Chartered accountant and cost accountancy courses are in the first place to make Commerce, the most sought after career.  The chartered accountancy gives the opportunity to settle down in the corporate job at the age of 21 years if studied very hard.  This course is entirely different from the other professional courses.  In the other courses the candidates are more and the jobs are less, but in CA the eligible candidates are less as compared to the jobs.

If the industry needs are taken into account then in India at least five lakh chartered accountants are needed.  But the candidates passing out as CA are less so there is increased demand for the experienced persons.   Starting from the software industry and from the basic industry, the audit companies are giving good opportunities for the CA candidates.  With the increasing demand for the CA the ICAI had done many changes in the eligibilities.  Mainly the ICAI had given the opportunity to start CA preparation from the 10^th standard itself.

The main stages of CA

If the chartered accountancy course is to be completed then the candidate should have self motivation and dedication.  To pass the course the candidate has to prepare with a plan from the beginning.  To become chartered accountant the steps to be taken are

• After finishing 10^th standard one can register the name in the Common Proficiency Test (CPT) and from then can start preparing for the CPT test.
• Those who registered their name at CPT, should have written the intermediate second year examination by the time of entrance test.  The candidates who had passed the 10^th examination through supplementary or advanced supplementary examination are also eligible to write the examination.

The CPT examination would be completely of objective type and in total would be of 200 marks.  The divisions in these are:

• Fundamentals of Accounting: For 60 marks.
• Mercantile Laws: For 40 marks.
• General Economics: For 50 marks.
• Quantitative Aptitude: For 50 marks.

If 100 marks (50%) are obtained then it is considered as pass in the CPT examination.

• Along with intermediate, if CPT is passed then one can start the other level of the chartered accountancy.
• After CPT the next level is PCC (Professional Competency Course).  In this level, at least 100 hours of IT training is necessary, which would be considered as practical training.
• After passing out PCE, one can register the name for CA final course.  The study material should be taken from the authorized Institution.
• While preparing for the final examination one has to do General Management and Communication Skills (GMCS) course.  The three years of article training is to be completed and after finishing all these CA final examination is to be written.  The passed out candidates would get membership in ICAI.

Success in CPT

The main change that is made in ICAI which is very important is introducing CPT. CA foundation examination that was conducted earlier was in the descriptive method and so it was difficult for the candidates to pass out and so the CPT had changed this to completely objective multiple choice.  If tried a bit harder, then one can pass the objective examination and can enter the CA course.  With this facility, not even the mathematics and the commerce students but the students who had studied other subjects also can do CA course.

• The CPT course is conducted twice in a year in June and in December.  With the changes made in the article training the students can do the job and also do CA course.  After registering the name at PCC, can do the article training.  At this time, the company or auditor would provide some stipend.  With these facilities number of students who are choosing CA as their career is increasing.
• When compared with the other courses like engineering, medicine and other professional courses the cost to complete CA course is very less.   If one can study by preparing in a planned way and can pass the examination in the first attempt then the cost of the total course would be Rs. 20,000.
• Overall in the nation there are branches for ICAI and one can register the name there.  The training is also given here.  In Andhra Pradesh in the branches of Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada the CA examination can be written.
• For the complete details about CA course, training, the branches and for other information the website of www. icai.org can be seen.