hello there!

CA : Its an Indian degree and hence valid mostly in Indian job market as the CA course deals with rules, regulation and law which changes from country to country. The subjects include : Accounting, Taxation, Audit, Law, financial mgmt etc. Post CA one can start his own business (as a practice) or can take up a job in any private / public sector industry.

CFA : Its an international degree, managed and promoted by USA. The qualification is valid worldwide as the financial markets all over the world works on the same parameters. The subjects include Equity investment, Portfolio management, Economics, Debt market, Alternative investments etc. Again a person with CFA qualification can start his own business which is more prominent in USA (as a financial advisor) or take up a job in financial industry around the world.

Both are respectable qualification in their own way when looked from the perspective of easy availability of job, relevance of course curriculum, pay scale etc. So no need to worry at all if you are able to grab either of the qualifications.

Since CFA is an international qualification, I would like to emphasize its significance region wise :

Emerging market countries Vs Developed world : With no doubt the developed countries are better able to take out the benefits of CFA degree in terms of high pay scale, easy availability of jobs and job rotation across geographies compared to their counterparts in emerging economies. The simple reason behind this is more developed and matured financial markets. Just to give a small example of India which is an emerging economy, the debt market has just started to develop in recent years and hence the penetration of required CFA professionals and knowledge level will take some time to grow compared to say USA. So if you are someone from an emerging economy, please note the past trend of CFA success in your country may not give you the correct picture because as the economy and financial markets open up the growth in required CFA talent will be far more exponential than compared with the developed world.

As far as course curriculum and its relevancy is concerned, both are respectable degrees and will stay relevant for the near future without doubt. However one needs to understand what his individual interest and aspirations are.

If you are someone who likes to comply with rules and law then probably CA will help you as most of the work involves following the rule of law with deep understanding of accounting and taxation matters.

Where as if you like being dynamic and using your own judgement who can voraciously read for hours then probably CFA will be of interest for you with deep understanding of businesses and financial statements.

Whichever way you decide there is an immense scope for success if you are passionate about it and ready to give your 100%.

i hope this helps

Happy learning !!!