CA Vs CS: Exam course, duration, salary.

Updated on 26 October 2020

By Professional Courses

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Updated on 26 October 2020

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CA and CS are the professional courses which are considered to be one of the prestigious courses in India. These both are not similar courses. CA is purely related to accounting whereas CS is very much related to corporate law. Both the courses are great for a professional career. CA and CS both have 3 levels of examination. For a detailed information on CA Vs CS Course details, refer this article further.

Let's see the exam course, duration and salary of each course one by one

Exam Course :

Chartered Accountancy:

There are three levels of examinations that you need to crack to become a CA.

Foundation course or CPT - The total numbers of papers in CPT are four.

Intermediate or IPCC - It involves 2 groups with 8 papers in total.400 marks each group You need 40% for passing in each subject 50% marks in total (200 marks out of 400) for passing overall group 1.

Final Course- CA final is divided into 2 groups. Each group consists of 4 papers.

Each paper contains 100 marks, from which you need to score a minimum of 40% of Marks.

Company Secretary:

There are three levels of examinations:

Foundation Programme

There are 4 subjects in the foundation course. The questions are MCQ based and there is no negative marking for the wrong questions.

Executive Programme

There are a total of 2 modules and with 4 subjects in each module. Each subject is for 100 marks.

Both types of questions are asked, subjective as well as objective.

Professional programme

There are a total of 3 modules with 3 subjects in each module

The type of questions asked is only descriptive once.

CA Vs CS Duration:

Let's look at the CA vs CS Duration details below.

Chartered Accountancy:

Minimum duration if a student joins after 12th (through CPT route), it takes 4.5 years.
The minimum duration after graduation is 3 years.

Some of you might be thinking what about articleship, yes articleship is compulsory for a student who is pursuing CA. An Articleship is a work experience under the guidance of any chartered accountant for 3 years. Articleship can be done only after clearing IPCC.

Company Secretary:

It takes 3 years to complete the overall company secretary course, where the foundation programme needs 8 months, the executive programme takes 9 months and the professional programme takes 15 months.

CA Vs CS Salary

Let's discuss the CA vs CS Salary details below.

Chartered Accountancy:

Salary of CA depends upon the skill sets he has acquired and rank he got in his finals.

There are various skills required like audit, financial analysis, account management etc.

The skillset of the highest salary is of budget management with an average salary of 9.5 to 11 lakhs per annum.

The starting salary of a fresher is an average of 7lakh per annum.

An experienced CA of more than 10 years is paid more than 20 lakhs per annum and above 20 years is 50-70 lakh per annum.

The highest job profile is of a Finance officer who is paid 35lakh per annum.

The highest paying company for a CA is Reliance Industries with an average of 25-45lakh per annum(Highest).

A CA can also earn through fees, commission and bonus if he is practicing in his own firm individually.

Company Secretary:

Companies will pay you a handsome package if you are qualified and committed for the job. They also give opportunities to work abroad if you are really great at your job.

A Company Secretary working in a Multi-National company gets great pay that is around 45K to 80k per month and the salary keeps on increasing based on his work quality and experience.

A well-deserving candidate in an organization can become an important advisory in the company. He can get the authority of making important decisions for the company after the experience of 5 to 6 years.

This was all about the CA Vs CFA course details that one needs to know. Both of the courses are really future-oriented, they have a great scope in future. It totally depends on what you are interested in, which subjects are your core strength. Try to analyze and self introspect your liking you will come to a conclusion. Good Luck!