Skills required for Chartered Accountancy Students

The Chartered Accountancy (CA) course is one of the toughest finance programs in India, and passing the exam is no mean feat. Students who’re willing to pursue a career as a CA, should analyze his strengths and weaknesses, since the course is quite demanding and requires investment of time. Following skill sets, in general must be possessed by CA students.

1) Discipline, Diligence and hard work:

The syllabus is vast and sometimes crushing. There is a lot of midnight oil to be burnt and social life may come to a standstill. The exams are supposed to be tough with very low passing rates. Additionally, articleships are quite infamous for being 12-14 hour jobs with peanuts for pay. This means you have to have the patience and perseverance to survive the coursework, exams as well as articleship work. Hard work will be the usual order of the day.

In short, the candidate must be willing to make sacrifices, keep his/her focus and smartly manage his work and studies.

Did you know that Chartered Accountants get a number of exemptions for ACCA?

2) Conceptual understanding

A lot of students try to cram up and become a CA. However, in the industry only the conceptually sound will truly make progress. For this, you have to understand the concepts instead of just mechanically mugging up methodologies.

3) A head for numbers:

Numbers will be your best friends. Accuracy and speed in general mathematics helps hugely. Your calculator will be your constant companion.

4) Analytical Skills

Analytical skill sets are a must have in case for CA students. During the tenure of articleship, they gain professional qualifications and develop analytical skills while working on practical examples.

5) Communication Skills

During the tenure of internship, the candidate has to deal with clients from different industries, and give specialized services as per their specific needs. This needs the CA students to develop strong communication skills.

6) Managing the tight rope walk

A CA student should keep in mind that the course is a tight rope walk and requires you to juggle between articleship & studies. Moreover, regular studies and consistency will ensure success since the syllabus is quite vast and the Institute is strict in evaluating the mark-sheets. A balanced approach is required since s student needs to score minimum mandatory marks in all subjects.

7) Ability to Accept Failures

Despite your best performance, there are chances that you might not be able to clear the examinations, due to various factors. Students must be prepared to accept failures as a part and parcel of the course, and willingly prepare for the next attempt.

To know how ACCA can be a cherry on top of CA