The CA qualification
The CA qualification is
recognised and respected internationally by a wide
range of organisations - from the leading professional
services firms and global corporations, through small
and medium-sized businesses, to charities and the
public sector.
Ernst & Young, BP, Deutsche
Bank and Norwich Union are just a few of the companies
that have chosen ICAS as their preferred option for
training chartered accountants. Whether you want to
work in traditional areas such as accounting and tax or
widen your expertise into corporate finance, insolvency
or corporate recovery, the opportunities are endless:
from sole practitioner right up to chief executive of a
multinational.
What's more, due to the
international prestige of the CA qualification the
world is your workplace. Over 17,000 members work
around the world in countries such as Australia,
Russia, USA and China, to name but a few.
The three year training
programme is a finely integrated blend of practical
work experience combined with a relevant education
syllabus. Through classroom study students develop
all-round business and financial acumen, along with
problem solving skills. The work based learning,
monitored through completion of an Achievement Log,
ensures every student gains the breadth of experience
necessary to qualify.
A career in accountancy
Almost half of CAs make their
career in finance, commerce and industry - of these 15%
are Finance Directors, 6% are Managing Directors and 2%
are CEOs. Just over a quarter of CAs currently work in
practice, offering professional services to a range of
business clients. 38% of CAs that are in practice work
for the Big 4 firms.
Whatever your ambitions, the
CA qualification can take you there and here are some
examples of the areas CAs can be involved in:
Audit
Chartered accountants give an
independent examination of a company's set of accounts
to ensure that the accounts are 'true and fair' and
comply with current legislation. Larger companies will
have their own 'internal audit' department and
'external' auditors (eg CAs) will work closely with
these departments and spend some time actually working
at clients' premises. Clients vary from the financial
sector to commercial and public sectors and will
include such entities as farmers, banks and
builders.
Taxation
Clients expect to be advised
on how to run their businesses in a tax efficient
fashion. You will be required to have detailed
knowledge about Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax, VAT
and Corporation Tax amongst others. Audit and Tax
departments tend to 'share' clients so work closely
together to ensure the best service for their
clients.
Assurance
Chartered accountants may
also become involved in other assurance engagements
that are often similar to the type of work carried out
in the external audit. Such work may involve providing
assurance over systems and controls, compliance with
regulations, prospective financial information, or
other such engagements. The growth of ecommerce may
also provide other assurance work, such as Webtrust
engagements, which provides users of websites with some
confidence that the websites operate properly.
Management consultancy
You may be called in by a
client on a management consultancy basis. You must
identify the problem in conjunction with the client,
research available data, come up with solutions and
implement any agreed changes. The projects can be
completely diverse and you may be dealing with
different service sectors from one month to the
next.
Corporate finance
This can be a very rewarding
aspect of a CAs job. You will be involved with mergers
and acquisitions and management buy-ins or buy-outs.
Often these projects are undertaken with very tight
deadlines and you must work closely with your team in
order that these deadlines are met. The work is also of
a confidential nature and you must ensure that the deal
is kept under wraps whilst you are working on it.
Corporate recovery
If a company is struggling
financially then this is where a CA would be called in
to assist. You might have to come up with a 'rescue
package' or if the company really is in serious trouble
then it may be facing bankruptcy or liquidation. Skills
you will need to work in this field include good
commercial understanding, interpersonal, communication
and teamworking skills.
Computer audit
If you were particularly
interested in computers then you might like to become
more involved with computer audit whereby you audit the
client's IT systems. You can recommend ways to tighten
up on security or risk management.
For further information about a career in accountancy
see our Become a CA section.
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