Career and Scope After B.Com

B. Com is a bachelor of commerce with knowledge of accounts and finance. After B. Com, one can pursue a career in courses like Masters of Commerce followed by a Ph.D. in a particular subject or Master of Business Administration, Certified Public Accountant, actuarial science, certified accounts course, banking sector, Chartered Financial Analyst, or Financial Risk Manager.

Graduation is an important step in your career. But if you have a little idea about what is going on in the market, then only graduation is not all. Yes, we are talking about your B. Com. You chose B. Com because you feel that you incline in business and commerce and, to be precise, accounting. But do you think completing your B. Com will give you an edge in accounting or business? You know that, right? Unfortunately, completing B. Com with a great score will not ensure success in an accounting career. You need to think farther, and you need to be on your edge.

This article will discuss the nitty-gritty of what you can do after B.Com. We will discuss the right time to consider your higher education, the career options you can choose, and how you can take the first steps.

Hang tight. You will overview everything you need to think about after B. Com.

You may wonder what would be the right time to think about B. Com. The right time is not after B. Com. Rather it would help if you contemplated your higher education during the last year of your B. Com.

Most students make the mistake of thinking about B. Com only when pursuing it. It would be best if you thought further. As the market is shifting, thousands of new jobs are being invented every five years. You will be behind if you do not know what to do after completing your B. Com. Moreover, you will often make the wrong decisions when you decide in haste.

So, before you give your final exam, sit with yourself. Do some research! Think about the possible career options you can choose and which go with your career goals. If you need guidance, talk to your parents and take the help of your teachers and professors. At this point, you don’t need to stick to one end. But you should at least consider your career after B. Com.

Choose a few, set them aside, and then concentrate on your B. Com (final year) studies. Rest you can think after giving your B. Com (final) exam.

1. Chartered Accountant (CA)
2. MBA in Finance
3. M.Com
4. Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI)
5. Company Secretary (CS)
6. Certified Management Accountant (CMA)
7. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
8. Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Further, we will discuss each of them in detail.

These are common career choices or going with the crowd. However, we strongly recommend that you give a due thought before enrolling in any of these courses. No, it is not about money; it is about your career, and you should not squander the first few years of it by making poor choices.

Most Common Careers After Completing B.Com

Chartered Accountant is the most popular and common opportunity after passing B. Com. Rather many students pursue Chartered Accountancy along with their B.Com. But if you enroll yourself after completing B. Com, you do not need to sit for the entry-level exam, i.e., CPT (Common Proficiency Test) subject to have at least 55% in the B. Com. You can also enroll for CA after doing any graduation, but in that case, you need to have 60% in the graduation. Before enrolling in this course, think through a few things: -

• First of all, this is not the course for the faint-hearted. Ask yourself- Am I ready to put in at least five hours daily until I clear CA? If the answer is no, do not enroll. You have other options as well. You know yourself better than anyone. If you feel pumped up, receive so many suggestions about doing CA from your professors, and see that many of your friends are going for it, ask yourself honestly and then decide.
• Check the statistics. CA is indeed the 2nd best course in the world. But only 2% – 3% of students clear CA (Final) in one go. So, go for it if you know you are committed and pull it through.
• You need to keep at least 3-5 years in your hands. In addition, you need to complete a full-time article ship of 3 years, 100 hours of information technology course, and a clear total of four groups in IPCC (Integrated Professional Competence Course) and CA (final).

After thinking through all these, then decide whether CA is suitable for you or not.

Most students make the mistake that they perceive finance as similar to accounting. It is not. Finance is vast, and accounting is only one part of it. But still, if you want to do MBA in Finance, there are many options you can choose from. The best option is to prepare for CAT, XAT, and GMAT. These three will do. It would help if you started your preparation during the final year of your B.Com. A year of practice can do wonders for you. Many B-Schools are mushrooming everywhere. Do you think doing an MBA in Finance from any B-School will add value to you? Nope. You need to do it from the top 10 B-Schools in India or the top 30 B-Schools globally (if you are going to foreign universities). If you want to pursue your MBA in India, CAT and XAT are your best bet. It would help if you scored as high as the 99.99% as a general student. If you want to do something in a foreign country like the USA, you must achieve at least 700+in your GMAT.

Many people go for M. Com after completing their B. Com. You can do the same. But M. Com is a master’s degree course, and you can choose many specializations like economics, statistics, finance, business, accounting, etc. You will not get much value if you do not take it further, meaning we are talking about M.Phil. or Ph.D. You can take another approach – doing your M. Com along with CA or other courses. Only M. Com has little or no value. Of course, from the education perspective, you will get a ton of knowledge. Still, here we are, evaluating everything from the standpoint of making a career and getting a decent placement.

Many students also opt for ICWAI. Now, it is recognized as The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India (ICMAI), offering a cost accounting course. It is a good course but not as valuable as CA. But many students go for it as there are good career opportunities after doing ICWAI. After doing ICWAI, you can go for M.Phil. or Ph.D. or join as Financial Controller, Cost Controller, Chief Internal Auditor, and Chief Accountant. The salary range would be around ₹4 lakhs - ₹6 lakhs per annum. You can join this course while doing your B.Com. There are the foundation, intermediate and final courses you need to clear to get the certification of ICWAI.

Many people opt for CS after or during their B.Com. CS is completely a different course than CA or ICWA and is more about the legal aspect of business and qualitative analyses. It would help if you were prepared to suggest the paths to the board of directors and often join as an Executive Secretary to MD or CEO. In the case of CS, you need to clear Foundation, Executive and Final courses. But the opportunities for the Company Secretary have immense potential.

Not So Common Courses after Completing B.Com

In the above section, we have discussed students’ common choices to get going in their careers after their B. Com. But here is the list of courses a small percentage of students choose.

But they are beneficial too if you take things into your stride and do them with utmost sincerity.

Let us have a look at them.

CMA is one of the most recognized international courses you can choose after completing your B. Com. The Institute of Certified Management Accountants offers Certified Management Accountant (CMA). It is more popular in the US but has a presence in over 100 countries globally. Over the years, ICMA has produced a lot of high-caliber students. The proof is if you complete your CMA after B. Com, you will be able to earn at least 33.33% more than any non-certified accountants. CMA is much more comprehensive than any other course you can pursue after B. Com (other than CA and CS). The curriculum of CS concentrates on both management accounting and financial accounting. ICMA has made it easy for its students to pursue and clear CMA. There are over 100 examination centers in the world. And to clear the exam, you only need to sit for two exams. And each exam is of 4 hours duration. The exam will consist of 100 multiple-choice questions and two 30-minutes essay questions. But remember that it is not as easy to clear as it sounds. In June 2015, the exam percentages for the two exams were 14% (CMA Inter) and 17% (CMA Final), respectively.

After B. Com, you feel confused and do not know what will lift your career! If you feel like this and want to become an accounting professional, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants accredits ACCA. It has been educating its students for a very long time. More than 436,000 students have already passed out of this certification. And it has a tremendous global reputation; it is in more than 180 countries in the world. Like CMA, ACCA is also a very comprehensive course. Besides teaching you the technical part of accounting, it teaches the technical and management aspects. But it is not as easy as it sounds. It will help if you put in a bit more effort than normal. Of course, you want a great career. You need to clear four levels and 14 subjects in total. The fees for ACCA, though, are very reasonable. It is around ₹50,000. The passing rate is about 50% if you take the average of all levels and papers together. If you want a global course under a small budget and enjoy a great career in audit, tax, or practice.

CPA is one of the best international courses you can opt for after your B.Com. It is as good as a CA course. People who want to pursue a career in public enterprises must go for a CPA. The American Institute of CPA (AICPA) organizes CPA. According to AICPA, salary is different when you do CPA. You would get at least 15% more compensation than non-certified accountants. To become a CPA, you must sit for a mammoth exam of 14 hours. There are only four subjects to clear if you sit for CPA – Auditing & Attestation (AUD), financial accounting & Reporting (FAR), Regulation (REG), and Business Environment Concept (BEC). The pass percentage is around 47% on average, merging the pass percentages in all subjects.

These are the overview of courses you can do once you complete your B. Com. But having a lot of options is like being paralyzed by choices. So, how would you choose which one is right for you? For that, you need to know your inclinations about certain subjects. For example, if you are more inclined toward accounting, you should go for CA, CPA, or ACCA. On the other hand, if you feel finance is your cup of tea, go for an MBA in Finance from a reputed institute. Do some soul-search. Have some time handy to have enough time to think about all your options.

This article is a guide to Career and Scope After B. Com. Here, we also discuss the list of top 8 jobs one must do after B. Com. You may also learn more from the below articles: -

• Top 3 Careers in Cost Accounting
• Careers in Budget Analyst
• Careers in Derivatives
• Top 6 Careers in Bookkeeping