Call for parity between CA certificate and M.Com.

Call for parity between CA certificate and MCom
The Telegraph

Basant Kumar Mohanty

New Delhi, Sept. 24: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has demanded that the Chartered Accountancy certificate be treated as equivalent to an MCom degree to improve the best chartered accountants' chances of teaching or going into research.

The Union human resource development ministry has decided to set up a committee of academics to examine the demand, which for now appears to have divided educationists.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) does not meet the definition of a university, as contained in the University Grants Commission Act. It's a statutory body set up by Parliament to regulate the profession of chartered accountancy in India.

According to the act, degrees can be awarded only by universities, which are set up by Parliament or state legislatures, and deemed universities.

An ICAI official said that 106 universities did recognise the CA course as equivalent to an MCom programme and allowed CA certificate holders to pursue PhD courses.

The Association of Indian Universities, set up by the universities to decide on equivalence, such as between Indian degrees and foreign certificates, too considers the CA certificate as the equivalent of an MCom, the official said.

But the University Grants Commission, the higher education regulator, refuses to accept this, prompting the majority of universities too to take the same stand.

A commission official explained: "If a certificate granted by an institution other than a university is treated as equivalent to a degree, the sanctity of the university system will be at stake."

Some 15,000 students are awarded the CA certificate every year which allows them to practise as chartered accountants. But those who prefer teaching or research find their options restricted.

Ministry officials said that many certificate courses are indeed accepted as equivalent to master's programmes.

Under the ministry's instructions, the Association of Indian Universities has granted such equivalence to the diploma courses offered by the Indian Institutes of Management and some other institutions, such as the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

R.K. Chauhan, vice-chancellor of the Haryana-based Lingaya's University and former University Grants Commission secretary, opposed the ICIA proposal on the ground that "many little-known institutions may demand such equivalence in future".

But he agreed that the CA course was as rigorous as a degree programme and suggested the government "come up with a mechanism to enable the ICAI and other such deserving institutions to award degrees".

Educationist and legal luminary N.R. Madhava Menon supported the ICIA proposal. "Equivalence is not the same as recognition as a degree; it only means that a particular certificate is treated as equal to a degree for a specific purpose. There's nothing wrong in awarding equivalence in deserving cases," he said.

An ICAI official said the CA course had three stages: foundation level, intermediate level and final level. Students who have cleared Class XII can take up the four-paper foundation level, after completing which they are promoted to the seven-paper intermediate level.

Commerce graduates with 55 per cent marks and other graduates with 60 per cent marks can secure direct admission to the intermediate level. The final level has eight papers.

The ICAI has also demanded that Class XII graduates who secure admission to the foundation level should, after clearing the intermediate level, be treated as equivalent to BCom degree holders.