I didn’t want just a ‘pass’ tag, says Mumbai boy who is all India CA topper

Shah, who is the first CA in his family, is two weeks away from completing his articleship at KNAV, a global accounting and consulting firm at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

Mumbai: As a student, Meet Shah recalls being able to always get his way around numbers whether it was mathematics, statistics or accountancy. On Friday, the 22-year-old emerged as the all-India topper with 642 out of 800 marks at the Chartered Accountants (CA) final examination held in May. Akshay Goyal from Jaipur and Shruti Sanghavi from Surat secured all India rank 2 and 3.

Meet Shah

“I always had a thing for numbers. I could have pursued MBA in finance. But studying to be a CA ensures that I don’t just get an understanding of numbers or accounts but also of tax, audit, law, etc.,” said Shah. “So, if I lose my interest in finance after three years of being a CA, I can easily switch my field since I will have a basic understanding of other subjects that will help me move forward.”

Shah, who is the first CA in his family, is two weeks away from completing his articleship at KNAV, a global accounting and consulting firm at Bandra-Kurla Complex.

“I was just hoping to be at least among the top 10 based on my preparation and exams. This (rank 1) is unbelievable and surreal since CA exams are always unpredictable because starting with writing the wrong roll number, you never know what mistake you may have committed,” said Shah who graduated in BCom from HR College of Commerce and Economics, Churchgate, last year with a CGPA of 9.4 in the final year. “I didn’t want just a ‘pass’ tag.”

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde congratulated Shah on his success. “Meet’s success is an inspiration for young aspirants who are pursuing different career paths. In addition to traditional and conventional fields, chartered accountants in the fields of trade, industry is important for the region,” stated Shinde in a press statement.

Online learning – video and live zoom lectures – during the past two years of the pandemic was a negative experience for Shah who “needs a classroom of students where doubts are asked and everyone’s thought process is in turn broadened”.

So, during the last five months in the run-up to the CA final exams in May, Shah focussed on meeting his daily chapter-wise or subject-wise goals. “I never actually tracked my study hours because if I did so, I would get stuck tracking my hours instead of focusing on my daily goals. So, I would set my goals. Instead, my daily target was the number of chapters or concepts I wanted to cover rather than hours.

Academic success is, however, not new to this Mahalakshmi resident. In 2019, Shah secured All India Rank 2 at the CA Inter exams. With a CA tag, Shah, who completed his schooling at St. Mary’s High School (SSC), Mazgaon, said, “I am still evaluating my options of whether I want to have my practice, go into the finance or consulting industry or prepare for some higher examination. I am yet to finalise my decision.”

His biggest support is his mother Usha and sister Kinjal, who is based in Chicago. “It is said, ‘behind every successful man, there is a woman. In my case, there are two,” said Shah.

BOX

Held in May, 16,657 candidates appeared for group I and 63,253 candidates appeared for Group II of the CA final exam out of which 14,643 and 13,877 candidates cleared the exam respectively. A total of 29,348 candidates appeared for both groups and 3,695 passed it.