Profession of Chartered Accountancy

Chartered Accountancy is a challenging profession that offers practice or job opportunities in the areas of accounting, auditing, corporate finance, project evaluation, and company and other business laws, taxation and corporate governance. The multi-faceted knowledge a chartered accountant enjoys through unique academic programme blended with practical training is what the business and industry need in the advent of liberalisation, privatization and globalisation of Indian economy. Chartered Accountants are better equipped to discharge accounting and audit functions in a computerized business environment.

About the Institute

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a premier professional accountancy body of the country, established in July, 1949 under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949, enacted by the Parliament to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.The Institute is governed by a Council in accordance with provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 as amended by the Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2006 (No.9 of 2006) and the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988. The Council consists of 40 members of whom 32 are elected from among the members of the Institute and 8 are nominated by the Government of India.Institute has its headquarters at New Delhi. In addition, it has five Regional Councils located in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur and New Delhi and 117 Branches spread all over the country. The Institute has also 20 Chapters outside India located in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Botswana, Doha, Dubai, Indonesia, Jeddah, Kuwait, London, Melbourne, Muscat, Nairobi, New York, Nigeria, Port Moresby, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sydney, Toronto and Zambia.The Institute is actively engaged in imparting education and training to the students and conducts examinations for them and grants membership to successful candidates and certificates of practice to members intending to practice the examination.Board of Studies of the Institute imparts theoretical education to students of the chartered accountancy course as well as to the students who prepare for entry level test called Common Proficiency Test.

Requirements to become a Chartered Accountant

Under the existing chartered accountancy scheme of education, training and examination, the requirements for becoming a chartered accountant are as follows:

Enrol with the Institute for Common Proficiency Test (CPT) after passing class 10th examination conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or an examination recognized by the Central Government as equivalent thereto.

Appear in CPT after appearing in the senior secondary examination (10+2 examination) conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or an examination recognized by the Central Government as equivalent thereto and after completion of specified period (60 days) from the date of registration for CPT with the Board of Studies as on the first day of the month in which examination is to be held, viz., students registered on or before 1st April/1st October will be eligible to appear in June/December examination, as the case may be. However, candidate should pass both CPT and 10+2 before registering for Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC).

Enrol for Group I or Group II or for both Group I and Group II of Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) to become "Chartered Accountant”.

Successfully complete 9 months of study course from the date of IPCC registration.

Successfully complete Orientation Course of one week spanning 35 hours and covering topics, such as personality development, communication skills, office procedure, business environment, general commercial knowledge, etc., before commencement of articled training.

Successfully complete 100 hours Information Technology Training (ITT) before commencement of articled training.

Appear and pass Group I as well as Group II of Integrated Professional Competence Examination (IPCE). Group I is composed of four papers and Group II is composed of three papers.

Register as Articled Assistant for a period of 3 years, on passing either Group I or both the Groups of IPCE.

Register for CA Final Course and prepare for CA Final Examination.

Undergo General Management and Communication Skills (GMCS) (15 days) course while undergoing Final Course and serving the last 12 months of articled training.

Complete 3 years period of articled training.

Appear in the Final Examination on completion of the practical training or while serving last 6 months of articled training on or before the last day of the month preceding the month in which the examination is to be held.

Pass final examination and complete GMCS, if not completed earlier.

Enrol as a member of ICAI and designate as "Chartered Accountant”.

CA Course Structure

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India periodically reviews the scheme of Education and Training to remain in tandem with developments in the field of education and other changes at national and global level. Evolving business also demands newer skills from the accounting professionals. Accordingly, the existing scheme was revamped and the new scheme was launched on 10th December, 2008.

Different levels of Chartered Accountancy Course

The Entry level test is named as Common Proficiency Test (CPT) which is designed in the pattern of entry level test for engineering, medical and other professional courses. It is a test of 4 hours duration comprising of two sessions of 2 hours each, with a break between two sessions. The test comprises of objective type questions only with negative marking for choosing wrong options. The Common Proficiency Test (CPT) has replaced Professional Education (Course-I) effective from September 13, 2006. The last Professional Education (Examination – I) was held in November, 2007.

The Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) with an upgraded syllabus has replaced the Professional Competence Course (PCC) effective from December 10, 2008. The last PCC examination will be held in November, 2012.

The last leg of the Chartered Accountancy is Final Course, designed to impart expert knowledge in financial reporting, auditing and professional ethics, taxation, corporate laws, system control, strategic finance and advanced management accountancy. The Final (New) Course was launched in February 2007 and first examination under new scheme was held in November, 2008. The last Final (Old) Course examination will be held in November, 2010.

Updated syllabus is benchmarked to chartered accountancy courses available around the globe and is fully compliant to International Education Standards issued by the International Federation of Accountants.

Under the present scheme the period of articled training is three years.

New upgraded 100 Hours of Information Technology Training replaced 250 Hours Compulsory Computer Training in December, 2006.