Are mbas better than cas?

The ever going Chartered Accountants versus MBAs debate re-ignited today when Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, said today that MBAs are getting much better than CAs. While addressing at All India Conference of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) he said that MBAs can handle finance and economic issues much better compared to CAs. He said that most Chartered Accountants are just Accountants while an MBA is good at most of the finance and economic subjects, including accounting. He said that MBAs also have much better communication skills compared to CAs which is vital in todays global economy. He emphasized the need to re-structure the CA curriculum stating that the knowledge of only accounting is not sufficient to face global challenges. He also pointed that the increasing rate of pass percentage of CA students is not a good sign. Earlier the passing percentage of CAs was around 4% but in the last couple of years it has surged to as high as 17%. He said that the examination pattern of CA must be changed to make sure that the maximum pass percentage of Chartered Accountants is around 10%. According to the classic demand and supply theory, higher number of Chartered Accountants in the market means lower salaries for Chartered Accountants. It also means comparatively less opportunities for practicing Chartered Accountants, forcing them to give in to the competition and decreasing the CA consulting charges. Kumar Mangalam Birla is a MBA and Chartered Accountant himself and is also one of the leading industrialists of India. He has some truth in his statements when he says that MBAs are getting better than CAs and the pass percentage of CAs must be decreased to keep the brand value of Chartered Accountants stable. Do you agree with Kumar Mangalam Birla? Do let us know your views using the comment form below.