This article is written by Yash Kapadia. This article enlists the career opportunities available for Indian Chartered Accountants in the United States of America in order to expand their scope and area of work beyond geographical boundaries.  

Introduction

Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) are known as Chartered Accountants (CA). In a bare-bones version, a CA is a professional who has successfully qualified the prescribed examinations by the governing body i.e. ICAI and 36 months of practical training or by availing themselves of exemptions under mutual recognition agreement.

Turning our focus to the United States, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a professional who has passed the CPA examination administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and fulfilled all of the education and work experience requirements associated with taking the exam. This certificate is well-renowned and respected across the globe for a professional who is competent in US accounting and is further able to successfully perform auditing and taxation tasks that other professionals are not allowed to do in the US.

A lot of work of CPA and CA are common i.e. both these professionals focus on providing financial services for their clients which are either personal, small businesses or large corporations. Both these certifications of study include being experts in auditing, taxation, financial reporting and/ or business/managerial accounting. A CA, as well as a CPA, can work in the public and private sectors.

However, if one ever plans on working with a company that is on the US market, even if it has offices based in the US and India, or even foresees the need to understand the US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in addition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), one should consider getting the CPA in addition to the CA. It would be increasing the scope of work beyond one’s geographical boundaries. We can therefore vouch that there are abundant job prospects that can be explored by a CA in the United States.

Job prospects of an Indian CA in the United States 

As understood, Chartered Accountants in India have an exposure of advising on matters relating to accounting, financial statements, audit of various institutions, and financial matters.

Apart from these core jobs, a chartered accountant can be involved in the following: 

• Forensic audit 
• Financial planning 
• Corporate finance 

CAs can also work within the accounts, audit, finance departments of multinational companies or with a country’s central banks or even international banks. 

In the United States, the process of becoming a CPA is long and needs to be perused carefully.¹ A CPA’s scope of work includes being well conversant with: 

• US GAAP;
• US federal income tax;
• US accounting and financial law;
• US auditing. 

There are unexplored doors that open once a CA has cleared the required CPA examinations.² There is a wide range of career opportunities that are then available to Indian CAs and exploit the skills they have been learning once they become licensed accountants. 

Career opportunities for CAs

There are widespread opportunities for CAs in India that can be used for international work.³ These opportunities are perhaps not limited to India but also available in the United States of America, which is home to some of the largest companies on planet.⁴ 

1. US public accounting firms

There are more than 1,38,000 accounting firms in the United States⁵. KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PwC are the biggest public accounting firms that are operative in the US. Indian CAs already working at the Indian offices of these firms are focusing on customers of every ticket size and have a bright career opportunity to shift their base as well as work jurisdiction to the US for specific matters. The work involved in such firms would range from cross-border financial auditing, taxations and further involvement of financial managers and auditors in mergers, acquisitions, de-mergers and various corporate transactions. 

2. Financial advisors

Financial advisors are one of the most upcoming areas of the profession that have had a great rise post the COVID-19 pandemic. Any CA with significant experience or knowledge about the financial world and economy of the US can be qualified to provide his expertise by advising his clients on various transactions. These transactions can vary with respect to a client who might be a retail investor, angel investor or a corporation looking to acquire certain US-based startups. On this account, an Indian CA can also help people in the US to invest in India with a demonstrated hands-on experience in the Indian market. Therefore, Indian CAs can now advise Indians to make their monetary decisions, handling the fiscal concerns, retirement planning and even college savings needed for the kids going to the US and vice versa thereby increasing the scope and nature of one’s work. 

3. Government, businesses, non-profits

Indian CAs with a CPA certification can be termed as licensed accountants and therefore be employed as financial accountants, financial analysts, staff accountants to the CFO’s office. A person in this position ensures the financial reporting reflects the transactions of the business according to GAAP. The position manages areas of finance such as account payable, account receivables, treasury, fixed assets, and customs including foreign trade zone data and filing. The position reports directly to the CFO.

4. Major Companies as In-house 

The role of accountants, finance managers, analysts, risk compliance associates can be spread across various divisions of monolith companies like Amazon, Google. An Indian CA possessing the perfect skillset can land a job in any of the departments. 

For example, for the role of a Finance Manager at Samsung, USA, these would be the following responsibilities:⁶ 

• Responsible for month-end closing including all reporting to the CFO and within the system.
• Responsible for quarterly and year end reporting.
• Assisting in external and internal auditors.
• Ensuring accurate financial statements.

Another example, for the role of an Accounts Manager at Samsung, USA the following are the responsibilities:

• Managing and approving the processing of invoices along with the investigation of past due invoices
• Overseeing and approving weekly payment runs.
• Administrating the process of new vendors.
• Identifying cost reduction opportunities with new vendors.
• Taking responsibility for approvals of daily cash, manual checks, cash transfers between accounts and cash forecasting.
• Overseeing the application and filing of governmental incentives for the company.

5. Consultants for US startup ecosystem

A position of a Finance or Accounting Manager in the Mergers & Acquisition⁷ department at a tech-giant like Google would include evaluating any Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) opportunities. The M&A Finance team plays an extremely critical role in providing the tool kit for making sound business decisions. Working in close partnership with legal, corporate development and people operations, a professional with a strong accounting background provides the financial analysis, forecasts and models to help decision-makers assess the strengths and risks involved in a given acquisition opportunity. As part of this team, one does not only need to have a strong finance and accounting background, but one can additionally use and exploit this knowledge to navigate even more complex financial issues to find creative solutions that in turn help the company or institution. 

This exact same strategy can be applied while applying to a startup in the US for a job as a finance or account manager or associate and helping them navigate and grow to their potential whilst also learning the managerial aspects of being part of a growing company. A CA can approach these startups which are in their funding stage through sites like Y-Combinator and further provide freelance remote services through freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and PeoplePerHour. 

6. International Tax Consultants

Indian CAs who have worthwhile experience of providing their professional services to international clients can pave their way through the borders of the US and act as international tax consultants for private companies, single entities and corporations. With increasing cross-border transactions happening there is definitely an increase in the demand of CAs who have the required skills. Skills like calculating and taking care of tax credit (national and international) of companies and corporations, compliance-related work for opening liaison offices for other organizations, looking over foreign remittances, will lead to an increase in the demand for professional experts in the field of international tax. Even if not independently, a certain set of CAs prefer to work within the International tax or audit departments of one of the public accountancy firms mentioned above.  

7. Wealth Managers

Wealth management is a sector where professional services offered to every client are combined and a mixture of financial and investment advice, accounting and tax services, and retirement planning at a pre-decided fee. All in all, it is probably a bucket where a client’s funds are handled and taken care of as per their financial goals and expectations in the best of their interests. Chartered accountants can choose to work with private or government entities or offer their expertise only for an individual as such. CAs have a history of studying and detailing the finances and investments of their clients.

Conclusion

Through this article, what we derive is that there are abundant international opportunities in the US that are waiting for CAs with a specific set of skills. Appearing and passing the CPA exams which then bolster the salary packages and exposure to different fields of accounts and finance will lead to even better growth. Being part of corporate transactions like mergers and acquisitions whilst working as in-house managers is another area and sector of opportunities waiting for a CA. 

The roles and responsibilities enlisted are in real-time and can all be acquired through some sort of reading, researching markets and rigorous learning. A lot of knowledge can, in today’s times, be acquired through webinars or even a boot camp.

Join us for an exclusive 3-day boot camp on – International Opportunities for Chartered Accountants / Company Secretaries in US Corporate Law from 9th to 11th October, 6-9PM.
Click here to register.

References

1. Indian CA for US CPA Exam: What’s the Benefit? How to Do It? 
2. Everything you need to know about the CPA Exam 
3. 7 Seven Areas Where Scope of CA is Rising in India 
4. Career Scope & Benefits of US CPA Studies for CA Students 
5. The Top 10 Accounting Firms In The US [UPDATED 2021] 
6. https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=AOaemvKl2jW6hr6TiIoqm3pBo_TFMfk8Ng:1633437702507&q=cpa+jobs+usa&spell=1&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=625&dpr=1&ibp=htl;jobs&ved=2ahUKEwibwbbWpbPzAhWizDgGHa2EC5EQudcGKAJ6BAgSECs&sxsrf=AOaemvJzrjEm2xzeiKncDMQjMau7bUtPuw:1633437715645#fpstate=tldetail&htivrt=jobs&htidocid=l3htGkhIjfVl5xx9AAAAAA%3D%3D 

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