Commerce stream provides a vast range of career options to choose from. In this stream, Chartered Accountancy is one of the popular career options available for students. 

It is considered one of the most reputed and well-paid professions in India. 

The Chartered Accountancy qualification opens the door to an infinite range of exciting career opportunities in India and all over the globe. 

The statutory body which regulates the CA profession is called The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

The major areas in which CA professionals render their services are:–

• Banking, Finance field
• Income Tax
• Audit & Consulting (Either as a practicing CA or with a CA firm)
• Finance & Accounts of Corporates
• Corporate Finance – Capital structuring, Treasury etc
• Finance and Strategy – Assisting CEOs in overall strategy through Business Intelligence
• Investment Banking
• Private Equity / Venture Capital

Eligibility to become a Chartered Accountant (CA)

There are 2 routes of starting the journey to become a Chartered Accountant – 

1. CA Foundation course route – 

1. Enrol for CA Foundation Course after passing 10^th class 
2. Register for CA Foundation Course 
3. Appear in CA Foundation Exam after appearing in the Senior Secondary Examination (10+2 exam)
4. Post passing the CA Foundation exam, one can join CA Intermediate Course after passing class 12^th and Foundation Examination 

2. Direct Entry Route into CA Intermediate course (without writing the CA Foundation course) –

1. Commerce Graduates or Post-Graduates with a minimum 55% marks can join the CA Intermediate course directly without going through CA Foundation exam
2. Other Graduates or Post-Graduates with minimum 60% marks can join the CA Intermediate course directly without going through CA Foundation exam

There are 3 steps to becoming a CA –

Step 1: – CA Foundation

CA Foundation syllabus is split into four subjects –

• Paper 1: Principles and Practice of Accounting (100 Marks)

• Paper 2: Business Laws & Business Correspondence and Reporting
  • Section A: Business Laws (60 Marks)
  • Section B: Business Correspondence and Reporting (40 Marks)

• Paper 3: Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning and Statistics 
  • Part A: Business Mathematics (40 Marks)
  • Part B: Logical Reasoning (20 Marks)
  • Part C: Statistics (40 Marks)

• Paper 4: Business Economics & Business and Commercial Knowledge 
  • Part I: Business Economics (60 Marks)
  • Part II: Business and Commercial Knowledge (40 Marks)

Criteria for passing CA Foundation exam:

A student is considered to pass the CA Foundation exam if he/she obtains a minimum of 40% marks in each paper and a minimum of 50% marks in aggregate of all the papers.

Step 2A:- CA Intermediate:

After passing the CA Foundation Exam, one can join the Intermediate Course.

Syllabus for CA Intermediate course:

Group 1

• Paper 1: Accounting (100 Marks)
• Paper 2: Corporate and Other Laws
  • Part I: Company Law (60 Marks)
  • Part II: Other Laws (40 Marks)
• Paper 3: Cost and Management Accounting (100 Marks)
• Paper 4: Taxation 
  • Section A: Income Tax Law (60 Marks)
  • Section B: Indirect Taxes (40 Marks)

Group 2

• Paper 5: Advanced Accounting (100 Marks)
• Paper 6: Auditing and Assurance (100 Marks)
• Paper 7: Enterprise Information Systems and Strategic Management 
  • Section A: Enterprise Information System (50 Marks)
  • Section B: Strategic Management (50 Marks)
• Paper 8: Financial Management & Economics for Finance 
  • Section A: Financial Management (60 Marks)
  • Section B: Economics for Finance (40 Marks)

Criteria for passing CA Intermediate Exam:

• A student may get through the groups in one or more attempts either together or separately. However, he/ she is considered to have passed the CA Intermediate exam if he/ she passes both the groups.
• A student is considered to have passed in a group if he/she scores a minimum of 40% marks in each paper of the group and an aggregate of 50% marks in the aggregate of all the papers of that group.

Step 2B:- Training Program

After passing either or both the groups, the students must do three years of articleship to possess on-the-job training on the concepts learnt in the Chartered Accountancy course. 

Step 3 – Final Course:

This is the last step of the Chartered Accountant course. Students, after qualifying both the groups of Intermediate Examination are eligible to register for Final Course and, they’ll be allowed to register in examination during the last six months of practical training after successful completion of 4 Weeks of Advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills.

CA Final course comprises of 2 groups – Group 1 and Group 2.

Syllabus for CA Final course:

• Paper 1: Financial Reporting (100 Marks)
• Paper 2: Strategic Financial Management (100 Marks) 
• Paper 3: Advance Accounting & Professional Ethics (100 Marks)
• Paper 4: Corporate and Economic Laws
  • Part I – Corporate Laws (70 Marks)
  • Part II – Economic Laws (30 Marks)
• Paper 5 : Strategic Cost Management and Performance Evaluation (100 Marks)
  • Part A: Strategic Cost Management and Decision Making
  • Part B: Performance Evaluation and Control
• Paper 6: Elective Paper (One to be chosen from the list of Elective Papers) 
  • 6A Risk Management (100 Marks)
  • 6B Financial Services & Capital Markets (100 Marks)
  • 6C International Taxation (100 Marks)
  • 6D Economic Laws (100 Marks)
  • 6E Global Financial Reporting Standards (100 Marks)
  • 6F Multi-disciplinary Case Study (100 Marks)
• Paper 7: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation (100 Marks)
  • Part I – Direct Tax Laws (70 Marks)
  • Part II – International Taxation (30 Marks) 
• Paper 8: Indirect Tax Laws 
  • Part I – Goods and Services Tax (75 Marks)
  • Part II – Customs & FTP (25 Marks) 

Criteria for passing CA Final Exam:

• A student may get through the groups in one or more attempts either together or separately. However, he/ she is considered to have passed the CA Intermediate exam if he/ she passes both the groups.
• A student is considered to have passed in a group if he/she scores a minimum of 40% marks in each paper of the group and an aggregate of 50% marks in the aggregate of all the papers of that group.

So, these are the steps through which one can become a Chartered Accountant. 

An important thing that a student needs to keep in mind that how you prepare for the CA exams.

For CA exam preparation, you can get guidance from experienced professionals, and for that, ‘ProEdge Online Classes’ is here to guide you throughout your journey. 

Let us see how ProEdge guides you in your CA exam preparation –

• ProEdge Online Classes have around 30 to 40 students in each batch thereby ensuring personalised attention
• Even in the online sessions, all the faculty and teachers aim to provide a physical classroom like experience to the students. This is done with the help of below activities –  

• In our classes, we encourage students to interact with the faculty to make it a classroom like experience
• Our teachers are trained for taking online sessions to ensure that the learning  sessions are lively, engaging and interactive
• Our classrooms and coaching is LIVE, where students can interact with faculties or trainers directly like they will do in a normal classroom.
• In addition to this, we provide recordings of the LIVE classes so that students can refer to their classes as many times as they want, which is not possible in a physical classroom also.

In addition to the above, Proedge also conducts the following activities –

• Revision or doubt clarification classes
• Assessments for every subject and every topic within the topic
• 4 to 5 Mock exams before the actual exams
• Digital resources like class recordings and 5000+ practice problems

So, with the continuous support and guidance of Proedge coupled with your hard work, you can definitely achieve your dream of becoming a Chartered Accountant.