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Chartered accountant is one who is specialised in accounting, auditing and taxation. He also serves as a management and corporate caretaker. In recent times, accountancy has become popular as a profession. The services of a CA is required in money matters even in a small business Moreover according to the company Act only CA's in professional practice are allowed to be appointed as auditors of companies in india. A Chartered Accountant is a person who is accepted as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) after having passed the Final examination of the Chartered accountancy course conducted by the institute.
Chartered Accountants are industrious and intelligent beings. If you find yourself industrious as well as intelligent, you are perhaps the right person to go for it. All the countries have their own Accountancy Association which regulates the quality and quantity of these professionals. In India it is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which does the job of regulating the profession of Charted Accountancy. It was set up under the Chartered Accountancy Act of 1949.
Career in CA and CPA gives you a high platform for dealing with big corporate houses. Chartered accounting career is a highly sought after career course for long time now and with the increase in the business volumes, their importance has realized new heights. Those who come out successful in PE-1, (Professional Examination) PE-2 and Final along with completion of two and half years of practical training and a 15 days course on General Management and Communication skills are eligible to apply for the membership of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. A chartered Accountant holds prestige in the society and earns handsomely.
Courses in Chartered Accountancy
The courses offered in Chartered Accountancy are a blend of theoretical education and practical training. The theoretical part includes the passing of PE-1 PE-2 and Final part. Students are also expected to go through a two and a half years of practical training and 15 days course on General management and Communication skills.
It is essential for the candidates to register with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to appear for the examination. The minimum period for each level of study is 10 months. Exams are held twice a year.
Who is a Chartered Accountant?
On successful completion of these courses one can apply for membership to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The Accountant becomes chartered only after acquiring its membership. A Chartered Accountant is a privileged one over the ordinary ones.
CA as Career option
There is no dearth of jobs for Chartered Accountants.
After acquiring the membership one can either choose to do public practice or join any organization at the public sector or private sector.Career option for a chartered accountant is therefore varied.
- General Practice: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India predicts that audit and standard taxation services would soon be replaced by growing opportunities on relationship based services. The Chartered Accountants are required to assess the risks of the companies designing control system to counter those risks.
- New Assurance and performance measurement services
- Change management: This includes making changes at the ownership, structural and operational levels.
- Stakeholder value creation
- Strategic management
- Finance: The expertise of Chartered Accountants are in high demand in financial administration, Capital markets and international
- financial regulation
- Financial Reporting
- Tax compliance
- Tax Advice and Planning
- Corporate Finance
- Insolvency and corporate Recovery
- Management consultancy.
What is the training for Charted Accountancy ?
The Chartered Accountancy course is conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, which has its Headquarters in New Delhi, 5 regional offices (Calcutta, Kanpur, Madras, Mumbai and New Delhi) and 81 branches under these regional centres. In order to become a member of this Institute, a candidate needs to Pass the intermediate and final examinations of the institute. Register themselves as an articled or audit clerk with a practising CA.
For those just completing their XII, they can opt to start with the Foundation Course. After +2 - The Foundation course Introduced by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, this course was created for candidates passing their 10+2 with any subject but can be taken along with graduate/post-graduate studies (eligibility rules vary). It is a 1-year programme done through correspondence. Once a student registers, they are sent the study materials and he/she has the option of either self-study or attending classes organised by accredited institutions (thereby, exempting themselves from taking test papers under the postal tuition scheme). At the end of the study/course period of 12 months, a foundation examination is given in four 3-hour papers in Fundamentals of Accounting, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics and Mercantile Law. On passing this examination, candidates can apply for articleship with a practicing CA.
Once the foundation examination is given, candidates can register for training as an Article (apprentice) with experienced CAs. Certain rules do apply - CAs with 16 years of experience and above can take on about 8 articles, those with less experience can train fewer articles and these teachers or 'Principals' as they are called, can be changed during the course of training. An agreement of training needs to be executed before it begins. During the training time, articles learn the technical details of the work and as time passes, they are given larger assignments with less supervision. All articled clerks are paid a stipend depending on their city's population.After about 9 months, they can take the Intermediate Examination of the Board of Studies and then later on, after clearing the exam, can go for the industrial training in their last year of articleship.
Final exams are generally given in the last year. Another option for those going through practical training is to work under an audit clerk - which does not require the agreement of training. This provides a faster route for bright students to move through the different stages of the profession. Depending on the location of the firm, the audit clerks have to be paid by the CA or firm of chartered accountants. Importance of Practical Training : It gives candidates the opportunity to find solutions for real problems, develop professional competence and other skills, adopt and sustain ethical values and learn the norms of the professional life. Intermediate Examination It is essential that students give their intermediate exam within 10 years of completing their practical training, but if they serve under article for a further duration on one year and go through postal tuition, they can receive a fresh lease.
The main part of the postal tuition scheme is answering test papers in different subjects and these tests need to be given before appearing for the inter examination. Apart from this, students also need to enroll in the Sunday test scheme and give their tests at different centres supervised by the Institute. This is open to students from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Madras, Mumbai, Poona and Salem. Students from cities other than the mentioned ones are required to qualify in minimum 16 papers and submit them under the postal tuition scheme. Once 9 months of training and the oral/postal tuition scheme have been completed, students can take the Intermediate examination in the following subjects :- Group I Group II Accounting Mercantile, Company Law & Industrial Law Accounting & Elements of Income-tax Law Business Mathematics Cost Accounting Organisation & Management Economics Auditing
After passing the intermediate examination, candidates can serve in a financial, commercial or industrial project as part of the training. The industrial training allows the articled/audit clerk to gain valuable experience in internal audit and auditing procedures, in operating systems of financial control, in merchandised accounting etc. This training ranges from about 9 months-1 year. Final Examination If a candidate takes the intermediate examination during their practical training, they can give their final examination provided there is a time interval of one final exam between the inter exam and first attempt at the final exam. On the other hand, if the practical training as article clerk or audit clerk has completed, the time interval can be neglected.
Eligibility for CA courses
For PE-1: A candidate appearing for the 10+2 exam can provisionally register for this exam. The minimum study period is ten months. He or she is supposed to get regularized after passing the 10+2 exam.
For PE-2: Candidate needs to pass either the PE-1 or Foundation course to acquire an eligibility certificate for both the groups from the Board of studies.
For Final: The candidate is required to pass the PE-2 or Intermediate exam. He or she should also compete the practical training of two and half years. In addition, to that the candidate must also acquire an eligibility certificate from the board of Studies.
Chartered Accountancy Institutes in Indian States: |
