Are you confused about which career to choose between CA and CS? Students from the commerce stream while making a decision of their career choice are generally in a state of confusion especially when they are to choose between two very obvious choices of the commerce stream i.e., CA vs CS.
In this article, we will discuss the complete details of the two courses that will help you to make a better decision to suit your capabilities and interest.
Charted Accountant (CA) and Company Secretary (CS) are those two courses for a commerce student like engineering and medical care for a science student. In our country, as a student opts for science maths or science bio combination it is somehow understood that the child will pursue engineering and medical respectively. Similar is the case in commerce stream once a student goes for this stream these two courses become an obvious choice of a student and his family members.
Before making a decision between the two courses it is important to have the complete knowledge of the two courses. So, let’s discuss the two courses in detail.
CA vs CS – Salary and Career Scope
CS – Company Secretary
CS stands for Company Secretary. It is organized by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI). This exam like CA consists of three stages.
- Foundation Programme
- Executive Programme
- Professional Programme
Any individual who has passed 12th or equivalent can enroll for the foundation course.
Students belonging to either Commerce, science or Arts stream. For 12th passed students once they clear foundation course they can apply for Executive program. The graduates from science, commerce and arts stream can directly pursue the executive program of Company Sectary without appearing in the Foundation Program.
Once clearing the Executive Programme, the professional programme can be pursued ahead. Once you become a qualified CS you can work as legal experts, corporate planner, strategic manager, chief advisor, executive secretary etc in a corporate entity.
Each level of this course has two papers and each paper is for a period of 1.5 hours. The complete exam of each level is of 4-hour duration in which 1 hour is break time.
Company Secretary is generally considered as a little easier compared to CA but this doesn’t mean that there are high chances of clearing this exam than CA. In fact, the scaling in CS is so strict that that very few people are able to clear all the three stages.
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There is a continuous rise in demand for CS, and if you want to be seen as an advisor to a company’s MD or CEO, you should go for CS. In order to be a CS, you must have a liking for law and a master of corporate law to work in the company’s perspective.
As compared to CA, CS is more global.CS are hired by government organizations and public enterprises.
In terms of the pay package, a CS’s salary is generally half of that of a CA.
CA – Chartered Accountant
CA stands for Chartered Accountant this is one of the most preferred and highly esteemed courses of our country. When it comes to choosing between CA and CS students from commerce stream generally prefer CA over CS. The regulating authority of Chartered Accountancy is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
CA also consist of three levels-
- Charted Accountant Foundation
- Charted Accountant Intermediate
- Charted Accountant Final
There is also a fourth stage which is of practical training commonly called Articleship. The practical training is for a period of three years, once you qualify either one or both the groups of CA Intermediate you can register for practical training under a practicing CA for the practical knowledge of the course.
The entry level of this course i.e., CA Foundation consists of four papers in which two are objective and two are subjective. The intermediate consist of two groups and each group consist of four papers. Similar is the pattern for CA Final this also consist of two groups with four papers in each group.
To be a qualified CA you are required to clear each of its levels
CA is one of the toughest exams in our country so before starting its preparation it’s better you make a determination that under any circumstances, whatever it takes I will be a CA and even have the confidence to qualify each of its level in the first attempt. If you have this kind of dedication than only go for CA otherwise it is better to opt for some other course.
As it is said, “Everyone wants to be happy nobody wants to be in pain but there can be no rainbow without a little rain”. Similar is the case with CA as this course is highly demanding so it is equally rewarding. Once you become a CA you will have numerous career opportunities with great job offers and a chance to be your own boss by setting up your own practice.
So after reading the above article, you must have understood the difference between CA and CS, what are the perks associated with the two courses and what it takes to be a CA and CS in our country. There are even people who pursue these two courses simultaneously but it depends upon individual caliber and capacity. Now after reading this article we hope it will be easy for you to choose between the two or which course suits your bent of mind.
