A chartered accountant is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Chartered accountants audit companies, advise on and file direct and indirect taxes, prepare financial statements, and run finance functions, either in practice or as employees.
Read this first. This page rests on one dated pay figure from a named source. That is evidence of what that source states, not of what Chartered Accountant roles pay across India.
●VERIFIED
≡1 observations
◷Latest 2025-08-16
Salary✓VERIFIED1 obs · MEDIUM
Demand↑SIGNAL+14% accounting finance postings · August 2026, year-on-year
Skills↑SIGNAL8 of 9 with a sector signal
Location◐LIMITED32 cities · PLFS state factor
Industry↑SIGNAL+9% projected 2026 (Aon)
What the work is
The audit role is reserved: only a chartered accountant, or a firm of chartered accountants, can be appointed auditor of a company. The figure on this page is LIC's officer post for CAs.
How people enter it
The CA course
Foundation (or direct entry at Intermediate for eligible graduates), Intermediate, practical training under a practising CA, then the Final exam.
Membership and practice
Passing leads to ICAI membership. Members who want to practise take a certificate of practice from ICAI; others work in employment.
Public-sector entry
PSUs, banks and insurers recruit CAs directly. LIC's Assistant Administrative Officer (Chartered Accountant) post is the figure on this page.
What the pay figures say
One dated figure is on file. It comes from an employer's own notice. It took effect on 16 August 2025. Each card says what the figure is; open "How the figure is read" for the method and what it leaves out.
Life Insurance Corporation of India · AAO (Chartered Accountant)₹10,63,620 a year
Basic pay × 12: ₹88,635 per month (total ≈ ₹1,26,000 in an A-class city) One public-sector life insurer, Class I officer entry
AAO (Chartered Accountant): basic ₹88,635 per month × 12; scale ₹88,635–1,69,025; total emoluments at the minimum of the scale about ₹1,26,000 per month in an A-class city as stated. Starting basic pay × 12; allowances excluded from the value.
Limits. One employer; basic pay only. Public-sector officer scale, not a market benchmark for the profession.
Practice or employment: practice income depends on clients; employment pay depends on the employer.
Years since qualifying: the first few years after membership move pay the most.
Specialisation: tax, audit, transaction advisory and financial reporting each have their own market.
Questions
What do the Chartered Accountant posts on this page pay?
Life Insurance Corporation of India, AAO (Chartered Accountant): Basic pay × 12: ₹88,635 per month (total ≈ ₹1,26,000 in an A-class city), recorded here as ₹10,63,620 a year (LIC AAO (Specialist) / AE, 32nd Batch, notified 16.08.2025).
Is that the take-home pay?
No. A figure given as basic pay leaves out dearness allowance, house rent allowance and the other allowances paid on top of it, and it is before income tax and provident fund or NPS deductions. The CTC breakup calculator on this site works out a monthly in-hand figure from a CTC.
Can a company appoint someone other than a CA as its auditor?
No. Under section 141 of the Companies Act, 2013 a company's auditor must be a chartered accountant, or a firm (including an LLP) whose partners practising in India are mostly chartered accountants. Cost audit is done by cost accountants and secretarial audit by company secretaries.
Roles in Finance & Accounting first, then the rest of the covered set. Listed so a comparison is one click away — no role is ranked above another, and a role appears here only when it has sourced observations of its own.