Why students are opting for ICAI CA new course
Puniti Pandey | |
Chartered accountants are looking beyond conventional roles to take up new jobs in financial modelling, planning strategies, risk assessment, forensic accounting
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Chartered accountants are looking beyond conventional roles to take up new jobs in financial modelling, planning strategies, risk assessment, forensic accounting
Changing job roles in accountancy has led to an increased demand for professionals in the field. Keeping this in view, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) revised the CA course in 2017 offering students the liberty to pick between old and new syllabus. More number of students are now enrolling in the new syllabus that includes subjects that are in sync with the changing finance sector across the globe. Changes in subjects have been introduced in all the three levels - Foundation, Intermediate and Final. The new courses include subjects such as International Taxation, Business Correspondence and Reporting, Business and Commercial knowledge, Economics for Finance, and more.
"The syllabus of the CA course was revised to inculcate competence and skills among the aspirants to increase endurance in the dynamic global business environment," says Atul Kumar Gupta, president, ICAI while speaking to Education Times. "The changes were introduced keeping in view the changing business and economic dynamics. The new course will help refine and upgrade the technical competence, professional skills, values, ethics and attitudes of aspiring CAs by introducing subjects to incorporate practices of international accountancy education bodies. It would help in accepting new roles once they qualify as chartered accountants," said Gupta.
What are the new roles
CAs in the contemporary era have to go beyond their conventional role and deliver more than just being an accountant, auditor, and financial analyst.
"The professionals today are required to excel in multiple fields such as artificial intelligence, financial modelling, risk assessment and management, forensic accounting and auditing, planning strategies related to entry of overseas companies, GST, corporate governance, insolvency related consultation, business revenue models - planning and structuring, among others, to act as a complete business solution provider," says Gupta. To incorporate practices of international accountancy education bodies, the new course has also been incorporated with electives that include subjects such as Global Financial Reporting Standards (GFRS) and international taxation which transcends borders. In addition to this, students are also offered a basic level course in foreign languages such as Spanish, German, French and Japanese to enhance their communication skills after entering the international market. "By acquiring the language skills, students, with all the knowledge can bridge the communication barriers and understand the local market better," adds Gupta.
Students are opting for CA new course
Students are catching up
In the 2019 CA final assessment, more candidates from the old syllabus qualified the exam as against the new syllabus.
The registrations in the new course have gradually increased over the years. In May 2018 CA final exam, around 2,289 students appeared in the Group I exam from the new syllabus, while 1,208 took the exam in Group II.
The number of students in the new course further witnessed a considerable increase in the November 2018 exam where 6,182 students appeared for the exam for Group I while 3,307 appeared in the Group II. The registrations in the new course increased manifolds in the 2019 exam with 27,861 appearing for the Group I and 26,972 appearing for Group II.
Pass percentage trends
The CA final exam has over the years seen a larger pass percentage of qualifications from the old course.
The increase in the qualifications from the existing course has been proportional to the number of students appearing for this course. However, the pass percentage of students from new course is witnessing a gradual increase as the number of applicants are increasing in this course.