Chartered Accountant (CA) is a course that will change the way you think, and this is one exam where there is no reservation, no caste quota and only your talent matters, said CA Rajendra Kumar P., Central Council Member ICAI. Addressing students at the 23^rd edition of the two-day The Hindu EducationPlus Career Counseling Fair ‘26 on Sunday on the topic ‘Becoming a Chartered Accountant: Your path to a successful career’, he said: “You can enroll after Class 12 and appear for the CA Foundation exam. Give four years to this course, and it can take care of your next 40 years. There is no age constraint for CA.”

He pointed out that many CAs have an engineering background. Some are even MBBS doctors—at least one that he knows personally. He added that students pursuing science can also take up CA.

Mr. Kumar also told the students, “Don’t study for ranks, you have to pass first.” Citing his own life as a case study, he recalled that he had failed his Class X exam, and years later, the same school honored him with an award for his excellence. Noting the strong demand for commerce education, he said that Chartered Accountants today often have the advantage of choosing between multiple job offers.

Emphasising the accessibility of the course, he said that the study materials would be delivered directly to students’ homes, allowing them to prepare on their own, with coaching remaining an optional support. “You can join coaching if you want,” he said.

To a query about whether Artificial Intelligence would replace Chartered Accountants, he said that similar fears emerged in the 1990s with the advent of accounting software like Tally. However, just as accountants remain indispensable to using such tools, he asserted that human intelligence continues to far surpass AI.