Career As A Chartered Accountant (CA)

Updated On: 01-Feb-2024

Chartered accountants (CA) are professionals who work in the field of business and finance, their job areas generally include filing ITR, auditing, company law, financial accounting, financial reporting, corporate finance, etc. CA professionals are the only ones responsible for companies’ audits in India. Every firm either small or big needed the services of CA to manage their financial matters.

Typical duties of a CA include:

1. Analyzing the financial information and prepare financial reports
2. Filling the tax returns
3. Auditing financial information
4. Administering the payroll and controlling income and expenditures of an organization
5. Financial forecast and risk analysis
6. Helping clients in business deals and negotiating the business terms on behalf of their clients

A chartered accountant can play different roles in an organization or different CA for each role:

Tax accountant
Auditor
Financial accountant
Management accountant
Budget analyst

Qualities of a Chartered Accountant:

1. Confidentiality: As the CA’s job is to deal with the most sensitive information of any organization that is the financial data, merger or demerger’s information, so confidentiality of that information is a major concern.
2. Integrity: Integrity means working with honesty and accuracy. A CA has to deal with the most sensitive information in any organization, so he must be honest and accurate.
3. Objectivity: Objectivity means quality of service provided. CA is a reputed profession in the country and as it is associated with financial matter people accept high quality service with maximum accuracy.
4. Professional Behavior: As CA is one among the most respected professions, the professionals, must maintain the work ethic and the values of their work. They should not involve in any kind of illegal work like helping a client in making any fraud or tax saving in illegal way etc.

Knowledge of the following is must for a CA:

1. Economics and Accounting – It’s all about banking and finance, so accounting and economics is must.
2. Mathematics
3. Computer skills – knowledge of accounting software, excel, word will help them in preparing reports
4. Customer Services – the knowledge of the principles and process of providing customer services will help them better serve their clients and make a good reputation
5. Law – Knowledge of accounting, law and procedures, government regulations etc.

Chartered Accountant in India:

In India, Chartered Accountants are regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which was established by the Chartered Accountants Act, of 1949. Associate members of the ICAI are entitled to add the prefix CA to their name. Members who are in full-time practice, and have completed five years of practice, can use FCA.

Note: The CA certification is limited to the geographical boundary of India and is not valid in countries that follow different standards of accounting practice

The aspirants need to go through the CA course conducted by the ICAI and which has the following four stages:
1. CA Foundation Course
2. CA Intermediate Course
3. CA Articleship
4. CA Final Course

Minimum qualification to join the CA course is 10+2 with commerce stream. If you are 12th pass, then you need to start from the CA foundation course. If you are a graduate or post graduate then you can skip the foundation course and apply for Intermediate course.
Get Complete Detail of CA Course1. Join the CA Foundation course after completing the 12th standard or
2. Join the Intermediate course after Graduation/Post Graduation
3. Complete the CA course
4. After the course, start looking for a job or
5. Join any certification course to get expertise in a specific area or
6. Join any CA firm to gain experience or
7. Join any company as a trainee or junior to learn and gain experience
8. After having some experience, one can start their own practice1. Good Communication skill: Good communication skills (written or verbal) are essential for a CA to convey the information appropriately.
2. Mathematics: Mathematics skills are must for a CA as his most of the work is related to calculations.
3. Critical thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
4. Active Listening: A Chartered accountant must give full attention to what the client is saying. Active listening is a must have skills for the CA to understand their point.
5. Reading Comprehension: A CA must be able to easily read and understand written material and documents.
6. Decision making skills: A CA has to take many decisions in a day, So he/she must be very good in decision making.
7. IT Skills: Knowledge of accounting software and other computer tools is essentials nowadays.As a CA, there is no fixed working hours; it’s you who decide if you are doing your independent practice. If you are employed with any organization or CA firm, then the work hours defined by them.There are different career paths one can choose after completion CA and the earning depends on the chosen path. The salary of a CA also depends on the skills and experience. The average salary for a Chartered Accountant in India is Rs. 790,662.
An entry-level Chartered Accountant with less than 1 year experience can expect to earn around Rs. 665,203.
Chartered Accountant with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation of Rs. 716,714.
A mid-career Chartered Accountant with 5-9 years of experience earns an average total compensation of Rs. 1,111,953.
An experienced Chartered Accountant with 10-19 years of experience earns an average total compensation of Rs. 1,738,106. - Source (payscale.com)The career options are vast and varied in this field and there are numerous scopes to choose a path as a career. After completing the course, following career options is available for the students:
1. Join A CA firm - it would be a great choice for fresher. It helps them in learning and gaining experience
2. Start independent practice and become own boss.
3. Find a job in the industry - almost every company, irrespective of the size or the operating area, need financial experts to manage their finance functions like auditing, accounting, taxation, statutory compliance, etc.
4. Find a job in the banking sector or capital market
5. One can choose to be a teacher and can open their own academy for chartered accountancy courses.

Further Study
Additional certifications courses after CA to boost their career are Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), ACCA Chartered Certified Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Cost & Management AccountancyPros
1. Respected profession
2. Good earning
3. Stability
4. Good demand for chartered accountants
5. Good scope of growth
6. Opportunity to become own boss
7. Less course fee as compare to many other courses
8. Flexible work timing
Cons
1. Need a hard work to reach there
2. Need to stay updated with law
3. Sometimes stressful
4. Sometimes boring
5. Busy Schedule

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3 comments

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