Chartered Accountant courses you must know of

Chartered accountants are hired in roles, including (but not limited to) public practice, finance directors, fund managers, negotiators, forensic accountants, financial strategies, funding in strategies, risk managers, among others. 

Chartered Accountancy (CA) course is generally known to be tough given the vast syllabus covered in minimum duration of three years. Conducted by the Indian Chartered Accountant Institute (ICAI), the CA courses allow a candidate to work with domestic and international corporates or have their own practice firm. According to data available with The Chartered Accountant General, as on April 1, 2018, there were 2.81 lakh members of the ICAI of which 1.32 lakh were practicing independently while 1.5 lakh were in a job or other vocations.

Types of CA Courses

The Chartered Accountancy syllabus is broadly classified into the following courses:

1. CA Foundation
2. CA Intermediate
3. Articleship Training
4. CA Final

CA Course Eligibility

According to the ICAI guidelines 2019, to qualify for the CA foundation you must first take the CA Common Proficiency Test (CPT). To be eligible, a candidate must be:

• Completed XIIth standard from any national or state-recognised board
• Switched to common proficiency course with the board of studies on/before Jun 2018 (for 2019 program)
• Hold a valid CA CPT Registration ID
• Unexpired CA CPT Registration

The last CA-CPT was held in June 2019, the results of which were published in July. Know more about CA CPT 2019 results. 

CA-CPT Exam Syllabus

CA-CPT Exam Syllabus is as follows:

CA Course Application Dates

• The application can be made at the official website of ICAI starting September 2019 and up to October 2019 with a late fee of Rs 600 for India and Kathmandu centres, and $10 per late application in foreign centres.
• You can pay the exam fees using several online methods, including debit card, credit card and netbanking. 

Here are some other important dates for December to watch out:

*Note: All dates and deadlines are tentative. Please check the ICAI's official website for the actual dates.

CA Foundation Syllabus

CA foundation exam has four papers each covering the following:

Career Scope and Beyond

A CA can work for either a firm or establish a practice of their own. At large, CAs at corporate organisations are hired for roles, including public practice, finance directors, fund managers, negotiators, forensic accountants, financial strategies, funding in strategies, risk managers all of which are filled with chartered accountants. Here are certain career options for a CA.

A CA with an experience of less than a year is likely to earn about Rs 7.35 lakh per annum, data available with ICAI show. CAs with over a decade's experience can earn up to Rs 75 lakh per annum if working with the BIG 4 (PWC, Deloitte, KPMG, EY).