CHENNAI: At an age when students enjoy their college life, Punith Kumar, a resident of Choolai, dreamed of achieving big. “I always felt that attending college was a waste of time. I wanted to be world famous, and I cannot take things at a slow pace,” says the 19-year-old, who secured the first place in India, and third place internationally, in the ACCA Chartered Accountant final P2 exam. Clearing the exam is not a cakewalk.
It usually takes three or more years to complete the course. Punith attended coaching classes at the School of Excellence, Mahalingapuram and was able to complete it in two years and three months, despite juggling a paid internship and ACCA studies. Straddling the two worlds was not easy. “I am thankful to my mentor and boss, Niranjan Sir. He used to let me go home early from work, so that I could study.” The teenager is currently interning with IRIS Techsolve, an IT firm in Chennai.
“My relatives suggested that I do CA, but I wanted to do something else. And I was also lucky to have got the opportunity to travel to Singapore to do a module that was part of the School of Excellence curriculum,” he says. Punith attributes his success to his rigorous study regimen. “I used to wake up around 4 am and study continuously till 9 pm,” he shares. The highlight of Punith’s ACCA performance was his corporate reporting score, which was a whopping 83%! “In the future, I plan to start a company of my own. But as of now, I have three to four papers to clear, and will finish my course by September this year,” he says.