ACCA and CA – both are the reputed courses in Accounting and are pursued by lakhs of students every year. CA stands for Chartered Accountant and ACCA stands for Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. While CA has been there for decades now as a nationally recognized accounting course, ACCA is a relatively newer entry on the accounting scenario and is a global certification. ACCA comprises 14 exams, and the professionals must have a mandatory 3-year professional work experience as well. On the other hand, CA has 20 papers and requires 3 years of Articleship under a practicing CA.
With an increase in the number of people looking for jobs abroad in accounting, ACCA has gained immense popularity among the accounting professionals and aspirants these days. While ACCA is relatively new, it offers a promising global career and also opens job avenues in major corporate firms across the globe. ACCA is a globally recognized qualification and the ACCA professionals are in high demand these days. This huge popularity of ACCA courses has led to a huge rise in the number of accountancy students looking for ACCA certification in India. The Logic School of Management is one of the most reputed and certified institutes for studying ACCA course in Kochi, and it also offers many other courses in accounting.
So, which one is better – CA or ACCA? In the following post, we are going to do a detailed comparison between ACCA and CA. So, read it carefully and find out which one is a better choice. Let us begin by finding the key differences between ACCA and CA.
ACCA and CA –Major Differences
| Features | ACCA | CA |
| Course Highlights | Taxation, Auditing, Accounts Handling, Management Accounting, etc. | Finance and Financial Accounting |
| Course Duration | 3 years with 2-3 years of training | 3 to 5 years with one year of training |
| Eligibility |
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| Course Levels | Two Levels:
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Three Levels:
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| Number of Papers | 14 (9 Fundamentals and 5 Professionals) | 20 (4 CA Foundation, 8 CA Intermediate, and 8 CA Final) |
| Articleship Duration | 3 Years | |
| Recognition | Global Recognition (180 countries) | Recognized in India |
| Course Fee | 2 Lakh to 3 Lakh | Around 1 Lakh |
| Flexibility | ACCA is much more flexible as students can take one paper in each attempt. | No flexibility of this type, papers from every group must be taken at once. |
| Signing Authority | ACCA professionals cannot sign the audit report in India. | A practicing Chartered Accountant (CA) can sign the audit reports in India. |
Now that we have had a detailed look at the differences between ACCA and CA, let us move on to the next section.
ACCA vs. CA – Understanding the Career Options:
- To begin your accounting career in India, you have to become a CA. The course is the beginning and can be done even when you are employed; if you feel that you can prepare for the exams and crack the same.
- CA opens the whole wide world of accounting and finance in front of you and you can choose to be a Tax Consultant, Planning and Management Expert, Finance and Accounts Advisor, Corporate Compliance and any other professional in the accounting and finance field.
- Once the CA is done, you can get Tier-II Job offers sans experience and Tier-I jobs with experience and if you passed your course from the best institutes in India.
- However, CMA is a globally recognized accounting certification that lands you in respectful designations in major corporate setups as well.
So, if you wish to swim in the endless and depthless waters of the world of accounting and finance, then ACCA should be your choice. Apart from the fact that the qualification is recognized globally and you can easily land a job abroad, the high demand for ACCA professionals in the corporate and PPP firms makes the course really the ‘IT’ thing.
ACCA vs. CA – Job Profiles
While the CA professionals have a limited number of job profiles, when it comes to ACCA, there are no dearth of job opportunities and no limit in the types of jobs as well. ACCA Professionals can find lucrative jobs in the following sectors:
- Investment Advisory
- Risk Advisory
- Audit and Assurance
- Accounting Advisory
- Internal Audit
- Taxation
- Corporate Finance etc
ACCA vs. CA – Which one is tougher?
While the ACCA course is easier than the CA course, this difficulty factor is highly subjective. ACCA course is oriented towards shaping a person for a job as an expert accountant with knowledge from various fields. However, the CA course aims at teaching the various core and technical principles of basic accounting. CA courses alone might not land you in lucrative jobs with fat pay cheques and you might have to opt for higher courses like CS etc.
However, ACCA itself is a globally recognized course that doesn’t require any other certification to make your foothold stronger. But then again, your value and talent worth increases as per your education and skills, so you have to keep on adding skills as you advance in your career, depending on the type of career you are planning ahead.
ACCA vs. CA – Which one is better for a career in India?
There was a time when CA courses opened highly lucrative career avenues for people in accounting. But, with the rise in the number of people completing CA, the institutional changes in private and public sector firms, and the huge rise in the number of MNCs in India, CA alone cannot help you grab the top-level designations.
ACCA, on the other hand, is a hot trending course that equips professionals with the best professional skills. Further, ACCA professionals are in high demand these days in the large corporate setups and major MNCs. Hence, ACCA is a better career option as compared to CA, in India as well. This completes our discussion, and we hope this proves beneficial for all our readers. For more information and expert guidance, please reach out to us in the comments section.