in the company today.
We spread across the entire country. We also work in other markets like the Middle East. We work in the Southeast Asian markets and other countries throughout the Indian subcontinent. So we have grown from a one-man organisation to a huge ecosystem of partners of collaborators across the entire Asian region.
CA Study
CA course is a very tough course. You know for the reason being that it’s one of those programs and one of those courses where along with your study of those three or four years whilst you’re studying and giving exams you also have to do your internship or your article-ship at an organization. So you have to study for those three four years and you also have to work.
So I remember my routine used to be 10:00 to 6:00 used to be at my firm and I used to go to corporates and we used to do audits. And before I used to go to my work in the morning that used to be our accounting class or our taxation class from morning six to ten. And in the evening we used to have another class from six to ten. So invariably what used to happen is you had to miss your last one out of your class because you had to reach on time for your work. And if you were late for work obviously that was not a good thing.
Similarly, in the evening you had to finish your work on time and catch up for your evening class. And that is how your routine used to be. So invariably you used to feel that you were always sleep-deprived. But I think the good thing that Chartered Accountancy brought out of me is what I feel and this is also a message for fellow aspirants were doing the Chartered Accountancy or anyone who’s doing any particular course in the country today is that the ability to multitask is what I felt Chartered Accountancy taught me.
That in the morning you do your class, then you have to work hard, and the evening again you have to do your class again, and then you have to revise and you have to remember everything. And then you have to perform in your exam again. Even if you don’t know the answer and that is what I teach to my little guy as well even if you don’t know the answer never say I don’t know. Try to attempt something, write something, think something, visualize something, imagine something. Even if it is wrong don’t give up.
CA Result
At that time when I was completing my chartered accountancy, the result used to be the most torrid moment. You know the night before your result obviously you couldn’t sleep and me and one of my friends you know we used to have this pact that he would go and look at my result. At that time the results never used to be out on the internet that you could just go and look at login and look at what your results were.
So this friend of mine and that was a time mind you that mobiles were not also present. So this friend of mine you know he was a good omen for me or you know he used to bring good luck for me. So he would go and look at the result. He was also doing his Chartered Accountancy. So in the finals when he went to look at his result I was sitting next to my landline. And he calls up and I pick up the phone. The phone rings and my heart is beating. And he says hey Kapil, I am passed and he keeps the phone down. And I’m like, and my mom asked, what happened. And I’m like I don’t know. I mean he just said that he passed his exam and she said yeah but what did he say about you and I was like he didn’t say anything and obviously I didn’t know what to call back there was no call back number.
So what I did is that I called his home. So his mom picked up the phone and I said, auntieji, hi, Kapil here. She said yeah yeah you know Ashish has cleared the exam and what is your result. So I said that’s what I’m asking because he called me and told that he cleared the exam but he didn’t tell me about my result. And she was like ‘oh’ and my heart is beating. I’m like and asked did he tell something about my result and she said no he didn’t. And I was like oh my God, oh my God I didn’t know what to do. So the only thing I had to do is that I had to go to the Institute and go and check my own results. So I kept the phone down. By the time I was getting ready I got another phone call and I pick up the phone and my friend says hey by the way I forgot to tell you, you also cleared your exam. And I was like oh my God. You know you could have told me this earlier. But I’ll tell you what happened the moment I got to know that I cleared my exam I realised that I was a Chartered Accountant and for me, that was one of the most biggest occasions. For me it was that that was my dream for the last four or five years came in just here.
Steps After CA Result
But now I mean you see when I have to become a Chartered Accountant but interestingly what happened at that moment I realised that though the Institute had given me a degree and had announced that I have become a Chartered Accountant I was the same Kapil. My hairstyle was the same. I was the same guy. Nothing really changed.
It was just that someone said yes now you are CA Kapil Malhotra and I think the night before which I could not sleep that well. I think the next two or three nights I actually couldn’t sleep too well because now the focus was back on me and myself what do I do next. And I wanted to do something of my own and I want to do something different. So one of the challenges that came to me is that how do I expand, how do I grow and being at that young age of 22 years.
In a few months the biggest challenge was that why would a client give me work and why would they take me seriously. So without having a single client I started becoming my own secretary. I would start fixing my own appointments. I would start cold calling. I would start going for meetings. I would start waiting for people for meetings and again people asking me what is your experience? Which clients do you have? How much work have you done in the past? What is your team? What are your existing clients? To which every where the answer was zero, zero, zero, zero or nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, or not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet.
And then I realised that just becoming a Chartered Accountant was not enough. Actually having the tenacity, having the strong will, having that element of survival is what I felt was very very critical. So for the first two-three years I was literally at that stage that will I be able to survive and this is where there was one thing that was always working for me which I want to share with all of you.
Dreams And Goals
So you know we all have these dreams and these goals and you know these things that we want to have this car at this age, this house at this age or I want to become a CA at this age or whatever, whatever goals that we all have. But I hope you all will agree with me that despite having all those goals whenever you put a goal in mind or a or a desire or something that you want to achieve that picture is always a little Haizi. Why is it hazy because it is not in your hand. Since it is not in your hand you can’t see it that clearly. So I created something in me or something behind me that will make me wake up every day on time that will put a discipline in my life, that will put a routine in my life and that element of hard work.
Take the biggest leap of faith
So what I did or how I would like to explain it in an easier way is through a visual example. If let’s say you standing on the top of a cliff and there’s another cliff out here that you have to reach to. And if I say your goal in your dream house or your goal is here how will you reach here. And all of you, all would say maybe we’ll go down or we’ll jump. I’ll tell you what I did or what I visualised. I always visualised that there’s a pack of hungry lions that is running towards me and what I had to do to survive was to take the biggest leap of faith and jump to reach to the other side of the cliff.
It was the survival along with that goal. It was the survival and even today all of those lions everyday wake me up on time, make me work out, make me spend time with my team, enjoy life with my family and keep every day the most important day of my life. With these lions, I’m not friends anymore and I never was. I don’t feed them, I let them roar, I let them be hungry and I let them keep on running behind me. And I keep on creating more and more milestones and I keep on jumping.
They’ve also been failures on the way. It’s not that every time you know you jump you reach to where you want to, but that’s how you learn. So one of my earlier failures in life which was very embarrassing for me at that time. Although I became a Chartered Accountant, but in class 11th in my Mathematics exam I had a compartment. So I failed in mathematics and my maths teacher said you have to call your mother. She has to come and we have to talk to her. So it was super embarrassing and my mom knew that I wanted to become a Chartered Accountant and she was like “Kapil, if you really want to become a Chartered Accountant and if you’re so bad in mathematics you can let this dream go away.”
A lot of my cousins and relatives actually had a candid chat with my mother that is let him study some other course. CA is a different animal altogether. It is only for those nerdy people who are at ninety five percent and above. It is not for Kapil, he won’t be able to do CA.
The secret mantra learned from failures
So this was another resolve that you know I’m sharing with all of you is that astrologer punditji episode and this mathematics episode which was the failures in my life. Actually made me more determined and I think that bought the best out of me. It brought the best out of me the metal within me came out. And the three four years of that CA thing it’s really kind of I would say shaped me up because I didn’t take any dummy when I would sit at home and role as a CA without going to work and study. I went for my classes, I went for my work, met the best of CFO’s, attended audit committees, did all the audits and learned so much.
And that is what helped me out after when I became a chartered accountant in terms of how to slowly and steadily build my career. So I think this is one of my secret sauces are the Lions. please don’t forget the lines you can have your own type of lines, you can have snakes, you’re gonna have whatever you want to but please ensure that they never sleep and let them roll let them come after you. Your perseverance, your hard work will never go waste is what I can promise you. If I have achieved this being a guy who had as a compartment in class 11th as a failure in that. Luck will come to you at the right time when you never know it will come to you. But you need to keep on moving you need to keep walking, you need to keep moving along. The moment you stop, your journey ends. Credits: YouTube
Conclusion
What did you learn from the real-life success story of CA Kapil Malhotra? If you are a CA aspirant, you have to hard work with dedication. Failures are part of life. Learn from failures and move forward fearless of failures. You can read How To Turn Failure Into Success? If you look into stories of successful people, you can find all of them had struggled a lot but never quit from their goal. And that is the secret of their success. Never waste valuable time on unnecessary entertainments because time is precious and priceless. Learn to beat Digital Distraction. Age is not a barrier to learning. Never stop learning, update your knowledge frequently. Help others by sharing your knowledge.
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Mathukutty P. V. is the founder of Simply Life Tips, a blogger, content writer, influencer, and YouTuber passionate about learning and sharing. Guided by “Simple Living, Creative Thinking,” he believes in the power of knowledge sharing and lifelong learning.