Wednesday, December 15, 2010

CA PROGRAM - UPGRADING BENCHMARK

The CA profession is the most attractive profession these days which is apparent from the fact it is
attracting a very large number of students to its fold. The current number of students undergoing CA
education consist of

  • CA Final                                1.0 lakh
  • PCC (Intermediate)              1.0 lakh
  • IPCC (Intermediate)            1.0 lakh
  • CPT                                      3.5 lakh
        Total                                      6.5 lakh


The regulatory authorities, business world and public at large have great expectations from CA profession. The quality of CA profession depends on quality of CA education being imparted the CA students. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has taken a major initiative to upgrade the quality of CA education to meet the increasing expectation. Some of the steps include -

  • Significant up-gradation and updation of syllabus and study material for CA Intermediate (IPCC) as well as for CA Final;
  • The examination pattern has been made more practical oriented, case studies and practical questions are being included to ensure that only those who undergo their practical training seriously are only to pass the CA examination.
  • Very comprehensive practice manuals have been issued in all subjects at IPCC and CA Final level to cover practical questions.
  • Latest landmark judgments are being provided to the students in respect of direct tax laws.
  • General Management Communication Skill Course for 15 days is being significantly upgraded, with a view to offer the same in 2 lots of 15 days each.
  • A compulsory orientation program of 7 days have been introduced and upgraded to be undergone by all the students before joining training.
  • The Information Technology Training for 100 hours is being provided from 150 ICAI own centers before joining training.
Some more major initiatives taken by the Institute in this regard include introduction of live classes for students. ICAI, under the able leadership and guidance of Mr. Amarjit Chopra, President has taken a very bold initiative to launch Live Classes on behalf of the ICAI on a national basis. The vision of the Council is to initially provide classroom teaching in about 19 locations and to be expanded to more than 200 cities with about 1850 classrooms all across India to enable oral teaching to all the CA students. The Institute is proposing to utilize 2-way Video Conference Technology to provide a reach to each and every nuke and corner of the country by topmost leading faculties in the country including faculties from Board of Studies, faculties drawn from IIM, XLRI, Technical and Specialized experts from top leading institutions of the country including Shri Ram College of Commerce, St. Xavier College Calcutta and Sydnem, Mumbai. The practical knowledge will be shared by leading experts and top practitioners. This will enable a high level of education reaching all across the country. Initially the Live Classes will be provided on optional basis. CA Education is facing some very significant threat from Dummy Training. Training to CA students is the back bone of training. The students learn while on job, implementing academic knowledge to practical situations. Students who prefer dummy training never get that kind of exposure and resulting in significant impact on quality of CA profession. 

To address the menace of dummy training and its impact on the quality of CA students, examination
system has been toned up to ensure that CA students are not able to pass in the absence of real practical training. The latest examination papers in last couple of attempts are a clear indication in this regard. The transfer of articles trainee have been banned except in extraordinary genuine cases. The practicing chartered accountants need to come forward and ensure that the stigma of dummy training is completely killed. Let us take a pledge from all our colleagues that under any circumstances dummy training or partial training will not permitted by them. The entire future of CA profession is at stake. Let us all unitedly eradicate "Dummy". ICAI is considering further up-dation and up-gradation of the CA course including providing Indian CA education in various parts of the world. ICAI qualification is already recognized to mutual recognition agreement with England & Wales, Australia. Canada and Singapore negotiations are in advance stage. Let us work together to make ICAI a truly international topmost qualification in accounting and finance.

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