WHAT DOES A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT DO?
Chartered Accountants work as auditors. Auditing is the process of examining and verifying an individual’s or a company's financial and accounting records. Law requires that company’s accounts be audited. To meet this legal requirement, companies appoint auditing firms. Chartered accountants make up the accounting firm.
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WHAT OPPORTUNITIES EXIST FOR CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS?
Many chartered accountants join existing chartered accountancy firms. Some big and renowned auditing firms include KPMG, Ernst and Young and PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Some set up their own accounting practices and grow their practices into small or big firms. Therefore, there are possibilities of entrepreneurship for chartered accountants. Opportunities also exist for chartered accountants to take up jobs in the accounting departments of large organizations. Many chartered accountants eventually move into finance roles: corporate finance (many top CFOs in India are chartered accountants), investment banking and fund management.
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Just a small note to understand the difference between accounts and finance: While accounts involves the recording of financial transactions and generating financial statements to understand the financial health of an organization, finance on the other hand deals with using the financial statements to make budgets for the future and raise money to finance operations. While accounting requires following and complying with rules and procedures, finance has more to do with decision making for the future. Understand the difference to choose the right career for you. For careers in finance such as Finance Managers, you may want to go the route of an MBA rather than chartered accountancy.
HOW DOES ONE BECOME A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT?
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India conducts a Common Proficiency Test where students who have passed class 12 can appear. The test covers accounting and mercantile laws, general economics and quantitative aptitude. Those that qualify can register to start the process of becoming a Chartered Accountant. The course takes 4 to 5 years to complete and includes several exams, IT training, general management and communications training and three years of articled training with an existing chartered accountancy firm.
