CA-lling out to Indian Women

While Chartered Accountancy continues to be one of the country’s most prestigious and sought after professions, it has been giving the women sphere of the country more and more reasons to prefer it over the rest, in recent years.  In the diversity data released by the Institute of Chartered Accountancy (ICAI), one can track the steadfast upward trend in the number of women CA invites. As for the first exam out of its three, CPT or Common Proficiency Test, the number of girls who enrolled and appeared for it rose by over 51 percent since 2012. ICAI received up to 33,460 female registrations in 2013 and 41,957 in 2014, as compared to 27, 784 in 2012.

K Raghu, president of ICAI, opines that the general popularity of the course has been swelling because of the bright prospects it offers with respect to employment. And women have been gravitating towards this security all the more, with increasing realization amongst people about the benefits of double-income-households. He attributes most of the rise in figures of CA aspirants to the increase in girls taking to the field. Furthermore, in the absence of capitation fee, parents are also not hesitant in encouraging their daughters to pursue the course.

No wonder that the number of qualified women chartered accountants is steadily rising.

As per the latest figures released by the ICAI, the number of women who go on to finally clear the last hurdle to be officiated as CAs, went up from 20 percent of total successful candidates in 2012, to 21 percent in 2013 and now, is a reassuring 22 percent, as of November 2014. There are almost 50,000 currently practicing women CAs in the country.

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This profession is not just lucrative because of the lucrative payscale it offers. A large part of it is also due to the kind of flexibility the course offers. Anyone with a license to practice can continue operations from home and cater to a client base from the world over, with today’s technological advances. One has the freedom to take long sabbaticals even, and get right back into the circuit. All they have to do is stay updated.

Furthermore, offering solace to women CAs who have responsibilities back at their homes as well, the ICAI has now launched a work portal for women to find part time jobs with flexible hours, with the work from home option. As per ICAI, around 2,000 women CAs have registered in the portal and around 200 CA firms have posted employment opportunities.

The new provision of Companies Act, 2013 mandating the appointment of a woman director in every listed company and every public company with a minimum paid up share capital of Rs 100 crore or an annual turnover of at least Rs 300 crore, is likely to be luring women into this field too.

Senior CAs opine that women have garnered such success in this field of the intimidating world of numbers, because of their inherent eye for detail and need for systematic functioning. Women CAs also take pride in their multi-tasking skills, which have brought them a long way.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/At-50000-22-of-CAs-in-India-are-women/articleshow/45313255.cms