To get a job in SAP field, one should have one life cycle implementation experience in project.

Selection of SAP Module depends on your education and experience.  Almost all MNCs have/are opted for SAP Software. To study SAP, one should have done graduation in their respective field with 3 to 5 years domain experience.

If you want to get SAP Certification, you have to study SAP in Siemens,
Genovate or NIIT, where they will charge Rs. 2-3 lacs for the course.
Or few SAP Consultancy firms offer project exposure in their free time, where they will charge
economically (Rs. 25,000-30,000).
 
Getting training in SAP is not a problem. The main thing one has to
consider is, whether Institute will be providing any project exposure,
which is a must from job point of view. When you go for any interview, questions will
be more on SAP Practical application knowledge. Without project
exposure (ASAP Methodology- means how to implement SAP in companies)
one can't answer these questions. Lot of openings are available in SAP
consultancy firms (like IBM, TCS, Keane India) as well in
manufacturing companies (like ABB, BHEL, BEL) using SAP Software for
their company operations. You have to learn SAP preferably in SAP
Consultancy firms.

To get a job in SAP field, one should have one life cycle implementation experience in project.

Selection of SAP Module depends on your education and experience.  Almost all MNCs have/are opted for SAP Software. To study SAP, one should have done graduation in their respective field with 3 to 5 years domain experience.

If you want to get SAP Certification, you have to study SAP in Siemens,
Genovate or NIIT, where they will charge Rs. 2-3 lacs for the course.
Or few SAP consultancy firms offer project exposure in their free time and they will charge
economically (Rs. 25,000-30,000).

 
Getting training in SAP is not a problem. The main thing one has to
consider is, whether Institute will be providing any project exposure,
which is a must from job point of view. When you go for any interview, questions will
be more on SAP Practical application knowledge. Without project
exposure (ASAP Methodology- means how to implement SAP in companies)
one can't answer these questions. Lot of openings are available in SAP
consultancy firms (like IBM, TCS, Keane India) as well in
manufacturing companies (like ABB, BHEL, BEL) using SAP Software for
their company operations. You have to learn SAP preferably in SAP
Consultancy firms. 

hii shiel very thank you for ur efforts put in to give us soo much of knowledge about sap...i have a question plz can u give me solution for  it...

1) do a fresh CA is required to hold certificate in sap , i mean if i do a course which provides traning and overview of sap but not an official certificate by any institute will it be ok?

2) icai have come with a couse on sap fees for which is rs 147500/-  details about the same is as under ,i dont know whether to do it from icai bcoz another private istitue is offerring me the course at rs 50000/- what should i do?

3) again is it neccessary to hold cerificate in sap for fresh CA..

Resumption of SAP Course Facilitated by Committee on Information 
Technology, ICAI 
The Committee on Information Technology wishes to Inform you that registrations for SAP ERP 
Course conducted by the IT Committee of the ICAI in tie up with M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd. have been 
started again. . 
There are two courses, SAP ERP Financial Accounting and SAP ERP Management Accounting
and fees for each course is Rs 142875/-(including taxes and one time certification fees). 
Please submit the registration form available at https://220.225.242.182:82/SAP_REGISTRATION.aspx  
along with Demand draft of Rs 142875/- (In favour of Secretary ICAI, payable at Delhi) and send the 
said documents to join this course to: 
The Secretary Committee on Information Technology 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India 
5th Floor, Hostel Block, ICAI Bhawan, A-29, 
Sector-62, Noida - 201309, India 
Tel (Direct): +91 120 3045961 
Email: cit @ icai.in, erp @ icai.in 
The registration fee is Rs 142875/- (including taxes and one time certification fees) as against the 
market price of Rs 190000 /- (excluding taxes). Please note that as per the agreement between ICAI 
and M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd. the fee is non-refundable under any circumstances. The fees once 
collected by ICAI will be paid in advance to M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd.immediately after realisation, so 
that M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd. thereafter can commence the Training. Please give us sufficient time to 
realise your payment and pay to M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd. in advance. 
Please note that one time certification fee is included in above mentioned fee and certification must be 
taken within one month of completion of 200 hours of course, otherwise Rs.5000/-(Plus Taxes) has to 
be paid. The details are given below: 
Sl.No. Certification Validity Fees per students 
1 1 month from the date of completion of the 
course 
Included in Rs 142875/- 
2 After 1 month of completion of the course INR 5,000.00 (Plus taxes) ( Apart from 
registration fees of Rs 142875/- ) 
3 Recertification until the certification is in 
the offering 
INR 35,000.00 (Plus taxes) 
 Maximum three attempts are allowed for appearing in certification examination. 
 All the fees has to be paid in the form of Crossed Demand Draft in favour of "Secretary, The 
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India" payable at Delhi 
In case of any difficulties you may get in touch with us at 0120-3045961 or at erp @ icai.in
1. There are 3 certification attempts allowed for the participant. If a participant does not clear the 
certification in three attempts he / she will have to take up the course again. For each of three attempts 
member has to pay certification fees. One time (first attempt) certification fees is included with 
registration fees of Rs 142875/-. If candidate fails to clear in the first attempt, candidate has to pay Rs 
35000/- for next attempt and If candidate fails to clear in the second attempt, candidate has to pay Rs 
35000/- again for the final and third attempt. 

2. M/s SAP India Pvt. Ltd. normally takes 10 working days after the receipt of all docs (CV, photo, 
ICAI Id Card or authorization and payment). 
3. You can visit the updated centre list by the given url 
https://www.sap.com/asia/services/education/centres/partners.epx

Hi Rohan,

A Chartered Accountant is a full fledged professional and apart from small competency shots, we don't need the support of any other degree to get us a certain profile.

To answer your question, "do a fresh CA is required to hold certificate in sap , i mean if i do a course which provides traning and overview of sap but not an official certificate by any institute will it be ok?"

No, A CA is not required to hold SAP certification to be an SAP consultant. But yes if you want to increase your competency, any institute will be ok for that matter. I am not SAP certified myself and I didn't go for any SAP exposure before getting into this profile. The company itself gave me internal training in SAP FI and CO and I have been doing fine.

"icai have come with a couse on sap fees for which is Rs. 147500/-  details about the same is as under ,i dont know whether to do it from icai bcoz another private istitue is offerring me the course at Rs. 50000/- what should i do?

See, there is a major gap in the details. This institute which is charging you 50,000, I am not sure wheather it is providing you certification or just SAP project exposure. ICAI will surely provide you certification. Because there are two types of institutes involved in SAP coachings... first those which are SAP authorised and they charge around 3 lacs for the coaching, study material plus certification exam fee.... Second there are institutes who only give you SAP knowledge through classroom and lab training, but they are not SAP authorised so they can't provide you certification nor you can yourself sit for certification exam (because for sitting in certification exam yourself by filling up the exam form without any institute, which costs around 35,000/- only, you need one year's SAP experience as a consultant or as an end user and you have to show it).. and these institutes charge you from 30,000 to 50,000/-.

Do your research and decide what you want to go for. Prior SAP exposure will certainly give you an edge in the interview.

Regards

Sheli Sehrawat

thanks a lot sheli for ur very quick response....

further to ask you:

1) no the private institute is not providing any certification only a sap project exposure.is it worth it?

2) icai have not mentioned any time frame of the course , and what as per ur experiance , can we pass this certification exam easily or do we need to put in efforts like an ca exam..is this exams tough?

3) according to u how many days/months it takes to complete this icai course...bcoz icai have not stated this in its notification mail..

thank you

thanks a lot sheli for ur very quick response....

further to ask you:

1) no the private institute is not providing any certification only a sap project exposure.is it worth it?

2) icai have not mentioned any time frame of the course , and what as per ur experiance , can we pass this certification exam easily or do we need to put in efforts like an ca exam..is this exams tough?

3) according to u how many days/months it takes to complete this icai course...bcoz icai have not stated this in its notification mail..

thank you

1) I think you can find other cheaper institutes with the same agenda. But yes I would suggest you go for ICAI's course as it will give you certification also (earlier it was 96000 only and I used to wonder how ICAI can manage 35000 of certification fee with tuition charges in this meagre amount)

2) The certification exam is not that tough its just like passing correspondence MBA paper. Though you have to concerntrate for atleaast one month.

3) I think you should call up at the institute helpline for further details of the course. I am myself not familar with the time duration of the course.

Regards

Sheli Sehrawat

Dear Madam

Iam a CA-Inter  working as an accountant in Muscat.I have 8 years experience in the field of accounts,audit & taxation.

Iam trying to find a job in India.I would like to do a certification course in SAP FICO.Could you pls tell me  the job prospects of this course if iam trying to get a job as a consultant or as a member in the core finance team in a good IT company.

I dont have any prior experience in ERP.Is it necessary to have an ERP experience to do Online training from an authorised institute?.

Pls provide your valuable suggestions.

Regards

Santhosh

Hi Santosh,

Job prospects in SAP ERP are very good. You can refer to my earlier answers in this article and to various posts for further clarification.

go through this answer: /forum/sap-fico-for-cas-188203.asp

Prior ERP experience can be compromised by the companies if you have good domain knowledge. In your case, 8 years of experience is a good enough factor for SAP opportunity. My suggestion will be to first try in IT companies offering SAP consultancy before going for certification. As far as my experience goes, If you put in good efforts, you will find an SAP job even without getting certification.

Further, It is not necessary to have prior ERP experience to get training in authorised institutes.

Regards

Sheli Sehrawat

Hi Sheli,

Hope you are doing good.

i am working in the same profile as yours' in Infosys.

However i am not sure abt the future prospects of this particular profile.

Further after a period of time say a Year or 2. wht profiles is left open with us to switch(If we wanna switch).

And would we able to start our own consultancy in SAP FICO after a certain time gap.

Thanks and regards

Ketan Kothari

Hi Ketan,

I am doing good. Thanks. Good to know that you are in the same profile.

Yes after spending longer durations (more than 2 years), you don't have much options left to switch over. But then this is the case with almost all the profiles a CA can handle. Be it Internal Audit, Stat Audit, Direct Taxation, Indirect Taxation, everybody tends to freeze in the same profile after spending significant time. However for us, following are the options which are always open:

1. In Finance and Accounts Dept of an ERP oriented Organisation

2. In IT Risk Assurance team of Big 4 firms

3. Open a freelancing SAP consultancy

4. Become an SAP trainer

There might be more options but currently these are a few i can identify.

Cheers

Sheli Sehrawat

Hi, I am a CA Final Student for Nov 2013 attempt, I wish to join SAP-FI Course, but i am not sure if I should go SAP in prequalification or post qualification ............... please help on this.............. describing benifits from both the options..........

HI VS,

you have your CA final due in Nov,13 and in the mean time you have your B.com also.

In addition to above you have your articleship too.

My personal opinion would be concentrate on academics, articleship and complete your CA.

SAP fico tarining requires many buisness process & Domain knowledge which we learn in Final.

If you do it now u would need to spend money form your own pocket and after your qualification you can join companies who will train you out themselves.

If you do it prior to your qualification you will have to take out time for the SAP FICO training from your busy schedule and this would hamper your daily schedule and even the cost is quite high.

Regards

Ketan Kothari

Dear VS,

I think you are going good as of now. Plan a very smooth and achievable career path for yourself. Devote your 100% time and energy to the task at hand and don't bother about the rest untill they are due.

These are your plus and minus points if you chose to go for SAP certification pre-qualification

+

1. You will have an edge in campus interviews (very meagre though because the higher weightage is for the number of attempts you take in CA final)

2. In your articleship, the course will help you to analyse the client's system thoroughly (if at all SAP is installed there) during audits

3. You will have time before the interviews to practise and learn more functionalities (if at all you are dedicated enough)

-

1. You will pay more than 3.5 lakhs for both FI and CO modules. Individually, more than 2 lakhs.

2. You will not be able to resonate and comprehend the scenarios in the system untill you have some finance and accounts related experience of a company.

3. Chances are that you will forget the whole thing before the actual implementation of the same ( when you join a company after your finals) because SAP terminology is different and how settings are mapped is a bit complex. It needs continuous practise and effort to be able to answer questions about a certain process.

 4. The time you will devote in SAP will certainly reduce the time you devote in your CA Final studies. This is the biggest minus because scoring the best in CA Final matters the most currently.

5. If, after qualification, you wish to go into an audit/taxation profile then this course may not help you much in getting a job. In that case it will be a sheer wastage of money.

I would also like to add here that most of the times more than you, it your luck which decides what profile you will work into. Also, with experience as we move ahead, our thoughts tend to change and you might end up liking other profile. So, its a risk taking this course as of now

The minuses here will become the pluses of doing the course after getting qualified.

All the best for whatever you do.

Thanks & Regards

Sheli Sehrawat