23 Jul 2019

Chartered Accountant (CA) vs Company Secretary (CS)

Chartered Accountant (CA) vs Company Secretary (CS)

If you are confused about these two terms viz. CA and CS then, you are reading the right article which explain you in details about CA vs CS in 2018-2019. CA versus CS – which one’s the best?

What is difference between CA course and CS course? CA vs CS salary? CA or CS, which is tough? CA or CS, which is better? CA and CS together? CA vs CS syllabus, pass percentage etc.

A layman shall not be able to know the exact difference between CA course and CS course before depth knowledge about these courses. Many students get confused while making a final decision for choosing one of these two courses as a professional career.

  1. Comparison Between CA and CS Course

CA stands for Chartered Accountant. To become Chartered Accountant, you have to join Chartered Accountancy course offered by CA Institute. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (Act No. XXXVIII of 1949). ICAI is the only recognized professional body to develop and regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.

To become Company Secretary, you have to join Company Secretaries course offered by CS Institute. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is constituted under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (Act No. 56 of 1980). ICSI is the only recognized professional body in India to develop and regulate the profession of Company Secretaries in India.

  1. Members of ICAI:

Since 1949, the profession has grown leaps and bounds in terms of membership and student base.

Starting with a handful of about 1700 members, today, the strength of Chartered Accountant fraternity has grown to over 2.85 lakh members. On the education front, the ICAI began with mere 259 students and today more than 8.20 lakh active students are a part of ICAI.

  1. Members of ICSI:

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has on its rolls more than 55,000 members including 9,000 members holding certificate of the practice. The number of current students is over 4, 70,000.

The Institute beheld the inauguration of its Golden Jubilee Year by the gracious hands of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi along with the presence of other dignitaries on October 4, 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

  1. Opportunity for Chartered Accountants:

If you become a Chartered Accountant, you may either work as an employee in a company or start your own professional services by opening/joining a CA firm. A Chartered Accountant in practice may be appointed as an internal or statutory auditor in a company. The CA Institute has also tie ups with various foreign professional bodies, aspirants can also find employment outside India.

  1. Opportunity for Company Secretaries:

A CS Final qualified candidate may be appointed to work as a Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) in a company. Every listed company and every other public company having a paid-up share capital of ?10 crores or more shall have whole-time key managerial personnel. Whereas, a company not having KMP but has a paid-up share capital of ?5 crores or more shall have a whole-time company secretary. You may read section 205 of the Companies Act, 2013 to know the function of company secretary.

A company secretary, as similar to Chartered Accountant, can start his/her own practice. A Company Secretary in practice may start consultancy services for companies, banks and financial institutions etc.