Difference Between CA and CFA and Know Which One is Better

Difference Between CA and CFA
Difference Between CA and CFA

The students interested in the corporate world can seek CFA vs CA, as their career choice. CA and CFA are two independent programs to consider, much similar to each other but having certain different specific functionalities for CFA vs CA. CA stands for Chartered Accountant as we all are familiar with and CFA for Chartered Financial Analyst. With the increasing demand for CFA for nearly every sector in India (25% from 2005-6), CFA is even now little being popularized among Indian Youths. However, less than that of CA.

Before you go to select for the CA program, let’s discuss first, what the CFA is? And compare the CFA vs CA? Which one CFA or CA is better for your career choice? So that you can emphasize efforts in the correct way.

What is a Chartered Accountancy Course?

CA (Chartered Accountancy) in India regulated by ICAI as per the CA act of 1949. Normally CA prefix is used by the members affiliated to ICAI. The well-reputed profession among Indian society, with having the best packages available in the country itself, is very popular among youngsters as their first choice of career.

The profession of responsibility, private companies are having huge demands for CA, it acts as the backbone of any industries with the management of their large statistics.

With the prefix of CA before your good name, it will give you the level of an expert in the society of the corporate world, finance-related fields such as auditing, taxation, and that of general management, some indulging in public and private fields while others in government sectors.

The CA course is categorized under three sections, CA Foundation, CA Intermediate, CA Final, just after finishing the 12th one may apply for the Foundation course, to begin with. It also requires an articulate training of three years to have enhanced knowledge of the real corporate world beyond the books.

What is a CFA Course For?

CFA (Chartered Finance Analyst) is a global organized program by the CFA Institute in America, formerly known as the Association for Investment Management for Research (AIMR). It is for Finance related interests. As a globally recognized and certified course hence one has knowledge of global management. With a wide range of different topics, you can explore the whole Finance system of India.

With the huge demand in the sectors like Investment Management, Financial Accounting, Investment banking, Equity Research, Risk Management, Management Consulting, etc globally, one may have a good salary package with CFA.

Like that of CA, CFA also differentiated in three levels of the course structure with the four years of working experience along with it. Since the students must be familiar with the practical real corporate world.

The CFA needs a conceptual understanding of finance-related topics. Examiner here analyzes your practical knowledge of applying theoretical concepts and formulas in the real world.

CFA vs CA which is better?

Normally most of the students are confused between CFA vs CA which one from CFA vs CA is an ideal choice for students to make a career with them.

The following are some factors that are consistent with both CA and CFA so that we can have good competition between CFA vs CA.

Factor

CA (Chartered Accountancy)

CFA (Chartered Finance Analyst)

Focus

Mainly CA has to work within Accounting, Taxation, Auditing, corporate laws, general management, etc.

CFA has to work within finance sectors with conceptual knowledge of finance-related topics.

Institution

The regulatory institute for CA is that of ICAI whose course is recognized by the state of India.

CFA is recognized globally as regulated by the CFA institute in America(AIMR).

Course Duration

CA is differentiated into three stages, Foundation, Intermediate, and the Final, with the 3 years of articulate training which is a total of 4.5 years after completing 12th standard.

CFA is having 3 stages, along with the practical training of 4 years experience. Hence it takes a minimum of 4 years even after graduation.

Passing Percentage

As one of the toughest exams in the world, the passing percentage of the CA exam system is just 0.5%. Or in other words, only 5 out of 1000 students are able to clear this exam.

The passing rate is more than that of CA. The average passing criteria for CFA is about 10% more than 20 times the average of CA.

Demands

CA has higher demands in public, private, and even in government sectors, with knowledge of Indian corporate sectors and laws.

CFA is less demanded in India in comparison to that in the case of CA. CFA offers you job opportunities in national and MNC’s mostly in private sectors.

Paper Pattern

CA has the subjective type of paper which is mostly based on the theory.

In this case, you have an objective type of MCQ based question paper.

Exam Pattern

The exam pattern of CA is very easy and beneficial, as it is regulated over 16 days with having 1-day leave between consecutive exams.

The most difficult exam pattern perhaps in the world, with the daring preparation of all 10 subjects in a single day of the exam.

Salary Offered

The initial package, in this case, is near the average of 6-7 lakhs per annum. However a better chance for increment with experience and performance.

Here the initial package is about 4 lakhs per annum for fresher and increment depends upon the experience.

Conclusion

In this article, we have analyzed CFA and CA differences by having their deep discussion independently. In most of the cases, it is better to opt CA rather than CFA since whether it is CFA vs CA salary in India or job opportunities or exam pattern.