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Is your own practice right for you, now?
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You have qualified, or you have worked a few years in a firm or a company, and now you want your own practice. Your name on the door. Your own clients. Your own hours. It is a good dream, and many of the best practices in India started with one CA, one laptop and a small room. It is also the point where many new practitioners make expensive mistakes in the first six months: wrong structure, no savings, no written terms, money mixed up.
This course walks you through those six months in thirteen short lessons, each ending with a "Do this today" list. By the end you will have, where applicable, a registered CA practice, a budget, an office, the basic tools, your first clients taken on properly, and a written plan for the months ahead.
First, a quick honesty check
Answer yes or no. There is no score to pass. Every "no" just tells you what to fix first.
- Do you have savings to cover your personal living costs for at least six months, with no practice income at all?
- Does your family understand that the first year may be slow, and support the plan?
- Do you know other CAs who could pass on overflow or specialist work, and have you read the ICAI rules on getting work (Lesson 7)?
- Are you confident in at least two services you can deliver well on your own, for example ITRs and GST returns?
- Do you know who you would call for a second opinion on a hard technical question?
- Are you comfortable telling a client your fee, clearly, before you start?
- Can you handle a slow month without panicking and taking any work at any price?
- Are you free of other business or employment that could stop you from holding a full certificate of practice? (Lesson 2 explains.)
- If you plan a partnership, have you worked with this person before, on real deadlines?
- Are you ready to do your own admin: billing, filing, follow-ups, backups?
Seven or more "yes" answers: you are in a good position to start. Four or fewer: you can still start, but fix the gaps first. A "no" on question 1 is the most serious. Lesson 3 shows how to work out your runway.
Two starts, same city
Neha and Arjun qualified in the same batch. Neha took her certificate of practice, rented a cabin, bought new software and printed fancy letterheads in the first month. By month four her savings were nearly gone, and she took two clients she knew were risky because she needed the money. Arjun worked from home, used free tools, kept his savings untouched and wrote an engagement letter for every client. By month six he had fewer clients than Neha, but every one of them paid. Same skills. Different first six months.
The first six months at a glance
| Month | Main job | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Decide the structure, get registered, open the bank account, set the budget | 1 to 4 |
| Month 2 | Set up the office and the basic tools; build your folder and register system | 5, 6, 9 |
| Month 3 | First work through other CAs and the channels the Code permits, taken on properly | 7, 8 |
| Month 4 | Deliver well, bill on time, join a peer group, start your CPE plan | 9, 11 |
| Month 5 | Review the numbers; decide whether you need help | 3, 10 |
| Month 6 | Fix what is not working and plan the next six months | 12 |
What this course covers, and what it does not
This course is about setting up. Other PracticeGuru courses go deeper, so we link to them by name:
- Sales Academy: getting clients and marketing within ICAI rules.
- Client Handling & Fee Collection: engagement letters, pricing, collecting fees.
- Running the Firm: Systems & Quality: workflows, registers and day-to-day systems.
- Digital Office & Data Safety: passwords, DSCs, backups, cloud folders, data protection.
- Leading Your Team and First 90 Days: hiring, managing and onboarding staff.
The bonus Practice launch kit (Word) has six checklists and templates you fill in as you go.
For tax practitioners who are not CAs
Much of this course works for any tax professional: budget, bank, office, tools, processes, first clients, the launch plan. But some steps are only for chartered accountants: the certificate of practice, ICAI firm registration, UDIN, ICAI CPE hours and the CA Act rules. If you are not a CA, never hold yourself out as one. Do not use the designation "Chartered Accountant" or a firm description like "Chartered Accountants", do not sign audit reports or certificates that the law reserves for CAs, and do not become a partner in a CA firm unless ICAI's current rules on multi-disciplinary partnerships expressly allow it. Check the rules of your own professional body, if you have one.
Within the rules
For CAs, the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the ICAI Code of Ethics (13th edition, in force from 1 April 2026) apply from the day you hold a certificate of practice. Where a lesson states a rule or an ICAI procedure, it names the source. Procedures, form numbers and fees change, so always check the current ICAI procedure on icai.org or the Self Service Portal before you act.
Do this today (15 minutes)
- Answer the ten questions above and write down every "no".
- Find your ICAI branch's study circles and pick one to attend, to learn and to know your peers.
- Write one line: "My practice will open on [date]." Pick a date about two months away.
Sources (checked 19 Oct 2026)
- ICAI Code of Ethics, 13th edition (in force from 1 April 2026): icai.org; Volume I: resource.cdn.icai.org (PDF)
- ICAI Code of Ethics (2026), Volume I: Section 7 at 2.4 (only a firm whose partners are all CAs in practice may be known as "Chartered Accountants"); Clause (4) at 2.14.1.4 (multi-disciplinary partnerships).
Start your practice the right way: unlock the other 12 lessons
Practice structure, ICAI registration steps, a first budget and runway, office and software set-up, first clients within ICAI rules, processes from day one, your first hire and a 6-month launch plan. Rs. 999 + GST, one time · or the Office Subscription Plan from Rs. 1,499 / year for every course, for you and your staff.