Nowadays every student has become career conscious and starts deciding about future movements of career from the very school level itself. This is vital because the competition has raced up like anything and if one does not prepare beforehand, it becomes very tough to fight in the entrance exams and get a chance to study in a good college. One such crucial career decision that many students in commerce stream need to take advise on is Which one is good for career- MBA or ICWA?.
Which one is good for career- MBA or ICWA? What a student Should choose?
Contents of the two courses and significance:
A million dollar question for a student who is passing out of school, especially somebody from Commerce background is whether to pursue MBA (Master of Business Administration) or ICWA (Institute of Cost and Works Accountant of India). Now, in order to decide upon this, it will be better to know in details about each of the courses and what each has to offer as career options.
- In order to study ICWA, one can directly apply after Standard 12 because the minimum eligibility is 17 years. It has three examinations, namely, the foundation exam, intermediate exam and the final exam.
- MBA is a post-graduate course that requires one to complete graduation in any discipline with 50% marks and there is no age limit. There are many exams that can enable a student to study MBA such as CAT, MAT, XAT, SNAP, JMAT, etc. There is in fact GMAT also that enables students to opt for MBA in the universities abroad as well.
Evidently, one has to opt for MBA after graduation only. As a wise decision, if a student belongs to any discipline other than commerce, then he or she can easily complete graduation in any subject and then go for MBA in Finance, Human Resource, Marketing, etc. The options here are more along with career prospects because today every sector is in demand of MBA post Qualification.
ICWA, on the other hand, is a core commerce student’s genre. This is because it completely deals with auditing, costing and accounts related subjects. Needless to say, this course is of equal importance today because accounts work is needed in every industry, company, firm and banks. One cannot do both MBA and ICWA at the same time as this will not be a feasible option. Yet, he or she can easily complete MBA at first followed by ICWA afterwards.
Career Prospects for ICWA and MBA Students:
Horizon much wider while doing MBA- It is indeed an interesting question about the probable career prospects for MBA and ICWA. At first, it can be said that MBA is not confined to only finance and has various fields like human resource, marketing, operations, supply chain management, information systems and many more that find applications in various industries and sectors. Therefore, the horizon of scope is more and if one is not comfortable with accounts studies, he or she can very well go for other disciplines.
However, studying MBA from a reputed B-school is very essential because this will decide upon the career of an individual. When it comes to MBA, the B-school will add weight to the resume and attract the attention of the interviewers during any job interviews. First impression is always the last impression and the name of the B-school will decide half of an individual’s impression.
Nowadays, many MBA colleges are mushrooming everywhere but in practical, it is always advisable not to do MBA from these colleges just for the sake of doing MBA. If not doing MBA from a reputed B School, then probably an ICWA will definitely hold edge over MBA student
Career Scope of ICWA- On the other hand, after completion of ICWA, many options will open in front of an individual in the future because ICWA covers almost all aspects of finance that are in high demand in various kinds of industries and sectors. It is about designing the correct cost policies for a certain company as well as involves a considerable amount of management planning as well. One can get excellent job profiles like Financial Analyst, Costing Analyst, Audit Officer, Chief Financial Officer across all genres of industries because accounts is something that is in demand in every field.
To wrap it up: It is completely dependent upon the interest of an individual as to which career to pursue and what to study for that. It is difficult to choose between MBA and ICWA yet definitely not impossible. With these points, hopefully one can easily figure out what will be better for him or her as a career option. However if choosing MBA, then first try should be to choose a reputed B School to do MBA over any other option available
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