What do CA(SA)'s get paid for? 

Awesome! One day you can send me an email and tell me how you're changing the world :)

Awesome! :)

It's a really good qualification, and yes, it is worth it. I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about what 'big bucks' are though. And, it really does depend on what YOU do with your qualification and experience. There are people who can make an insane success of their lives with no degree at all, and people who can kinda slide through life while having amazing qualifications. It totally depends on you. You're not going to get fabulously wealthy by being a CA, especially not in the first few years. You're going to need to find and create opportunities for yourself, however, the qualification opens a lot of doors and adds a huge amount of skills to your pocket. In the current economy, there is no job guarantee anymore, and the increased ability of technology makes accounting systems smarter than ever. In order to remain relevant, CA's need to ensure they're paying attention to society's needs, skill gaps, and using their knowledge and skills in an innovative way. Would I recommend it as a career? Absolutely! I remember people telling ME that it was pointless to qualify because not all companies would need audits in the future, and because of technology etc... and that was back in 2001! I'm SUPER-GLAD I didn't listen to them!

Hey Pearl :) I'm glad you did comment, it means I can help get you the value from the message that you need for the year! Yup, I think that your stress levels are bound to be high at the moment. Final year of BCompt, looking forward to CTA... all the nasty stuff you hear about how tough it is, pass rates, volume of work etc. It's enough to make the toughest person really nervous. Your stress also shows in the fact that you felt that this was 'harsh' as opposed to 'emphatic'. This message NEEDS to be stressed, because it's a HUGE reason that students struggle with CTA! And it's a message I repeat to my students ALL the time... but in the stress of their studies and exams, it's too easy to forget it... hence my emphasis on this! :) So, I want you to bookmark this video for the year. When you get stuck on calculations - Play it. When you get stuck on remembering theory and details - Play it. When you're worried that you don't have enough time to make summaries and learn theory for all your subjects - Play it. The value of your studies is to teach you how to apply theory, to apply it to new and different and tricky problems that you'll come across. However, most students spend most of their time agonising over memorising stuff, and the details of formats, formulae and calculations. Because it's SO easy to feel that those are the important things to work on :) When you need someone to stop you from drowning in Forex Hedging details, or Deferred Tax calculations, or Tax legislation - Play this. When you're worried that you won't pass because you can't remember the calculation or the theory - Play this. Your focus needs to be on how to WORK with the knowledge, ie: attempting questions even when you're not super-comfortable with all the theory. And that's really tricky to keep doing in a year of hectic studies... and since I can't be standing behind you reminding you of that through the year... the impression and emphasis on this topic should stay with you :)

@@accountingstudyadvice Hi Yvonne, like I said before your blog really does motivate me. Funny thing, I was sitting with my dad now going through the study guide for MAC3702 and I was overwhelmed Haha. Then I told him about this video and how I thought it was harsh and how I read your response and never replied. He asked me to play it for him. I did and he LOVED it Haha. He more ESPECIALLY LOVED your response to me and in conclusion he said "I love her" and I said " dad that's the same lady who wrote my favourite article "Why I'm proud of the students who fail". Then he said wow if I had someone like this and who takes time to comment I would have been a CA. Long story short my dad is a Director of Finance, he would have loved to be a CA but couldn't afford to back then. Coincidentally my dream is to be a CA(his dream for me was to be a Dr haha). None the less my dad told me to respond to you and say thank you for the video and the comment and taking the time to speak to his Little Princess. We love your blog! And yes I will always play this video when I am stuck, yours and dads orders haha

@@PearlEphraim Ah, you're incredibly blessed to have the dad that you do. Never take him for granted. Please tell him that I appreciate his compliments. I'm so glad you had that conversation with him. His life and career experience is valuable for you to learn from :) Good luck with MAC... make sure you understand the concepts, it's a problem-solving subject, not a technical one. It will make CTA a lot easier for you ;) Have a great week!

Lol... that's a crazily broad question! My 'fastest' answer is that you need to start doing question from as early in the year / semester as possible. Like... after your FIRST lecture :) You'll suck at them, you'll feel uncomfortable, you'll fail them... but you will learn what you need to work on far earlier, and although you'll feel a little more stupid while you study (theory studying makes us feel a little smarter a little faster... right up to the point where we try a question!), but I'd rather you feel stupid while studying, and do better in the exam :)

Sigh. No. It's really valuable. Just like any other degree, studying or learning, you need to be aware of the focus of your efforts, and what they're intended to achieve, what the outcome needs to be. You could say the same about studying medicine. Someone who can remember all the theory off-by-heart may not make the best doctor.

No. It is a very respectable course. In India if you are a CA then everyone respects you and consider yourself as hardworking and intelligent.