Choosing the right path for your future seems difficult and confusing for everyone. But once you find the right choice, then working with passion makes it easier to grow and prosper in life. Like everyone, I was also struggling to select the best option out of multiple choices offered back then. Being an obedient child, I listened to my parent’s guidance and when I appeared for SSC examination in 2006 decided to take up Chartered Accountancy as my career.
Before discussing the scope of chartered accountancy as a career, let us look into the various reasons why CA is a good
- This professional degree course gives you the flexibility to go for higher education like MBA, CFA etc.
- There is no constraint on study hours – that is, you do not have to go to college to study, and you can control the pace of your study.
- Articleship is a mandatory part of the curriculum, and as such, it gives you practical experience of the field. An aspirant can choose the organization they want to work with to complete this part of the coursework.
- Most of the CA’s end up being entrepreneurs.
- Moroever, CA’s can also choose to become tax advisors and consultants
- Maintaining continuity in a career is easier for a Chartered Accountant, as they can afford to take breaks and make a comeback after brushing up of knowledge.
There are many other advantages, but I believe when you have a liking for the subject, you tend to put in maximum efforts. Many people join CA and then give up after a few unsuccessful attempts. I am not an exception to this. Even I faced failure at the final examination but coming out of that discouragement makes you a complete person. With the support of my parents and husband, I was able to manage the failures.
After my failure, I realised that the CA course taught me to be courageous, hopeful, self-confident and to be positive in life.
Chartered Accountancy is a course under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is divided into three stages: Foundation Course i.e. CPT, Inter and Final. Though it has only three stages, it takes up almost 3-4 years to complete the entire course along with articleship training under an already practising chartered accountant.
Answering Common Proficiency Test (CPT) is possible after appearing HSSC examination. If a student is a graduate scoring 60% or above is exempted from answering CPT and can directly commence articleship (Training). In my case I appeared for CPT when I was studying in Bcom (Second year). I believe in completing whatever I take up in hand and after completion of Bcom started working hard to clear Inter course. For Bcom, I managed to secure the first rank at the State University. Studying for CA course helped me at the graduation level to better understand the accounting terminologies and concepts.
For Inter there are two groups, 4 papers each. You can either clear Group 1 and/or Group 2 and then enroll for training with the experienced firms. Also, those who go through the direct route for articleship can commence training first.
In my case, I completed my articleship in a reputed firm where I got the opportunity to learn many aspects of auditing, taxation and
Ministry Of Corporate Affairs (MCA) compliance. Getting such a wide exposure helps in your examination as well. Whatever opportunities were provided to us by the seniors, our team made best use of it. Team effort is a must in your professional life. You tend to learn through discussion with others and especially when the profession is such where changes happening on a day to day basis you have to keep yourself updated with recent technological and other changes affecting the course of action.
After three years of continuous struggle then comes the time to answer the CA final exam. All your hard work, dedication and patience is tested at this stage where generally if you put in your best efforts, you can come out with flying colors.
Once the prefix CA is attached to your name, your life changes, but to have the best career ahead, you have to continue your professional education by reading journals, books etc. Now GST is one such example which is a new tax law introduced in 2017. Now we are in 2020, i.e. after 3 years of implementation of GST, but still, people have issues, queries, there is a lot of non compliance happening. So in such a case an expert like a CA provide right guidance at the right time.
As the famous writer, Vikram Verma said “CA study course in India is not the toughest course. It is for them who are the toughest, the determined ones. I am a Chartered Accountant”.
