Terms Accountancy and Chartered Accountancy represent the same thing. It is a profession that involves managing the finances of an entity. They are responsible for managing financial accounts, budgeting, auditing, business strategy, and taxation.
The difference between an accountant and a chartered accountant is that the second one has undergone years of intensive training and passed several examinations in various aspects of accounting to earn the title of Chartered Accountant.
CA’s are professionals who can easily find jobs in various domains of the economy. They manage an entity's finances, providing finance-related advice, writing up of accounts, preparing financial statements, financial analysis, Taxation and cost accountancy, and helping with wealth management. They can provide their services to a business, individual, or government.
The most simple reason for pursuing a career in Chartered Accountancy is that it is a highly lucrative and secure profession. Money is like gasoline for the whole world and each and every business house needs a helping hand to manage their finances, tax filing, and audits.
There are endless opportunities to work as a Chartered Accountant. Whatever the industry, every organization needs finance management and Chartered Accountants are the solution.
A chartered accountant can work in the following sectors:
Chartered Accountants are a highly sought profession in the above-mentioned sectors. You can work for a business or organization and help them by managing their accounts, finance, taxation, or auditing.
There is also an option to work independently and offer your services to anyone who wants it.
Financial institutions are always in search of skilled Chartered Accountants, which is another employment opportunity. Working for consultancy firms is another way to use your accounting skills.
Consultancy firms hire chartered accountants to help their various clients with their short or long term financial goals. Therefore, a consulting firm may be a good fit for you if you want to work for multiple clients.
As per an article published in the Times of India, in April of 2018, the total number of CAs were 2.82 lakh in India and from this 2.82 lakh only 1.25 lakh were in full-time practice. This means that only 44% of the total CAs were actively working. The notable fact is that in India total number of taxpayers is 68 million and more and more businesses are being set up every year, thus it is quite clear that the demand for CAs is higher, and it is not going to decrease in near future.
So, the present time is the perfect time to seize all the opportunities and pursue a highly beneficial career. There are various employment opportunities that are immense and they will grow soon as more startups and businesses are being established.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| High Pay Scale | Learning Period never ends |
| High demand job | Long monotonous working hours |
| Endless of opportunities | Will have to difficult Deadlines |
| Stable income | Lots of stress |
The path to becoming a chartered accountant is tough but really clear without any confusion. This profession provides stability, steady growth, and a high pay scale. But it requires always up-to-date knowledge and details of every financial transaction. Additionally, this profession also requires constant learning and studying.
Chartered Accountants have to take care of certain deadlines that need to be met at the end of each financial year and during that time this job can be really stressful. Every profession has its own pros and cons, and so does chartered accountancy, but to reach a conclusion you have to dive deep to figure out whether this profession suits you or not.
You can start your journey to become a chartered accountant either after your 12th or after completing graduation or post-graduation. In both cases the paths are similar but if you’re a graduate or postgraduate, there are few steps you can skip, they are mandatory only for someone who has just passed out of high school.
After clearing your 12th class you will have to pass a series of tests. Below we are engraving a list of exams you need to clear in the given order after clearing 12th.
So, you need to go through all the above-mentioned courses and exams step by step.
Here’s how you have to go about it.
If you have completed your graduation or post-graduation and now want to become a Chartered Accountant, the path is quite similar to the one mentioned above.
But, you can only pursue this path if you have scored at least 55% aggregate in your commerce graduation/post-graduation, or at least 60% if you are not a commerce graduate/post-graduate.
If you are eligible to pursue this path, then the step by step procedure that you need to follow is provided below..