Analyzing The Career of A Cost Accountant

If the ability to analyze accurately, calculate perfectly and lay out strategies is your forte, you are fit to choose cost accounting as your career.

The role of a Cost Accountant requires one to collect, study, collate the study, assimilate, compare, and analyze all the data on issues related to the finance of an organization. The major role played by a cost accountant concerns the budgetary plan of the organization.

The prognoses for upcoming projects need to be presented by cost accountants. To perform any kind of analysis, the cost accountant has to take into consideration some key factors like the amount of labor to be used or being used, the investment in raw materials, the cost of transportation, overhead costs and many others.

One’s many tasks as a cost accountant are analyzing the amount and kind of investment that needs to be made, incorporating mathematical skills in inventory control and planning costing systems and methods. Not only does one have to design and plan for effective management information and control system, but also has to be a part of it and see that it is followed.

Managing projects, conducting a cost audit, diagnosing sick industries, conducting internal audits, managing the funds of the company, analyzing it’s investment strategy and planning the pricing procedure are the several other things that a cost accountant is expected to do as part of their job.

To become a cost accountant, one does not need to have done class XII with any specific stream. After XII, the student should take a coaching for getting into the ICWAI (Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India) and complete it. After the coaching is done, one should go for the foundation course offered by the institute. If you are a graduate student, a postgraduate student or a gazette office, you will not be required to go for the foundation course.

The next step (the first if you are a graduate, postgraduate or a gazette officer) is proceeding for the institute’s intermediate course and completing it. This is final course and it lasts for about 18 months. There are certain exams that one has to take and pass for moving further in the complete course as a whole. After the completion of the entire course, the students need to undertake extensive internship projects and work on them.

The two institutes that offer this complete course are the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, headquartered at Kolkata, with four regional centers and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The latter offers special B.Com and M.Com programs for students enrolled with the ICWAI.

This is a very well-paid job. The package of a beginner is 6,00,000 INR per year. It keeps on increasing with time and experience. By the time one acquires a position at the mid-level of management, it is around 15,00,000 INR per year. After that too, it keeps on increasing and there is no limit to how much a cost accountant can earn.