Chartered Accountant
A chartered accountant, by definition is a professional member of the national professional accounting body of the country, and in the case of India, this professional accounting body is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). ICAI was established on July 1, 1949 and it is the second largest professional accounting body in the world in terms of membership, coming second to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. As on January 2013, the ICAI has 2.10 lakh members and a total of 10 lakh students are pursuing the CA course in various centers across the country (source: The Hindu)
What is the work of a Chartered Accountant?
Chartered accountants work in the field of business and finance and their job encompasses areas like audits, taxation, company law, financial accounting, financial reporting, corporate finance, business recovery and insolvency, accounting systems and processes, and general management of the company. A CA provides professional advice to the firm to help them maximize their profitability. A typical work schedule for a CA will include the following – Regular management and review of company’s financial systems and budgets and analyzing risk. Conducting financial audits to check the financial position of the company. Preparing and maintaining accounting records Providing financial advice wherever needed in relation to tax planning, tax issues, mergers and acquisitions, business transactions, business improvement, issue of insolvency, etc. Forensic accounting, that is, detecting and preventing fraud. With the liberalization of the Indian economy, many a businesses have cropped up in the country over the last few decades. The financial market has really opened and expanded drastically and, if one is to go by the Goldman Sach’s report, then India is one of the four BRIC nations touted to be the superpowers by the year 2050. As such, the capital and money market in India is only expected to grow bigger and better in the coming years.
The scope of a CA, given this scenario, is only expected to grow more and more. The job of a chartered accountant can be extremely demanding and busy, depending on the area of his work. For example: in a given day, an auditor / accountant will be busy with analyzing the financial data of the company and highlighting errors and misstatements, if any, in the books of accounts and preparing reports for the same to help the management in decision making. A tax accountant will be occupied in researching for means and ways to save the company’s tax through legal tax saving methods. He would also be busy with filing for income tax returns, and this workload increases tremendously as the income tax deadline approaches closer.
Why Chartered Accountant?
CA is just a designation, but it can lead to many careers. Accounting is the backbone of any company, any business. All that earning those two letters after one's name does is teaches one the language of business and opens doors for one into any industry. Understanding accounting allows a manager to make better executive decisions, an investor to perform a better analysis of a company, a banker to access risk of giving out a loan in a better way. Earning the designation usually involves working for one of the BIG 4 companies and doing audit. Which means one is going to be going to some of the larges companies in the world and have them open their books to that person. It gives an opportunity to learn any business inside and out, why it is doing well or why it is failing. CAs have global recognition because getting the designation is not just memorization of rules and laws (CGA) or just studying different business strategies (CMA). It is a designation which imposes a new way of thinking creatively so far outside the box that it looks like a dot through a telescope. And, the career of a CA is one such career option where students are made to believe that their lives and careers will be "set for good" once they qualify the CPT, IPCC and CA final examination. With this eyewash, hordes of students slog each year trying to cope with the stress and tuitions and endless study sessions and exams to become a qualifying member of ICAI.
Scope of a chartered accountant career
CA’s can choose to set up their own independent practice and develop their clients on merit.
They can apply for job at an existing firm of Chartered Accountants.
They can offer their services in the field of capital market.
A qualified Chartered Accountant can join the Government Service, Public Sector or even in the Private Sector.
Institute of CA of India is also well recognized abroad like in England, Wales and Australia so one can even practice in these countries as well.
It is not necessary that a CA has to work only on number crunching and excel sheets.
A CA employed with a firm can also contribute towards decision making and enhancement of profits for the firm.
As per a report by the Economic Times, there is a huge demand for CA’s in the manufacturing and financial services sectors (source: The Economic Times) CA is emerging as a good career option for women as it allows work to be done at one’s own pace and time, and, also allows one to control the money flow.
Besides, a CA is free to take break in his / her profession (as stated earlier).
According to TN Manoharan, former ICAI president, for 50 years till 1999, the number of women CA’s in country was 8%. In the past decade, the numbers grew phenomenally, and women constituted 16% of the nearly 1,70,000 CAs in India. "The major push came from parents, who earlier discouraged daughters from private practice. More private companies and MNCs are hiring CAs and early entry through CPT, post-class 12, have allowed them to complete their CA before their parents get them married," says Manoharan.
Loved the above lines( seen this on some sites) ......
Happy to be a part of CA Fraternity....
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