Average Salary for a Employed Qualified CA is between 7–8 Lacs. But the Standard Deviation is quite high ranging from Rs. 76 Lacs to Rs. 4 Lacs.
PRACTICE
In case the CA opts for practicing with his own firm. The scope is almost unlimited.
For instance the firm D. B. Desai & Co. which is one of the largest firm in India was started by one person Mr. D. B. Desai & the firm clocks more than Rs. 100 Crs. annually.
But yeah there are other problems is it like the High Gestation Period, Having references to get initial work & Fear of Failing. There are hundreds of firm which die a slow death if they don't get clients in the initial years.
JOB
Primarily there are two modes of Recruitment in CA -
1) Campus Interviews - This offers the cream placements for Non-Rankers. The process is pretty straight forward. But, the problem is that not even 20% of the registered candidates secure a job through Campus.
2) Off-Campus Interviews - Most CAs get recruited through this mode. But, this is dis-organised & biased towards people with the right mindset & networking skills. You can read in detail about this here.
1) EY/Delloite/PWC/KPMG/Grand Thorton - Rs. 6–8.5 Lacs - They hire the maximum number of CA freshers. They have the benefit of good exposure, better salary increments & more challenging work. But you should be prepared for the work pressure, late nighters, low salary as compared to industry and really low Job Satisfaction. Each department deserves a special mention. The salary they pay in all departments is almost similar but the work & career prospects are completely different.
Audit - This is where bulk of CA Freshers enter.
Direct Tax - They recruit less people in Direct Tax.
Indirect Tax - Given that GST has been implemented, Big 4s have stepped up hiring in Indirect Taxes.
Transfer Pricing - This is a niche field. But the problem with such specialization is you have less options to switch in future if you don't like this field. So enter Transfer Pricing only if you are really aware of what you're getting into.
Merger & Acquisition - The work here is the most exciting of all departments. This department isn't that rosy as it's shown. Don't expect anything similar to Investment Banking. CAs generally get hired in Tax related aspect of M&A or for Due diligence of financials in M&A which has less scope in the future. Getting into Valuations, Financial Modelling & Front facing M&A requires you both a Rank & and a prior work experience.
Shared Services - This is the offsore outsourcing arm of Big 4s where they handle work of clients from UK & US. The quality of life here is the best but there's less scope of intellectual growth. It's not recommended to join them.
It is advisable to start your career with a Big 4 given the quality of Exposure & Clients you get to handle. They are the safe bets.
2) Marico/BCG/ABG/HUL/P&G/McKinney/RB - Rs. 15–28 Lacs - These companies calls only Rankers for an Interview and offer something called a “Dream Job”. Getting an opportunity to Interview for them is the best perk of being a Ranker. Most of them hire CAs as Management Trainee placing them on 6 Months Stint at various Location / Department for 2 years. And then you choose, which department you want to work for.
For Instance : Marico has a Sales stint of 6 month where you literally sell FMCG product to whole sellers & P&G has a Graduation Ceremony in USA after 2 years.
3) Airtel/ITC/Yes Bank/JP Morgan/Trident/Pepsico - Rs. 22–18 Lacs - These companies recruit candidates mainly through campus for specific roles. The Starting Salary given is quite lucrative but join them only if they you are really interested in the specific domain.
For Instance: ITC hires just for the Internal Audit profile & some for Finance profiles too.
4) Olam/Tolaram/Mount Meru - Rs. 76–20 Lacs - They recruit only through ICAI Campus for Africa, specially Nigeria. Although the CTC they offer seems to be hefty, the Cash Component is quite low & add to it the risk of loosing your life at Nigeria. From the 3 companies, only Olam International is worth joining.
For Instance: Olam International has a CTC of Rs. 76 Lacs which includes Rs. 30 Lacs just for the Accommodation & Car. The cash component is around Rs. 35 Lacs (which is still a lot for a fresher!).
4) PSUs like BPCL, Coal India, ONGC, HPCL, IOCL, Oil India, REC, BSNL - Rs. 9–18 Lacs - These companies shortlist candidates in the Campus on basis of Marks (55% or 60%) and then it depends on how your interview goes. Well like with every PSU, the starting package in good but the annual increment (3% only!) is miserable & the in hand cash component is also quite low. Not advisable for a fresher unless you are looking for a good work life balance. You can always opt for PSUs paying high packages. Stay away from the ones which pay pretty low.
For instance, BPCL has a package of Rs. 16 Lacs which will be revised to Rs. 19 Lacs after Pay revision.
5) Goldman Sacs/Barclays/Standard Chartered - Rs. 8–10 Lacs - These companies recruit either On campus or Off campus generally for a Bank End role such as Product Control, Legal Entity Control etc. (Non-Investment Banking Profiles). For people who are really desperate to get into Finance, this is one of the few options to do something close to IB (along with M&A from a Big 4). But don't expect any Front office roles from them!
6) Tata/Reliance/Vedanta/Kesoram/MRF - Rs. 7–11 Lacs - These companies also recruit through campus. Good companies to start your career with if you want to enter the specific industry. But be prepared to face a monotonous work load.
7) Infosys/Wipro/TCS - Rs. 7–10 Lacs - IT companies have less work pressure with good work life balance. It’s not advisable to start your career with them considering the fact that there won’t be much knowledge up gradation.
8) Kotak Mahindra/ICICI/PNB & Other Banks - Rs. 6 - 9 Lacs - Banks recruit a lot of chartered Accountant for a lot of roles like Front End (Relationship Management), Credit Rating, Treasury, Audit & Accounts. One thing to consider before accepting the offer is to read the Job Description carefully due to inconsistency in naming Job Profiles, because Treasure Manger in Kotak Mahindra will be a lot different from Treasury Manager in PNB.
9) Indian CA Firms - Desai Haribhakti, Singhi & Co. R Kothari & many more - Rs. 4 - 8 Lacs - There are a lot of CA firms which also hires candidates for same profiles as that of Big 4s.