Whether you want to upgrade your earnings, update skills or simply explore career options, continued education will prove to be a fantastic help in achieving that goal. By acquiring new knowledge, you keep up with trends and give yourself a competitive edge over the younger workforce. However, CFA and CA are the most lucrative options that lure finance students. Both the courses often make students confused to select one. This phase of selecting one career option among two of the best practices, CFA and CA, is often challenging because they have well-paid jobs with high perks.
So, it would be better for you to explore the factors related to both professions and then decide which course is better: CFA or CA.
All about the CFA course you need to know:
- Organization: – Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFAI)
- Academic Qualification Required: – 12th
- Duration of the course: – Divided into three levels; CFA requires a minimum of 4 years of work experience.
- Exam Type: – MCQ paper-based exam
- Core Area: – Finance
- Focus subjects: – Ethics, Accounting, Fixed Income, Corporate Finance, Equity Investments, Portfolio Management
- Job description: – Investment banking, Portfolio management, Equity research
- Average Income: – Fresh CFA graduate earns up to 4 lakhs
All about CA course you need to know:
- Organization: – Institute of Chartered Accountants in India (ICAI)
- Academic Qualification Essential: – Graduation
- Duration of the Course: – CA is divided into three levels, requires a minimum of 3 years of work experience.
- Exam Type: – Subjective paper-based exam
- Core Area: – Law, Accounting, Audit, Finance, Taxation,
- Focus Subjects: – financial accounting and reporting, Business environment and its concepts, Audit and attestation regulations
- Job Description: – Public accounting, Government accounting, Management accounting, Internal auditing
- Average Income: – Fresh CA graduate can earn between 6-8 lakhs, which increases with experience.
Job prospects that a CA can explore:
Chartered Accountancy is a dream course that opens the door to many employment opportunities. Basically, there are three types of job opportunities you can explore:
- Practice CA
- Entrepreneurship
- Join CA firm
Careers in banking and capital markets often attract aspirants with the highest salaries. Larger employers typically pay more than smaller ones. Salary packages may include bonuses, profit-sharing schemes, medical insurance, pensions and car allowances.
Job Prospects that a CFA can explore:
There is massive scope for CFA professionals in various sectors of India. Following is the list that leverages your career opportunities.
- Investment banker
- Portfolio manager
- Risk manager
- Market analyst
- Private bankers
The scope of CFA in India is high. As much as the CFA exams are tough to crack, the scope after CFA pays you equally good. So, if you are looking to prepare for the exam for CFA, don’t underestimate yourself considering the difficulty level of the exam and try to focus on the fact that no good things come easy.
CFA can prove your chance to shine if you get your head in the game very seriously because of the CFA value and CFA job opportunities in India.
Comparison between CFA and CA based on following factors:
Exam pattern
Here, the CA students benefit because the papers are spread over 16 days and have 1-day preparation leave in each piece. CFA is complicated to prepare during exam time because students must qualify for all 10 subjects in one day.
Demand
The demand for CA professionals is undoubtedly higher as they are only authorized to audit its Financial Statements. While CFA is in high demand at numerous national and multinational companies seeking an expert in finance and handling their investments.
In simple words, Candidates with a CA background have a high demand in the finance and manufacturing sectors. While the candidates with the CFA background have a high demand in the investment sectors.
Pass Percentage
CA is considered the most challenging course worldwide, with an average passing percentage of 0.5%, which means only 5 out of 1000 applicants can qualify for the CA Final exam. The passing rate of CFA is higher as compared to CA. The avg. pass percentage seems to be 10% which means 100 students can qualify for this exam out of 1000 entrants into the course.
Some FAQs answered by experts of the industry:
Q: Is CA better than CFA for career opportunities?
Ans: CA and CFA equally provide good career opportunities to the candidates.
Q: Can a CA student opt for CFA?
Ans: Yes, students pursuing CA can opt for CFA courses.
Q: Can I do both CA and CFA?
Ans: Of course. Attaining a CFA certification along with a CA certificate is entirely possible. Pursuing CFA after completing CA is known to be a deadly combination in finance and will make you stand out among others. This path will undoubtedly open new avenues for you in financing. CA’s can quickly clear the CFA level 1 exam being one of the advantages of doing CFA after CA. This is because the syllabus for CA overlaps with the syllabus of the CFA level 1 exam and is almost similar.
A combination of both courses not only extends your prospect but also help you comprehend better the financial and auditing field. You will acquire new skills and a lot of experience, which will help you turn out to be better professionally. Mixing the two sectors will result in better career and personal growth. This will reflect your love, dedication, and commitment to your industry and job.
Now, can you decide which one is better? CA or CFA? Only you can give this answer to yourself. CFA is a chosen career option by individuals keen on learning finance and risk management insights. Therefore, investment banking and portfolio management are open for them.
At the same time, CA is an optimal choice for students keen on acquiring expertise in audit, accountancy, and taxation.
Both the sections are very reputed and have high in-demand jobs. CA is more in demand within India, while CFA is the most popular option worldwide.
Stretch your professional wings better grab the support of the best faculty with GCEC Global. All the best.