Chartered Accountant

In India, the profession of chartered accountancy is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India which was established by Parliament under the Chartered Accountants Act of 1949. Since then, the term Chartered Accountant has been used in place of Indian Registered Accountant. Prior to 1949, Restricted State Auditors were registered with the respective princely states and British provincial State Governments. However, now, the Restricted State Auditors have become redundant. ICAI continues to keep the membership alive through yearly payment of prescribed fees. Associate member of the ICAI are only entitled to use the designation of Chartered Accountant along his name and also use the designatory letters as CA. as prefix to his name from 07-08-2009. Members who are in full-time practice, and have completed 5 years of practice, can add F.C.A. as prefix to their names.

As of May 2012, ICAI had more than 193,500 registered members. It is the second largest body of professional accountants in the world after AICPA. It has three levels - CPT (Common Proficiency Test), then IPCC(Integrated Professional Competence Course) , after which one undergoes a 2.5 year training period as Article Clerk in an Auditing Firm, or under a senior auditor. After this period, they write the Final Exams and obtain the result.After finam exams also there is 4 - 6 month training. Overall it is almost 3 years trainig.