The entire world is experiencing an economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. Despite that, Chartered Accountants (CAs) who recently passed out have got placed in excellent Indian and Multinational companies.

The CA Institute has just noticed an increase of 37% in the demand for newly qualified CAs in the industry through its recruitment programmes.

Basically, there are three types of opportunities that the fresh CA passouts have received. They were given the choice to become-

• a part of the Audit team in Big Four (Deloite, E&Y , PWC and KPMG) or
• a part of the Finance team in MNCs and Top Indian companies or
• a specialist officer in the Banking and Insurance sectors

To achieve higher level of placements, the CA Institute not only offers an updated curriculum, but also conducts various training workshops for enhancing the knowledge of students, as per the needs of the industry.

Students have to undergo a Four Week Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft skills (ICITSS) and this will help students understand the IT requirements of the Finance Domain. The average CTC of a CA in India starts from Rs.4 Lakhs and can go up to Rs.10 Lakhs. CAs in India are mostly placed in top four consultancies and companies that are operating in the Manufacturing segment.

The pay package varies based on the position and company. The CA provides a wide range of opportunities starting from Finance, Audit, Direct tax and GST. To help you gain a better understating of the prospects, the Average CTCs of CAs are mentioned below:

Audit Firms – It ranges from 4 Lakhs to 7 Lakhs

Finance and Accounts Profile – It is somewhere between 5 to10 Lakhs

Internal Auditor -The Audit Profile receives salary between 8 to10 Lakhs

Banks – Private Banks recruit CAs as Specialist Officers and their salary is between 5 to 6 lakhs.

As this profession offers a great career path, salary, and respect among people, most of the commerce students dream of becoming CAs. The CA aspirants start their preparation from 11th Standard and appear for the Foundation exam, after completing their 12th Standard.

Aspiring students can enrol for the Chartered Accountancy course even after completing graduation, and can appear for Inter. Students are required to clear two groups in Inter (the two groups in final consist of four subjects each) for becoming qualified Chartered Accountants.

Post CA, students can enhance their qualifications by pursuing various courses to widen their opportunities (just as mentioned below)-

CISA and DISA:

In India, there are restrictions for CAs to do system audits unless they have a CISA or DISA certificate. ISACA offers the CISA certification, an internationally recognized course, while the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) offers the DISA certification, the one which is recognised in India.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is a certification offered by ISACA Institute.

DISA is a diploma course offered by ICAI for system security and audit. DISA is offered by ICAI under the approval of ICASA and only a qualified CA can apply for this exam.

CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst):

Another area of interest is the CFA program, and it provides an excellent opportunity to pursue a career in Investment Banking, Hedge Funding and Portfolio Management.

Authors View: CA with CFA is of great value for an individual profile in India and also International Financial Markets.

Written by V. Hariharan, Finance professional and research scholar in Finance.

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