Summary
Chartered Accountant is one of the most evergreen professions in the world with over 2 lakhs students appearing for the examination
The ICAI is the second largest professional body of Chartered Accountants in the world
Are you good at managing your finance? Wondering to make a career in Accounting? What’s the better choice than becoming a Chartered Accountant (CA). It is a degree that is highly valued worldwide and can lead to a financially rewarding pay scale. Every year on July 1, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), one of the nation's oldest professional bodies, commemorates the founding of Chartered Accountants' (CA) Day. India's national professional accounting body is the ICAI, which was founded in 1949 by the Indian Parliament and is the second-largest accounting and statutory body in the world. CA Day is observed annually to celebrate about 2.5 lakh ICAI members and chartered accountants worldwide.
Roadmap To Becoming CA
After completing their 10+2 with commerce stream, students often dream of pursuing CA as a career. Before moving forward to achieve your dreams, it is important to have an idea about how to get there. The journey is long but it’s worth everything. Here’s the roadmap for aspirants to follow and get to their destination.
- Registration for Common Proficiency Test (CPT)
The first and most important step is to get yourself registered for CPT with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
After registering for CPT, candidates are required to appear for the examination which is held within 60 days.
- Registration for Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC)
Candidates who clear CPT are eligible must register for IPCC. The IPCC examination has two groups i.e, Group 1+Group 2 which contains seven papers. Group 1 has four papers, while Group 2 only has three papers. To advance to the next level, one must successfully clear both groups.
- Registration for Articleship
The key component of the entire CA curriculum is the articleship. For three years, you must register with a practising CA as an articled assistant. The time allotted for the training must be used to its fullest extent.
- Registration for Final Chartered Accountant Examination
With the completion of the IPCC Examination and during articleship, candidates are required to register for the final examination of chartered accountancy.
This is the most important step of all, to clear the main examination of chartered accountants and move a step closer to your destination.
- Get the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountant of India (ICAI) Membership
After passing the examination with flying colours, get your membership at ICAI and your desired designation as a Chartered Accountant.
Career Opportunities after CA
In many organisations and institutions, the need for Chartered Accountants to handle accounting, taxation, and auditing is always great. As a result, there are many job prospects available to CA graduates. The following sectors offer students numerous career opportunities after becoming Chartered Accountants:
- Tax Management
- Taxation
- Financial Planning
- Forensic Auditing
- Accounting and External Reporting
- Auditing
- Decision Making
- Banking and Insurance
Word of Advice From Professionals
Dreaming of becoming a CA to actually becoming one, is a long journey. With consistent efforts, resilience and self-confidence, the journey gets easy. Professionals who have cleared CA and now work in renowned firms have shared their experience and study strategies for aspirants interested in making a career as chartered accountants.
"Consistency is the key to clear CA exams. Every day will not be the same, just don’t lose hope and give your best. Consider the failure as just a step back and not the end of the world. Concentrate on concepts and logic, you’ll get through it. The day you’ll clear the finals, and see your parents happy and proud of you, all the struggle will be worth it. Enjoy the journey along with the destination because after clearing it, you’re gonna miss it", said CA Priya Tambi who passed her finals in the year 2021.
CA Tushar Bhartia who passed with flying colours in 2019 shared a few words, “‘CA’, the prefix you get before your name after clearing the final exams will always be a moment to cherish for a lifetime. This is because the journey to reach there itself is a learning experience for every individual aspiring to become a CA someday. The journey teaches you to overcome obstacles you don’t even know are there in the first place. The ‘struggle’ starts the day you apply for articleship, I mean this phase of your life will teach you a lot that will help an individual in tackling difficult situations in professional as well as personal aspects. Once you have got the hang of it then comes the real test of patience and determination to prepare for your final exams and clear the same with flying colours. All I can say is that what you prepare does not matter, how you prepare yourself matters the most for D-Day. So give it your best shot and you won’t be disappointed.”
"CA is one of the most laborious courses within the country. A lot of students give the Chartered accountancy exam with a mindset of passing, however, the exam with its infinite syllabus checks whether a student applies their practical acumen or not. One must try to study the entire course with a very practical approach including all theory papers. The knowledge gained is more important than the past paper pattern, or trending questions. Every student should try to understand concepts deeply and revise thoroughly so they can finish the final revision within the allocated 1.5 days", said CA Priyanka Gupta who cleared her finals in the year 2014.
Last updated on 01 Jul 2022
