CA Full Form: CA Course Details, Definition, Roles, Jobs

The full form of CA is Chartered Accountant. The designation of Chartered Accountant (CA) is given to accounting professionals by the accountancy body in India, ICAI. The CA Professionals are typically those who have completed the chartered accountancy course which consists of three levels: CA Foundation, Intermediate and Final levels. The CA professionals practice Chartered Accountancy. CA’s practice professional accounting, taxation, auditing, and financial assessment for an organization or an individual.

This Story also Contains

1. Course and syllabus of Chartered Accountancy course
2. CA Foundation Course and Syllabus
3. CA Intermediate course and Papers
4. CA Final course and syllabus
5. CA Salary - Based on Work Profile

Accountancy matters taken up by chartered accountants include tax filing, auditing financial statements as well as business practices, preparing review financial reports, etc. A professionally trained CA can also offer advisory services to their clients including either individuals or companies.

ICAI Full Form - The full form of ICAI is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The ICAI is the apex accountancy body created by the Indian Parliament under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. The institute regulates the accountancy profession in the country.

To become a certified CA in India an individual needs to complete three levels of the CA exam including training that is designed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Candidates to become Chartered Accountants (CA) can take admission in CA foundation course after 10+2 or directly after graduation in the CA intermediate course. The CA foundation exams have replaced CA CPT exams and it is held twice a year for CA aspiring students. CA Foundation is followed by CA Intermediate and CA final exams.

Eligibility to enroll in Chartered Accountancy (CA) programme

To become a certified Chartered Accountant (CA), a candidate must go through a training process and also clear exams at three different levels conducted by ICAI.

Eligibility to enroll in CA foundation

• The candidate should have passed 10+2 successfully

• He/She should also complete four months of study period after CA registration to be eligible to appear for the CA foundation exam.

• The candidate should get themselves registered with the ICAI board of studies and complete a four months study period.

Eligibility Criteria for CA Direct Entry Route:

• For direct entry, graduates/ postgraduates from the commerce stream can enroll.

• The person should have at least 55 percent marks in aggregate.

• They must have studied accounting, mercantile laws, auditing, corporate laws, taxation both direct and indirect tax, cost and business management, etc.

• Graduates or postgraduates from a non-commerce background should have secured a minimum of 60 percent marks in aggregate by any recognized university.

• A person who has passed the intermediate level from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India can also get direct admission to the intermediate level of CA.

• Candidates appearing in the final year exam of graduation can also get admission on a provisional basis but their admission will be based on successfully clearing their graduation with the required percentage of marks.

Process to become a Chartered Accountant (CA)

The process to become a CA requires very deep preparation. Aspirants willing to do a CA programme can start preparation at various stages in life. The different stages have been explained below:

CA Foundation

The foundation course is the entry level course for Chartered Accountancy (CA). Candidates who have appeared for the class 12 exams or appearing for class 12 exams can write the CA foundation exam. Graduates or postgraduates are exempted from writing this examination.

CA Intermediate

Candidates after successfully completing the CA foundation course need to enroll in the intermediate stage of CA. There is also a direct entry route for graduates and postgraduates from CA background to enroll in CA intermediate courses. Students can enroll for intermediate courses after 9 months of appearing for foundation course.

Articleship Training

After completing the CA intermediate course students must enroll themselves in the articleship training. The CA full form also consists of complete training of the CA’s in the Chartered Accountancy course. This training provides them with real time experience. In this training course, candidates get to learn about the nature of the work of CA. The primary motive of the training is to provide exposure of companies to the candidates.

CA Final

This is the last part of the course. Before coming to this, candidates need to clear GMCS and ITT exams. After clearing CA final course candidates can register themselves in the ICAI as practicing Chartered Accountants. The CA full form in commerce includes the successfully passed candidates in the CA final exams.

Course and syllabus of Chartered Accountancy course

The syllabus of the primary three levels of the CA course at each level has been mentioned below:

CA Foundation Course and Syllabus

The CA foundation course has been divided into four papers. To qualify for the examination, students need to pass all the papers. The subjects and topics from the CA Foundation new syllabus have been covered below:

CA Foundation Papers Wise Topics

CA Intermediate course and Papers

In the CA Intermediate course as per the CA Inter new syllabus, students now need to clear six papers of the accountancy course. The table below explains the subjects in the course:

CA Intermediate Group Wise Papers

CA Final course and syllabus

As per the new CA Final syllabus, ICAI has reduced the total number of papers from eight to six into two groups. The table given below explains the syllabus in detail:

CA Final Group Wise Syllabus

Important - Check the Complete List of Full Forms

Roles and Responsibilities of a Chartered Accountant

The key roles and responsibilities expected from a CA have been given below:

• Filing income tax returns for businesses and individuals.
• Conducting an audit of the financial statements of a company
• Ensuring businesses and individuals are complying to laws and regulatory standards
• Making Profit/Loss accounts for businesses.
• Preparing business performance reports
• Conducting regular forensic accounting investigations
• Helping candidates with financial advises
• Regular review and advisory services to businesses in terms of budgets, payrolls and investments

Career options as a Chartered Accountant

After the successful completion of the course a person becomes an official member of ICAI. They have the option to either join a company or a firm or start their own firm. Some of the domains where CA can work are:

• Banks

• Auditing firms

• Taxation firms

• Public limited companies

• Management consultancy firms

• Legal firms

• CFO firms

• Investment houses

• Mutual funds

Some of the top corporate firms hiring CA’s are:

1. E&Y

2. BDO

3. KPMG

4. PwC

5. Deloitte

6. JP Morgan Chase

7. Credit Suisse

8. Edelweiss

9. Grant Thorton

10. Kuwait Resources House

11. State Bank of India

12. Khumji Khiverji & Co

13. Luthra & Luthra

14. ICICI bank

15. Kotak Mahindra

16. Axis Bank and many more

CA Salary in India

The salary of a chartered accountant in India depends on his job profile and the company that hires him. The average salary for a CA or Chartered Accountant is approcimatelt 9 lakh per annum.. IBM, Ranbaxy, Sony, TCS, Infosys, and others offer starting salaries ranging from Rs. 20 LPA to 30 LPA. The salary of a CA according to their job profile has been mentioned in the table below.

CA Salary - Based on Work Profile