Congratulations, Young Chartered Accountants!

First off, a big congratulations on adding those two prestigious letters—CA—to your name! It’s a milestone worth celebrating, and you’ve certainly made yourself and your loved ones proud.

Now, as you stand at the threshold of your career, I can see two strong emotions in your eyes: the confidence of a promising future and the inevitable nervousness about the upcoming campus placements. With around 20,000 fresh CAs in this attempt and close to 12,000 participating in campus interviews across India, a bit of nervousness is natural. But let’s not stress too much—your future is bright, and the right opportunity is just around the corner.

Advice on Career Path to Becoming a CFO

As you embark on this journey, here’s some advice to help you shape your career with the ultimate goal of becoming a CFO:

Choosing Job Roles and Industries:

• Start with the Basics: Begin your career in audit, financial analysis, or accounting roles to solidify your understanding of financial principles. If your articleship included audit experience, that foundation is already set.
• Diversify Your Industry Experience: Don’t limit yourself to one sector. Work in various industries like manufacturing, FMCG, technology, and financial services to gain a broad perspective.
• Focus on Core Finance Roles: Prioritize roles in financial planning & analysis (FP&A), treasury, and corporate finance. These are essential stepping stones to the CFO role.
• Move to Strategic Roles Early: Around the 7-10 year mark, shift into strategic positions like financial controller or head of finance. This is where you start making big-picture decisions.
• Get International Exposure: Experience in different geographies will be invaluable. Understanding global practices and cultural nuances can set you apart as a future global finance leader.
• Embrace Operational Roles Mid-Career: Take on roles in operational management, mergers & acquisitions, or risk management once you have about 5+ years of experience. These roles will broaden your business perspective.
• Aim for Leadership: By the 12-15 year mark, strive to lead a finance team. This is when you start shaping not just your career, but the careers of those around you.

Number of Stints:

• Early Career (0-5 years): Aim for 2-3 stints in different companies or roles, changing every 18-24 months. This helps build a broad base of experience.
• Mid-Career (5-12 years): Opt for 2-3 longer stints, focusing on strategic and leadership roles. A role change every 24-36 months is typical.
• Later Career (12-18 years): Settle into 1-2 senior finance leadership roles, preparing for the CFO position.

Geographical Exposure:

• Start Local (0-7 years): Build your initial experience in your home country to understand local market dynamics.
• Go Global (7-12 years): Pursue opportunities in different regions or take on roles managing international finance operations.
• Take Global Leadership (12-18 years): Aim for roles that involve managing finance across multiple countries or continents.

Best of Luck to you: CA Khushbu Gupta Preeti Aswani CA Rishita Sharma CA Sail Zagade Divya Goyal CA Amatullah Hussain Pooja Agarwal CA Pragya Salecha CA Riya Singh CA Tanmay Gupta Devshankar Sahu Vishakha Hasrajani Surbhi Jain CA Janvi Kuruwa Siddesh Shankar Palak Sadhwani Jay Machchhar CA Priyal Dhariwal Dhruv Modi CA Sumit Patel Shreya Salian Suyog Narvekar Prasad Deshmukh CA Sunita Sahu Hrudyesh Pankhania WIRC WICASA