An interview with S. M. Sundaram, Chief Financial Officer, Cybernet Software Systems Pvt. Ltd, Chennai.

How do the CA and CFA differ as a field of qualification?

A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) is completely different from a Chartered Accountants (CA) or any other course. There are people who despite of completing their CA and Cost and Works Accounts (CWA) have found this course difficult. This could probably be because that in CFA you have to get a minimum of 45 percent in each paper and a total aggregate of 55 percent, and what makes it more difficult is that there are only two papers in this course. In CA you can afford to take things a little easy and make up the necessary aggregate. The question paper covers nearly 90 percent of the syllabus, as the paper is structured in such a manner that it includes objective, descriptive and analytical type of questions, so somewhere or the other the syllabus is included. A CFA student has to clear all the three levels, preliminary, intermediate and the final, as against only the intermediate and final level in the case of a CA. This helps us to cover a vast portion of the syllabus. Since we focus on a particular topic at times such as - investment management, financial accounting etc., to name a few that it benefits the individual and definitely a value addition.

How important is hands on experience in this area?

One aspect where CA scores over CFA is the practical experience, which it imparts in terms through articleship. Reading a book and writing an exam is not adequate to learn something. Apart from a theoretical knowledge, one also needs the practical knowledge that helps an individual perform better.

How important is it to attend classes and what about all these private tuitions that are springing up?

Personally I never attended classes at any coaching institute, but I have taught at the CA institute. Definitely a classroom does discipline the preparation, ultimately it depends on how serious the student is actually about the profession. In the case of private coaching classes, I feel that the choice is up to the student. From a student's point of view, if he feels that going for coaching for a particular subject is going to help him then he will attend it.

What are the job opportunities available for a CFA and a CA in this industry?

CFA is more perceived as a course aimed towards corporate finance and financial investments. There is a greater demand for accountant professionals than financial analysts. Therefore in an organization the CA's outnumber the people handling finance areas like treasury operations, corporate finance and project evaluation by the ratio of 5:1 and even 10:1. the additional advantage is that a CA can go into a private practise or join a specialized accounting firm after a few years of experience. They have job opportunities, both in the industry as well as in specialized accountancy firms and as private practioners.

A qualified CFA candidate can also become either a financial analyst or an independent investment consultant. A CA will compete only with another CA, but in the case of CFA he will be competing with the non- CFAs who will be practicing. I feel that CFA will be most profitable in combination with some other degree, by this I am not discounting any CFA stand alones. Maybe, a CFA along with an MBA will have more opportunities in this industry. CFA is more of a value addition degree which channels your knowledge and it is more focussed and is a value addition to your skill sets. Maybe, a CFA along with an MBA will have more opportunities in the industry. A two-year CFA/MBA integrated program is being offered by ICFAI institutes in various cities.

Does doing a CFA give you any added advantage in the job market?

At an entry level CFA as an additional qualification does give you an added edge. I believe that any qualification is a certification of your calibre. It speaks of what your capabilities are and what responsibility you can handle. Down the years it is your experience and your track record, which becomes the parameter for your evaluation.

The software industry is right now the most happening field, what are the opportunities available for these professionals here?

In the software industry the opportunities are two fold. One, in this industry there is and will be a demand for accounts and finance people. The second and the more recent area is that of consultants, who interface with the technical team and the clients. These consultants facilitate effective communication between the technical team and the client. Finance professionals with their grounding in information technology will be ideally suited for this industry. They liaison with the clients, fully comprehend their business requirements, review the contract, analyse and evaluate the project.

With these new opportunities emerging are the traditional financial and accounting posts becoming less attractive?

These jobs that I mentioned are relatively new, the job content is very different and there is a lot of variety available in this kind of a job. For the first time a financial executive is interacting directly with the clients. It gives him the opportunity to be seen in commercial roles due to their orientation of work with different clients. A traditional financial and accounting job does not offer this option. These are the various aspects, which make this job attractive.

However, the more traditional jobs will not diminish either in number or importance due to these new opportunities. It is just that new types of jobs are coming up for the old time financial and accounting executive.

What are the opportunities available for these professionals overseas?

Indian Financial and Accounting people do have opportunities in the Gulf and the South East Asian countries, however in the West, our degrees are not recognised. In US, and Europe, a CPA or CMA, is preferred for Accounting and related professions. Though there are equivalence tests that often make Indian professional CFA very sought after in UK.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN