Are you a commerce graduate or a finance aspirant? Are you looking for the Best Finance Courses in India to pursue and build a solid career foundation? Your search ends here, we have compiled a list of the Top 10 Finance Certifications for students and professionals.

Introduction on Finance as a Career

Finance is the blood in any organisation. Finance is very crucial to any individual or a business. No doubt, finance is a crucial aspect of a startup, an existing venture or a multinational firm. Thus, managing finances becomes one of the key functions in leading a business on the success path.

And, that’s when such businesses needs aspiring finance professionals.

Moreover, careers in finance are bright if you know what you want to do and where you want to go. Therefore, we have come up with top finance courses you can look forward to and build a great financial career. These courses have great value and recognised by the industry. We have kept all the current economy and industry trends in our minds while preparing this list. These courses will help you build a bright career in finance irrespective of you being a student or a working professional.

Let’s have a look at the popular and best finance courses.

Top 10 Best Finance Courses in India

Not in any particular order, an exclusive collection of the best finance courses

1. Chartered Accountancy (CA)

CA is the most popular and reputed accountancy course in India offered by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). To clear this tough exam, you have to go through three levels:

1. Foundation (previously known as CPT (Common Proficiency Test)):

Candidates who are undergraduate with 60% or more, or a graduate in commerce with 55% or more, are exempted from this level.

2. Intermediate (previously known as IPCC (Integrated Professional Competence Course)):

It has 2 groups and each group has 4 subjects. For clearing this level, you must score a minimum 40% marks in each subject and an aggregate of 50% in each group.

3. CA Final:

This level also has 8 subjects and the condition for passing is to score 50% marks aggregate in all subjects.

Although there are three levels, the candidates have to do an articleship of 3 years under a certified CA to gain practical knowledge and experience.

The salary for CAs are generally in the range of 5-12 lakh per annum. The Chartered Accountancy Course completion along with articleship takes roughly 5 years to complete. It seems a long period, but it’s really worth it.

2. Company Secretary (CS)

CS is another popular career choice among the finance stream students and professionals. After CS, one works for a Secretarial position in a company and the responsibility of managing legal and tax becomes part of your job role.

The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICAI) conducts and regulates everything related to the profession CS. Like CA, it also has a mandatory 15-month practical training. The course structure is as follows:

1. Foundation Programme
2. Executive Programme
3. Professional Programme
4. Management Training

The eligibility of the course is 12th pass or Graduate and the duration is generally 4.5 years (including training). A Company Secretary generally earns a salary between the range of 5 to 7 lakh per annum.

3. Certified Public Accountant (USA CPA)

CPA is a similar course to CA but the difference is that it is designed from a global perspective. It is offered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA).

So it’s a good alternative to CA having a better clearing percentage and requiring less time (2 years) when compared to a CA (hardly 4-5% candidates become CA every year) and globally recognised.

After this course, one gains in depth knowledge of accountancy, taxation, auditing, legal frameworks, and financial planning. Companies across the globe prefer CPA and the best part is they also pay higher.

Obviously the fee is higher, but for a higher position, recognition, and higher salary (8-10 lakhs: average), it’s worth investing in CPA.

4. Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

CFA is considered as the rigorous course exposing you to all aspects of finance, be it financial reporting and analysis, taxation, corporate finance, global operations, debt, equity investments, portfolio management and wealth management, real estate investments, private equity, commodities,  or ethical standards.

Offered by the USA body CFA, this course is globally recognised and highly valuable. Thus CFAs are also highly paid and earn an average salary of 10-12 lakhs. The course duration is less than a year and the required eligibility is Graduation with 2 years of experience.

It’s a great course with a fee of INR 2-2.5 lakhs and will bag you senior positions in an organisation. You may also like to know CFA Salary in India, USA & Canada – Scope & Placements

5. Financial Risk Manager (FRM)

FRM course is offered by the US body Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). As the name itself suggests, this course is more focused on managing financial risks in a business to make business strategies successful.

This is again a globally recognised and accepted course which you can complete in 2-3 years of tenure. Again the passing percentage is very high when you compare it with Chartered Accountancy. The minimum eligibility is just a bachelor degree and 2 years of experience.

After FRM, you are offered promising roles in Risk Management, Credit, Trading, Structuring, and Modelling, etc.

6. Certified Management Accountant (CMA)

CMA is popular globally and this course is offered by the US body Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) which operates in 140 countries.

The reason for popularity is because it gives you concrete value by making you efficient in complex accounting and monetary management so that you can make better decisions while managing funds.

The other reasons are its short duration of just 6 months and global recognition. The required eligibility is a bachelor’s degree with 2 years of experience.

CMA is offered in India and UK also, but they are of longer duration and not globally recognised.

Students with interest in budgeting, planning, cost management and financial reporting can go for it. Just like CA it has 3 levels: Foundation, Intermediate and Final.

You have to pass 10+2 to be eligible to sit for the exams. Exams are held in June and December every year. One has to complete industrial training of at least 15 months to enrol for the final stage. The starting package is 5-12 lakhs p.a. 

7. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

This course is offered by UK body ACCA which operates in 179 countries. The big highlight of this course is its minimum eligibility criteria which allows you to pursue this course before Graduation.

This course also offers you 360-degree knowledge of accounting domain including Financial Accounting and Management, Business Accounting, Corporate Accounting, Business Law, Taxation, Performance Management and Analysis, Audit,  Financial Reporting.

The duration for CCA is 2 years, passing rate is high (~50%) and the salary generally lies between INR 8-16 lakhs per annum depending upon role offered and company.

8. Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

CFP is offered in India by the Financial Planning Standards Board of India (FPSB, India). It is one of its own when it comes to financial planning and advisory.

It is recognised and accepted in 22 countries across the world. You will obtain your degree/certificate once you fulfill their criteria of 4 Es: Education, Examination, Experience and Ethics.

After CFP, you can become a consultant for individuals or work with corporates like Banks, Insurance companies, Brokerage Houses, etc.

The eligibility of the course is Bachelor’s degree with a passport.

9. MBA in Finance

This is a great degree to pursue which gives you a holistic view about business including Marketing, HR, Operations and Analytics with special focus on Finance.

The two-year course will help you bag top positions in corporates. Of course, you must hold a bachelors degree in commerce or other relevant field to opt for an MBA in Finance.

Fees for the MBA course will vary from college to college as private colleges are expensive when compared to government colleges.

Expected starting salary for an MBA is INR 6 lakhs per annum.

10. Accounting Technician Course (ATC)

If you want to choose an easy course with a less rigorous process, ATC is a decent course you can look for. ATC exam is equivalent to CA-intermediate Group-1 exam.

The course has three stages:

1. Clearing Accounting Technician Exam
2. Go through 35 hours of Orientation, 100 hours of IT Training
3. 12 months of work experience under the guidance of a CA

Best Finance Courses: Additional List

Other good courses you can go for are:

• Actuary
• Insurance Institute of India
• Certification courses on Coursera, Udemy, edX, LinkedIn, etc.
• NSE Certification

Best Finance Certifications & Courses

Getting your dream job in the dream company is not easy. But it’s not that difficult too if you possess the right skill sets with the right degree or certifications/recognitions.

We all listen from the people around us every time that job loss is happening, the job market is saturating. But, the reality is the right skill-set and experience is losing. People do not update their knowledge and skills on a continuous basis which is the need of the hour as well as the need of the market.

So above listed are the Top 10 Finance Courses you can look for as a student as well as professionals looking for growth in your career. But, to sustain in the time of crisis like Covid-19, the people who survived had complementary skills which differentiated them from their peers to some extent. So, having additional skills and a pursuing a good course not only add to your profile, but add to your confidence.

You may also like to explore Best Career Options in Stock Market India

So, what are you thinking? Which of the Top Finance Certification you are interested to achieve? Do you have any queries on any of the financial or accountancy courses added in our list? Any other course related to finance, you wish to add here. Feel free to share in the comments.