What Is a Chartered Accountant (CA)? Role and Qualifications

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A chartered accountant (CA) is an accounting professional who holds the “chartered accountant” designation from a recognized professional body in a country outside the United States. The designation shows that the holder has met that body’s education, examination and practical experience requirements and can provide services such as auditing, tax preparation, financial reporting and financial advice. In the U.S., the closest equivalent is the certified public accountant (CPA).

What a Chartered Accountant Does

A CA’s work depends on the country’s regulations and on the area the accountant chooses. Most CAs concentrate on one of four fields:

• Applied finance: budgeting, investment analysis, financing decisions and other corporate finance work, such as building a discounted cash flow (DCF) model to value a project or business.
• Financial accounting and reporting: preparing financial statements and auditing them for accuracy and compliance with the applicable accounting standards.
• Management accounting: producing internal figures, such as product costs, budgets and performance reports, that managers use to run the business.
• Taxation: preparing and filing tax returns and advising on tax obligations.

CAs work in both the public and private sectors, for businesses, governments, nonprofit organizations and individual taxpayers. Their roles also vary in scope. One CA may handle a single function, such as auditing a company’s financial statements. Another may oversee all of a company’s accounting. Others work independently and serve many clients at once.

How to Become a Chartered Accountant

There is no single global CA qualification. Each country’s professional body sets its own path, so a candidate qualifies under the rules of the country where they plan to work. The typical route has three parts:

1. University education. A degree in a related field such as accounting, finance or mathematics, often with specific required coursework.
2. Professional education. Enrollment in the professional body’s CA program, which teaches current accounting methods and ends in examinations.
3. Practical experience. A period of supervised, relevant work experience.

Two examples show how the order and details differ:

• New Zealand: Candidates complete a recognized academic program, such as a three-year bachelor’s degree or an accredited master’s degree covering accounting and business. They then complete a practical experience program before enrolling in and finishing the CA program.
• Canada: Candidates complete an undergraduate degree with coursework in business and accounting, then enroll in a professional education program for chartered professional accountants.

Because the CA is awarded by a professional body after this process, it is a designation, not a university degree. A degree is usually the entry point, not the credential itself.

A Brief History

Chartered accountants trace their profession back to 1854 in Scotland, which they describe as the formation of the first professional body of accountants. The word “chartered” refers to the royal charters granted to these early institutes. Many CA bodies now exist worldwide, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). In Canada, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) represented CAs until the profession unified under the chartered professional accountant (CPA) title.

Job Outlook and Salary

Demand for CAs depends on the country, but the profession relies on skills employers consistently need: analytical and technical ability, communication, time management and problem-solving. Published labor statistics give a sense of scale:

• Canada: The median hourly wage for chartered accountants was $38.46 in 2024, and the field was projected to add 88,000 new jobs between 2022 and 2031.
• United States: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports accountants and auditors as a single category, not CAs specifically. It projected 6% job growth from 2023 to 2033, faster than the average for all occupations, or about 91,400 additional jobs. The median annual wage was $79,880 in 2023.

Chartered Accountant vs. Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

The main difference between a CA and a CPA is geography, not function. CPA is the licensed designation in the United States, while CA is used in many other countries. Both professionals file taxes, audit and report on financial statements, do management accounting and work in applied finance.

The acronym CPA causes confusion because it means different things in different places:

• United States: certified public accountant
• Canada: chartered professional accountant, the unified designation that replaced the separate CA title for new members
• Australia: certified practicing accountant

A CA can move into U.S. practice through reciprocity. Members of Chartered Professional Accountants Canada, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and Chartered Accountants Ireland have reciprocity agreements with the United States. If these professionals pass the required test, their qualifications can transfer and they may work as CPAs. Holding the CA alone does not authorize someone to practice as a CPA in the U.S.

Example of a Chartered Accountant

Hypothetical example. Priya qualifies as a CA in New Zealand after finishing an accredited accounting degree, a practical experience program and the CA program. She joins an audit team, where she reviews clients’ financial statements and tests whether their records support the reported figures. After several years she moves in-house to a manufacturer as a management accountant, preparing product cost reports and budgets for the operations team.

Later, Priya wants to relocate to the United States. Because her professional body has a reciprocity agreement with the U.S., she can take the required exam rather than start the CPA process from scratch. Once she passes and meets the licensing conditions, she can practice as a CPA. Her skills stay the same throughout. What changes is which designation, and which regulator, governs her right to sign off on work in each country.

Limitations of the CA Designation

• It is country-specific. A CA earns the designation under one country’s rules. Working as a licensed accountant elsewhere may require additional exams, a separate license or, in the U.S., a reciprocity agreement and a test.
• Titles have shifted. In Canada, the same professional may appear as a CA or a chartered professional accountant depending on when they qualified.
• Scope varies by specialty. Holding the designation does not mean a CA practices in all four areas. A tax specialist and an auditor have very different day-to-day expertise.

The Bottom Line

The CA designation matters most to accountants planning a career abroad and to employers comparing credentials across countries. Because each country's professional body sets its own rules, a CA qualifies only where they trained. Moving to U.S. practice requires a reciprocity agreement and a passed exam, and holding the CA alone never authorizes work as a CPA.