New entrance test, soft skills part of CA course rejig

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has decided to make far reaching changes to its curriculum to make the course more attractive and equip students with soft skills.

The key change in the new curriculum is the introduction of an objective type entrance test, which can be taken by an aspirant after higher secondary school.

If an aspirant clears all the exams in the first attempt, the course would be over in four years "" on a par with engineering courses. Currently, the shortest time a candidate can complete the CA course in is five years and three months.

Along with a shorter duration, the new curriculum will have compulsory training in information technology and personality development.

The decision to impart training in personality development was the outcome of feedback from industry. Chartered accountants are perceived to have lagged behind MBAs when it came to communication skills.

The institute's council met today to clear the changes, the first such instance in five years. The Union government has already given an in-principle approval to a curriculum change, T N Manoharan. president of ICAI, told the media after the council meeting.

The broad thrust of ICAI's new initiative is to shorten the duration of the chartered accountancy course, introduce international aspects of accountancy, and turn out finished products for industry through compulsory soft skills training.

All of these would be done without dilution of the rigour that the course is known for, Manoharan clarified.

The ICAI plans to supplement its curriculum change with marketing efforts among high school students which aim to create awareness of the opportunities that come a chartered accountant's way.

The logic behind catching students young is that many of them have begun to gravitate towards a set career at an early stage. The ICAI plans to bring chartered accountancy into their radar before their thoughts crystallise. The idea is "to attract the cream of the younger generation," said Manoharan.

ICAI's plans have not come at a stage when chartered accountancy as a professional course is under pressure. Chartered accountants have seldom had it better.

According to Manoharan, around 7,500 candidates become chartered accountants every year, whereas he estimated the demand from industry to be around 30,000 chartered accountants a year.

"Not a single CA is unemployed in the country," claimed Manoharan. The current employment trend among chartered accountants is to look towards industry for opportunities rather than audit practice," he added.

Today, about three lakh students are registered with ICAI, and are in various stages of the course.

As many as 1.2 lakh students, who are in the early stages of the course, are eligible to switch to the new curriculum, once it receives the final approval.