The Higher Education Review

Learning is a continuous process; especially in today's tumultuous business environment, mere theoretical knowledge can't help people to survive in the fast-moving trends. We need to polish our skill set continuously. The same applies for the accounting and taxation professionals. As organizations are under greater pressure to improve performance, management accountants and tax consultants are being challenged to keep up the flawless maintenance of accounts as per the shifting government rules and regulations and to develop skills that go beyond technical tax and audit capabilities. This indicates the need of a groundbreaking skill development programme for modern accounting students that can help them succeed in market competition. Acknowledging the importance of specially crafted training courses for present aggressive market, Institute of Professional Accountants (IPA) imparts quality education in the niche of accounting. G. Ramakrishnan, Founder and CEO of IPA puts forward that "Competition is becoming stiffer day by day and only the best ones sustain it. At IPA, we unremittingly strive to mould our students into the best breeds. Our strategically crafted courses aim to make the learners intensively acquainted with practical accounting in both National and International standards."

Incorporated in 2002 by an expert group of Professionals, IPA is an initiative that serves the noble purpose of providing the most excellent practical training for commerce students, which would give them the experience of a real time accountant having at least five years' experience in the industry. "The commerce students study various subjects like Financial Accounting, Auditing,

and Corporate Accounting as part of their curriculum, but that is not enough for them to be hired by a reputed company for a handsome remuneration. Every employer looks for some experience in the candidate. To mitigate this problem, I collected practical case studies in Accounts Writing, Statutory compliances, Finalisation of Accounts and so on from our own subsidiary accounting firm's clients. This firm works for various types of business organisations as parallel to our training division. IPA's hardcore training on real client data and our Certificate Courses and Internship make the students bona fide professionals," G. Ramakrishnan added.

"IPA is an initiative that serves the noble purpose of providing the most excellent practical training for commerce students, which would give them the experience of a real time accountant having at least five years' experience in the industry".

The institute offers tailor-made courses to equip students with all those virtues and qualities that it takes to keep them separated from the herd. IPA has created three types of courses aiming to enable students to choose jobs in Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3 companies. Under the courses for Level 1 Companies, essential subjects like Manual Accounting, Tally.ERP 9.0, Microsoft Excel, Practical aspects related to GST, TDS, EPF and ESI are covered, while software training on QuickBooks, Sage 50 and SAP Business One that are over and above the Level 1 syllabus, are taught for students who opt for Level 2 Companies. Going one step ahead, IPA offers much more advanced subjects under Level 3 Company courses. These courses mainly contain real time training in ERP software which is used in Multinational Companies like SAP R/3 and Oracle Financials. IPA's training Certificates and Internship Certificates are highly preferred by many reputed employers in the industry. G. Ramakrishnan states, "Our Syllabus is revised at least four times a year as changes happen in the accounting field very quickly. We always take into account of the changes in the technology, performance of some accounting software over others and things like that. Our team is diligently working towards improving

the quality of syllabus. Somemore software solutions are also under consideration for the academic year 2019-20."

This ISO 9001: 2015 Certified Institute, ever since its inception, has grown by leaps and bounds. Around 30000 students are trained from the institute so far and many of the alumni are presently working in managerial positions in reputed companies in India and abroad. With a staff base of 60 well experienced faculty and 13 branches across Kerala, IPA trains over 4000 students every year. A student who has completed an intensive training from IPA is equivalent to an accountant having five years experience.

The academy always pays attention to update their faculty members' skill sets regularly, so they can groom students to achieve high standard coaching. Their intellectual team of trainers constitutes Charted Accountants, Tax Consultants, Professional Accountants and Retired Officers having National and International repute. All are extensively experienced in their related domains with a proven track record. With such dedication and sheer determination, IPA aspires to widen their array of courses in the coming years and create more jobs in Level 3 companies without compromising on quality. To achieve this, they are planning to start a Finishing School, where the students will be trained hard skills as well as soft skills with 100% placement guarantee. As they say accountants are not born; they are created and IPA creates quality Accountants having global standards.

G. Ramakrishnan, Founder & CEO
A B.Com graduate, G. Ramakrishnan is the Founder and CEO of IPA and has around 35 years' experience in the Financial Accounting field. He dons many hats such as International Trainer, Tax Consultant, SAP Certified Consultant and Oracle Certified Specialist. His clientele has been spread across India and Middle East. Further, Ramakrishnan is an active fellow member in IAAP, UK.