Accounting Certifications

Time is ticking for students and working individuals of finance and accounting to hone for a more professional approach (US CMA or US CPA ) by breaking the cocoon of their academic acumen. In line with the continuous changes happening in the style of management, culture, technology and work environment, conventional accounting processes are vulnerable to the threat of future viability. There are three major confrontations which one has to overcome, namely, the attraction towards the field, relevance in the job market and finally the challenge of changing scenario. Let’s discuss the pitfalls and how to tackle the challenges.

A. The Attraction

This incorporates the fact that selection of accountancy as major subject is still less than the desired number of accountants to take it up professionally. The diminishing career choice of accountancy over other career paths can be a threat to the supply line of competent accountants in future.

B. The Relevance

This is associated with with the myth that accountants are in less demand because of the integration of automation and technological infiltrations. Relevance is obviously there if the accountants have required upgraded professional skill and competence.

C. The Threat of Change

This is the most crucial challenge that deals with the notion that conventional accountants will become obsolete due to changing economic changes, hence, need to be continuously updated. It means that having a highest academic degree in accounting may not be “future proof” as long as job availability and security is concerned. These three confrontations result in a transference in academic path and career options towards the domain of professional accounting.

How to tackle these challenges: The following steps can be explored

1. Creation of Accounting Space

The most important step is the transformation from accountant by academic degree to the accountant by professional skills and training Such transformation is vital to open the door of a larger field of employment not only in the strategic management accounting and financial expertise in the arena of public practice too. This creates the space for professional accountants to remain relevant for employment in future.

2.   Capsizing the Model

It is evident that emphasizing more on theoretical accounting knowledge in our academic curriculum has created shortage of business skills and talents. This is more important than the technical skills alone to develop shortage of professional accountants. Incorporation of professional accounting courses in our academic curriculum can be effective to meet up this gap.

3.   Breaking the Border

This can be achieved by encouraging the students to cross the border of narrower academic degree towards the broader spectrum of professional certification in addition.

4.  Utility of Professional Courses

To combat the challenges in the backdrop, it is essential for the academic accountants to not to rely on decade old repetitive tasks only. Having a basic academic qualification in accounting may not suffice to compete in the ongoing challenging work scenarios. Hence, until unless application based skills and knowledges are integrated in the academic programs this conflict remains. Thus, it is wise and advisable to grab a professional certification which are  of increasing demand in various organizations i.e. from service to manufacturing industries, from private to public sectors as well as in MNCs in India and abroad. So, the gist of the above discussion suggest one to be an internationally recognized professional accountant.

5.  Actions required to be “Future-Proof”

Based on above fact, the present and would be accountants need to upgrade themselves. Instead of automated repetitive task based jobs, the need of the hour is to pursue some international professional courses in accounting and finance. Two of such courses are listed below.

a)      US CMA Course

The Certified Management Accountant(CMA) is a professional certification in the management accounting and financial management field conducted by IMA. This certification signifies that US CMA holders possesses knowledge at the areas of financial planning, analysis, control, decision support and professional ethics.

b)      US CPA course

The Certified Public Accountant(CPA) course is one of the top most accounting qualification in the world conducted by AICPA,USA. The US CPA mire or less equivalent to Indian CAs but having global credibility. So, if you wish to fast track your international career in accounting field, with inclination towards internal auditing, the CPA US course for you.

Summary

To sum up, as 2022 is knocking the door, the industry is getting more dependent on Artificial Intelligence(AI) based repetitive accounting jobs, threat of job -cuts for conventional accountants will be on the rise. To get rid of this, you have to break the shackle and cope with the challenging situations of globalisation. Hope, you understand the worth of being a Professional Accountant of International level to win over the situation.

Choose the best US CPA and US CMA institute in India, Africa, and Middle East – Uplift Pro

Uplift Pro is one of the top training institutes for the US CMA, US CPA US CIA courses in India, Africa, and Middle East. Uplift Pro is also an Indian partner of GLEIM, US and an IMA US authorized CMA US study center. Our team consists of seasoned professionals and entrepreneurs from IIEST, IITs, London Business School, and ULCA who have decided to provide a strong backup to young ambitious students and professionals to reach their desired career destinations in an organized way.

Some of the exclusive features include –

A. Authorized partner of IMA and Gleim in India

B. High pass rate of 85 %

C. Live online classes ensuring that the regular office working hours is least impacted

D. 1:1 personal support from our 30 plus years of experienced CMA and CPA certified faculties

E. Affordable course fees

F. “Till you pass” guarantee assuring that you may attend our live online classes at no extra cost until you pass

G. 100 % placement assistance for jobs

Request for Live Demo class / contact at +91-8787088850 to book your seats now. 

In Indian scenario, CA(Chartered Accountant) is a coveted accounting credential and most sought after career path for a student having a commerce background with a zeal to be the highest order of accounting professional.

But the journey of a CA is not that smooth due to various reasons as discussed below.

1)Duration

The CA course is on average 4.5 years but majority of the students used to take much longer period to finish it. Eventually, this is the reason why so many drop out happens in the midway.

2) Pass rate

In spite of the glamour associated with CA as a career, the low pass percentage is another main reason to finally end with much lesser number of professionals.

3) Exam pattern

Mere cracking the CPT does not yield a guarantee a degree. A large number of students struggle to clear both. groups at the IPCC level in a single attempt.

4) Elaborate syllabus

Due to the vastness of the syllabus, the course appears to be a complex game. Difficulty to crossover increases at each and every level to ultimate toughness.

5) Challenges during articleship

Students need to complete 3 years of articleship by working either under a licensed CA or an authorized CA firm.This has utmost importance providing practical knowledge and industry experience. To get selected in a good firm is a challenge, this with poor stipend and feed back system creates a disgusting situation for budding CAs.

6) Placement system

Apart from the firm of articleship, ICAI offers company placements but the job scenario is undergoing stagnant in India. 
Although it is quite evident that CA is a good career option in India, where a CA has authoritative knowledge and skill over Indian taxation, accounting and regulatory norms but is it enough to reign in the global financial sector? Probably not.

It is time to reconsider other options too beyond CA.There are multiple career options available with global recognition in the field of business and finance. Globalization has brought drastic changes in the requirement of companies. 

A CA with a global certification in finance like CA with CMA US or CA with CPA US or CA with CIA US has clear edge over only CAs. 

Now the companies expect a job aspirant should understand and evaluate global financial reporting requirements and acclimatize to the evolving burden of constant changes and updates in the industry. Hence people even after completing the CA isn’t stopping now. 

Moreover, the difficulty of clearing the CA exam and the time investment along with the crunched job prospects in global market  generates a lot of frustration among aspiring CAs.

Hence, it is high time to embrace the newly available alternative career goals, with or without a CA, to achieve your dream in accounts and finance:

A) US CPA course: It is the highest accounting qualification in USA, just like CA in India. This certification is accepted globally including India. MNCs working in diverse geo-locations prefer CPAs than CAs where the former can also set up individual practise in USA. The CPA designation is 100% worth for those who have plan to build long term career in accounting platform. A lot of CAs are also pursuing CPA to get a job in MNCs.

B) US CMA course: This is another global certification and also applicable for India with higher job potential. If you want to be a part of corporate finance, performance arrangements, internal controls, decision analysis, financial reporting, strategic planning and organizational management in finance, go for this course.If you plan for the future, enroll for US CMA course. CMA syllabus is more focused and specific in contrast to the vast syllabus of CA.

C) US CIA course: People working in the domain of Internal Audit must go for this course. Till today mostly CAs perform the internal audit and compliance job in companies. Hence CAs with this particular job profile aspire to go global by being a CIA US.

While CA course takes about 5 years and Indian CMA takes 3 years to complete, both US CMA, CPA or CIA courses can be completed by 1 year only.

So take your decision judiciously, bring innovation, break the cocoon of being a CA only and grab the new opportunities as early as possible.
For guidance and help regarding US financial courses contact:
http://www.upliftprofessionals.in/CPA

The world has gone into a lockdown owing to the unprecedented rise of the epidemic. Due to this reason, people are bound to confine themselves to their homes. While it is a hard time to stay back at home, we cannot ignore our studies and daily activities.

If you have been preparing for a professional accounting exam like the CPA examination or the CMA US examination at this time, you need to introduce some changes in your lifestyle and thought process so that you can focus properly.

Before the epidemic, students would have gone to the training center or study at the library if they wanted a change in the environment. But, with the lockdown and quarantine days, the entire scenario has changed.

We have to readjust the new normal and under such a circumstance, studying at or being mentored by an expert in live online mode seems to be the only alternative to make the best preparations for the examination.

Here is a list of the steps you need to follow if you want to make the best preparations for the CPA, CMA or CIA study during the lockdown. Take a look!

Say no to distractions

If you want to create a perfect working environment without any distraction, you should make sure to keep the headphones as well as the music of your choice ready. Instrumental music plays an integral role in blocking unwanted noise and thus it is possible to concentrate more on your studies.

Few people love to experiment with various genres of music to develop the study environment for you. Social media might also waste a lot of time. You might begin by checking the notifications and after an hour, you might be watching YouTube videos.

You need to find certain ways of limiting access to social media. It is a must to resist the temptation and say no to social media while studying.

Create a cleaner and better study space

It is necessary to create a cleaner study space to boost your productivity. In this aspect, you can consider placing a study table in the bedroom so that you can mark the workspace out. Besides this, you should try to set boundaries.

Avoid unnecessary calls, extra messaging, so that you can
give more focus on studying. If your dining table is the study space, you should make sure that you are the only one using it for studying. Besides this, you should make sure to de-clutter the space so that you can give more space to your studies.

Management of time

It is a prerequisite to understand that various tasks need unique concentration levels. It is easy to watch a video, as compared to taking notes or going through a complicated text over and again. Moreover, many people consider watching videos regularly for revising the concepts that
have been completed earlier.

Apart from this, you should make sure to go over the parts of the CPA or CMA or CIA examination section which are harder and which were more challenging to understand. In this aspect, you should ensure to divide the work into different time slots. Do not forget to take breaks regularly and make the best use of your time.

Other than this, you might give a call to your colleagues and friends who are making preparations for the CPA or CMA examination. However, you should make sure not to spend too much time on calls as it might waste a lot of time. You should ensure to set a specific time for studying daily.

Let others at home that you are busy

It is crucial to let the other family members know that the particular time of the study is blocked for studying. Thus, you will procure the prerequisite time for studying, and thus you can be assured that you will not get any disturbance while studying.

Setting realistic goals

You should not waste valuable study time only for taking a break or talking to someone over the call. You cannot go to a restaurant for a meal or a walk into the park owing to which you might feel like talking over the calls more.

Thus, there are higher chances of distractions such as TV or phone and they might be more appealing to you.

It might appear to you that there is sufficient time at hand but the truth is that you are running out of time. It is not recommended to put the recorded lectured in the watch later section.

Thus, it is a prerequisite to devise a proper study plan, and setting realistic goals happen to be an indispensable part of that. As you set realistic goals, it will be useful to ensure that you are making the best use of time and boosting your productivity.

Use of flashcards

Flashcards are recognized to be vital study tools that lend a helping hand to learn new materials. They are also known to be an excellent choice to go over the mnemonics, terms, and summaries, which are challenging to remember.

You can ask the other members of your family to create the flashcards. Flashcards are playing an integral role in promoting learning via active recall.

It is considered to be a participatory style of learning in which the candidate, preparing for CPA, CMA or CIA examination can be effectively engaged and involved with the material. It is a great alternative for the students and allows them to make effective preparations for the examination.

Smart Reading

It is a must to ready smartly for making the best preparations for the examination. In light of this, you need to highlight the crucial ideas and primarily the ones which are completely new. In addition to assisting in memorizing faster, it is also helpful in making the revisions easy.

Uplift PRO is one of the premium training centres offering premium study materials and “Till you pass training” for the CPA, CMA, CIA examination. You may knock them at www.upliftprofessionals.in for a no-nonsense premium study experience for the prestigious professional accounting certifications.