As the dynamic Indian Accountancy profession completes yet another glorious year of its eminent existence on 1st July, the foundation day of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India aka “CA Day” , it celebrates the illustrious feat to consistently grow, develop and evolve while firmly and proudly standing tall in sync with its core values and uncompromising ethics.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Flag

Being a member of the Institute, I can assert that the future necessitates a paradigm change in how the Accounting Profession is perceived; it urges a shift in mindset to look beyond traditional number crunching and harnessing of members’ incalculable magnitude of capacities toward emphasizing the Accountancy Profession’s growth prospects by capitalizing on the abundant opportunities for advancement that the economy currently provides.

Scope for a Chartered Accountant – Different Roles, Different Names:

The scope of a Chartered Accountant’s work has grown so broad and includes so many activities that a CA is sometimes perceived as an enigma. A CA can begin his or her career with a single area with specialization or can provide all services under one roof. Depending upon the area of interests i.e. whether to work in Industry or in a Firm, following options can be intricated.

Top Verticals

  • Banks (Both private and public) (as Analysts, Associates, Officers, Mangers, President, Directors, etc.)
  • Domestic and foreign Public Limited Companies and Private Companies (In Accounting and Finance Departments) (as In-charge/ Head of Department, etc)
  • Auditing Firms (such as Big 4s, Partnership Firms) (As Auditor, Analyst, etc)
  • Finance Companies, Mutual Funds, Portfolio Management Companies, Investment Houses, Stock Broking Firms (Throughout all the functions)
  • Legal firms, Legal houses, Patent Firms, attorneys, Trade Mark and Copyright Registers (As authorised representatives for tax payers, Arbitrator, Registrar, Signing Authority)
  • Private Practice- Own office where you can work in all the areas you want to. (Direct tax, Indirect Taxes, Investment consultant, Project Financing, Auditor, etc.)

Prospects Abroad

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is well recognized by Institute of England, Wales and Australia. There is also a good opportunity in abroad for the aspirants, whereas the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India has tied-up with its Canadian, Singapore and Irish counterparts to permit the Indian professionals to work on various assignments in these nations.

Want to be part of this overwhelming journey and join one of the top professions in the world?

Let’s check out the eligibility criteria:

It is widely assumed that only students of commerce should enrol in a CA programme. However, CA being a very practical course, students from both science and arts backgrounds can benefit and have a successful career. Students in the sciences and arts must put in extra effort to understand some complex accounting nuances and to gain a basic understanding of finance. But it can be easily concluded that anyone can be successful CA, if they are ready to toil.

If you have interest in Mathematics, Finance, Money management, forecasting, Accounting or Auditing – then this is your area. Anybody who is 10+2 passed can enroll after his 10+2 he can directly enroll for entrance exam or any graduate from any discipline can enroll directly in this curriculum.

You can follow our link below to get details about how to proceed for enrollment and various stages of CA curriculum along with other requirements:

https://resource.cdn.icai.org/19323ca_atcourse260510.pdf

45785bos35964.pdf (icai.org)

Revamps Needed:

Reforms are a never-ending topic of debate. The world is changing, and the rate of change is increasing by the day. When I bought educational DVDs for the 8th Standard syllabus 11 years ago, I never imagined there would be Unacademy, Udemy, BYJU’s, Vedantu, and so on. The modes of education are undergoing radical transformation. As a result, CA Course must also keep up. So what are the revamps that we could do? (PS: these are only suggestions)

  • ICITSS and Advanced ICITSS trainings should be more professional, and their design should be revised to ensure that students’ technical and soft skills are properly levelled. While students are trained on basic technical skills such as spreadsheets, cloud computing, and office automation at ICITSS level, next up levels (e.g. Advanced excel, tableau, etc) shall be targeted in Adv ICITSS.
  • Examining patterns can also be redesigned. Exams such as the CA Foundation and either group of the CA Intermediate should be held online at designated centres. This ensures that there is as little human intervention as possible in the assessment of students. The first two levels must be made more focused on practical assessment, almost all questions be case-study based in line with real time scenarios.
  • Perhaps the most unmet need of almost all CA Aspirants undergoing articleship is an increase in the minimum stipend. It is estimated that 50-60% of all CA students are undergoing articleship in metro cities such as Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi (and all its satellite cities), Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmadabad, and Kolkata. The average monthly living cost in almost every city is ₹ 8000-10000, and what do students get? A monthly stipend of ₹ 2500? Despite the fact that education is important, meeting basic living expenses is a compelling reason to revise the minimum stipend. In Tier I cities, the minimum stipend for the first year of articleship should, in my opinion, begin at ₹ 8000 per month and ₹ 5000 per month for Tier -II cities.

Stereotypes in CA and ways to break them:

The existing stereotypes in accounting profession have developed a relation with the national context that affects the students’ attitude towards the accounting profession. Here, Let’s discuss a few of them:

  1. First and foremost, becoming a CA will allow you to earn a lot of money; money never comes sitting idle; it all depends on your hard work, the area of your work, and the type of organisation you work for. No one is giving you money just because you are a CA
  2. CA Exam is a Hercules task. No, this is not true; nothing worthwhile comes easily, so you must work hard; however, it becomes difficult because people prefer to do things haphazardly. And, if you provide what the Institute seeks, you will hit the nail on the head!
  3. All CA’s manipulate the financial data and earn money from wrong sources. This is a completely false assertion. A Chartered Accountant must work extremely hard to ensure that no room for error exists, that the statements are error-free, and that the true picture is depicted in the reports. If we eliminate a few, all CAs are ought to perform their duties with utmost responsibility, as there are stringent actions for any professional negligence.
  4. There are Only Numbers to Deal. Numbers are important, but that does not mean that we only deal with numbers. Over the course of three years of articleship, CAs are trained to meet a broad skill set. Furthermore, we motivate, lead, work on existing projects for larger brands, and hone negotiation skills for multi-million-pound deals.
  5. A CA has no scope other than Audit and Taxation. Going unconventional needs thinking out of the box. As mentioned earlier, Financial Modelling, Risk Management, Business Automation, Investment Advisory are just a few examples, CA profession is capable of providing skilled experts in many areas.
  6. CAs lag behind MBAs in Communication: Perhaps the lamest stereotype that is still alive. From Dhivya Suryadevara, the current CFO of Stripe and former CFO of General Motors, from Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, India’s Warren Buffett, to ministers like Piyush Goyal and Suresh Prabhu, Chartered Accountants have been in almost all the sectors that need high level of communication skills.

To overcome old stereotypes, the Chartered Accountants of India have created a new brand. They have provided equal opportunities regardless of caste, creed, gender, geographical location, or even financial background. This title is open to anyone from anywhere in the world. So, if you want to start a career as a CA professional, go ahead and do it without hesitation.

Overall, our vibrant CA Profession is highly valued and respected. To maintain our prestige and financial edge, we must work hard together to adapt to the radical changes that the world is undergoing. As a Chartered Accountant, it gives me great honour to wish all the CAs and CA students a very happy Chartered Accountants Day!!!

Written with bucketful of wishes by

CA Apurva Porwal.


2 Comments

Anchal Mittal · 1 July 2021 at 8:41 am

How beautifully described about our profession by CA Apurva Porwal! Well-written and motivator for CA students and members. 🙂

    CA Apurva Porwal · 1 July 2021 at 9:03 am

    Hey Anchal, thank you very much for the appreciation…and yes… Happy CA day to you!!

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