How career of more than 65,000 CA students is at stake?

Below analysis shows how higher passing % in CPT then IPC and Finals is hurting careers of students.

Why is it harmful

• It is harmful for the weaker students as they easily pass CPT but slow down in further levels (IPC and finals) due to increased difficulty level. If level of CPT is improved, students not able to clear CPT exam can pursue other career options rather than investing 6 to 8 years in CA and then not able to find a decent job.

• It is harmful for the CA designation as increasing no. of students with multiple attempt result will bring down the quality and in turn bring down the placements (See this post on analysis of placements in past 5 years)

• Chart 1

  
  We can see synchronization between the no. of companies coming to the campus and no. of jobs offered. In Feb-Mar 2009 when no. of jobs offered was least at 508 jobs, no. of companies was 54 and when in Feb-Mar 2011 no. of jobs offered was 1,876, no. of companies was 111.
  So any one can tell that higher the no. of companies higher would be the no. of jobs offered. This brings us to the questions that what is the reason that no. of companies coming to the campus is not increasing. There can only be two reasons for this:
  • Placement program needs more effort then at its current level
  • Overall market situation is bad – This can not be the sole reason as people are able to get jobs out of campus with their own efforts.
  No. of students registering for the campus placements took a huge jump in Aug-Sep 2011 with total 10,317 students registering for the event. This can be directly correlated with the no. of students passing the CA examination in chart 3.
  • In Feb-Mar 2008 total no. of students passing the CA Final Examinations was – Both Groups (1023), 1st Group (2,289), IInd Group (2,777) and the no. of students who registered for campus placements was 3,781. Considering 50% of the individual group students becoming CA’s we can say participation rate from students was very high.
  • In Feb-Mar 2013 total no. of students passing the CA Final Examination was – Both Groups (5,075), 1st Group (12,912), IInd Group (16325) and the no. of students who registered for campus placement was 7,262. Even considering 40% of the individual group students becoming CA’s, participation rate was half of what it was in Feb-Mar 2008.

  Chart 2

  
  No. of students getting 9 lakh + offers has increased from 70 in Feb-Mar 2008 to 141 in Feb-Mar 2013. This sure is a good sign towards the increasing value of CA students and corresponding to that average package has also increased from 6 lakhs to 7 lakhs.

  Chart 3

  

Note: All data is compiled from publicly available documents

Analysis Summary

• In CPT passing % rate is 30% whereas in Final it is 15% due to which many students who easily enter through CPT are unable to pass out as difficulty level in CPT is very low as compared to IPC and Final exams.

• Due to inverted passing % rate in various stages of CA (higher pass outs in CPT then Final), 22,000 students add to the stagnant student base every six months. See part (B) of the analysis

• In the pass 6 years after the start of CPT at least 65,000 students who passed in CPT are unable to pass out in time. See part (D) of the analysis

(A) Difficulty levels across the stages of CA

CPT                                                          IPC                                                                            Final

The only point above pictures help in making is the difference in difficulty levels from CPT to IPC to Final

(B) Average passing % rate across the stages of CA

• CPT – 28% (See this post on attempt wise pass % of previous years)
• Past CPT Results:
  Appended are the results of past 6 attempts of CPT
  

This 28% is on a base of more than 1.2 lakh students every six months .i.e. on an average 35,000 students enter CA course every six months

IPC - 20% (See this post on attempt wise pass % of previous years)

Following is the analysis of past few attempts of IPCC:

Final – 15% (See this post on attempt wise pass % of previous years)

Pass % of few previous attempts:

This 15% is on a base of 30,000 students appearing in both group i.e. 5,000 students. Lets also add single group students to this no. ; on an average 15,000 students pass single groups in each attempt so half of such student should also be added to the both group no. i.e. total no. of students passing out of final exam is 5,000 + 8,000 = 13,000

From the above nos. we can easily understand that every six months 35,000 students are passing the CPT exam and only 13,000 students are passing the final exam. Difference of 22,000 students will keep on adding to the student base every six months.

(C) Growth in Student Registrations:

Year – 2013	No. of Students
January	1,072,541
May	1,111,280
August	1,147,086

• On an average 10,000 new students register per month
• Approx. 50% of the registered students are in CPT, 30% in IPC and 20% in Final

(D) No. of students stuck in CA after start of CPT

A bit of backward calculation tells us that more than 65,000* students who have entered through CPT are unable to pass out in time.

(*CPT started in 2006…. 22,000 students/six month for 6 years makes approx. 2,60,000 students…lets divide this by 4 to consider the growth in no. of students in past few attempts and also to be sure of the no. we are quoting here. It gives 65,000;  real no. could be higher than 1,50,000)