Proposed ICAI Exam and Training Life Cycle

1. Register for Foundation after passing Class 10 (registration valid for 4 years)
2. Appear for Foundation Examination after appearing for 10+2 examination and completion of 4 months from registration (passing marks 50% in each paper)
3. Register for Intermediate Course after passing Foundation Examination/graduate or post-graduate with requisite marks (registration valid for 5 years + 5 years with revalidation)
4. Registration for Intermediate Course would also be treated as registered for Business Accounting Associate (BAA)
5. Appear for Intermediate Examination (6 papers –2 groups) after completion of the study period of 8 months (passing marks 40% in each paper and 50% in each group)
6. Pass both groups of Intermediate Examination, complete integrated course on Information Technology and Soft Skills and commence articleship
7. Register for Final Course and registration valid for 10 years which can be revalidated after every 10 years
8. Articleship period will be 2 years of which 2nd year can be for industrial training (eligible leave 24 days for 2 years)
9. Undergo Advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills (AICITSS) Course, pass self paced online modules and Complete articleship before appearing in Final Examination
10. Appear for Final examination (6 papers –2 groups) after and completion of 6 months from end of articleship(passing marks 40% in each paper and 50% in each group). If unsuccessful, apply for Business Accounting Associate.
11. A candidate getting exemption in any paper will need to pass the remaining papers within the next 3 attempts. The exemption can be availed further subject to passing marks of 50% in each paper.
12. Pass both groups of Final Examination and apply for ICAI membership. To apply for Certificate of Practice undergo 1 year work experience under a fellow CA in practice.

Number of Papers

 Levels of ICAI Exams No. of Papers CA Foundation Four Papers CA Intermediate Six Papers (Two Groups of 3 Papers each)CA FinalSix Papers (Two Groups of 3 Papers each)

CA Foundation Papers:

Paper -1: Accounting (100 marks)

Paper -2: Business Laws (100 marks)

Paper -3: Quantitative Aptitude (100 marks)

• Business Mathematics
• Logical reasoning
• Statistics

Paper -4: Business Economics (100 marks)

CA Intermediate Papers:

Group-1 Papers:

Paper -1: Advanced Accounting (100 marks)

Paper -2: Corporate laws (100 marks)

Paper-3: Cost and Management Accounting(100 marks)

Group-2 Papers:

Paper-4: Taxation (100 marks)

• Direct Tax
• Indirect Tax

Paper-5: Auditing and Code of Ethics (100 marks)

Paper-6A: Financial Management (50 Marks)

Paper-6B: Strategic Management (50 Marks)

CA Final Papers:

First Group Papers:

Paper – 1: Financial Reporting (100 marks)

Paper – 2: Advanced Financial Management (100 marks)

Paper – 3: Advanced Auditing & Professional Ethics (100 marks)

Second Group Papers:

Paper – 4: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation (100 marks)

Paper – 5: Indirect Tax Laws (100 marks)

Paper – 6: Integrated Business Solutions (Multi-disciplinary case study with Strategic Management) (100 marks)

Introduction of Self-Paced Online Modules

• Four self-paced online learning modules encompassing different fields, are being introduced.
• Student can learn and qualify the modules at their own pace after qualifying the intermediate level examination

SET A:

Economic Laws [Compulsory Online Module]

SET B:

Strategic Cost Management and Performance Evaluation [Compulsory Online Module)

SET C:

[Optional Online Module – Specialisation Elective]

Subjects which are globally relevant for positioning CA qualification as a Global Qualification

(Students have to choose any one module)

1. Risk management
2. Integrated and Sustainability Reporting
3. Government Accounting and Public finance
4. Introduction to Digital Ecosystem and Transformation
5. International Taxation
6. Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation
7. Forensic Audit
8. Financial Services and Capital Markets
9. Valuation
10. Forex and Treasury Management

SET D:

[Towards developing inherent traits of CA students and incorporating the Multidisciplinary approach envisaged in NEP, 2020]

[Students have to choose anyone module]

1. Constitution of India
2. Psychology (including self-awareness)
3. Entrepreneurship (to include MSMEs & Start ups )
4. Communication (to include Advocacy)
5. Philosophy

A student has to undergo online learning in Economic Laws [SET A] and Strategic Cost Management and Performance Evaluation [SET B] mandatorily. Further, he has to choose one module each from SET C and SET D.

Pattern of ICAI Exams

Foundation Level

Partly subjective and partly objective.

Intermediate Level

• Closed book examination
• 30% assessment by way of case scenarios/ study based MCQs and 70% by way of descriptive questions.

Partially objective and partially subjective [30% case scenario/study based MCQs and 70% descriptive questions] in all papers.

Final Level

• Open book/ restricted open book pattern for all papers
• 30% assessment by way of case scenarios/ study based MCQs
• 0% assessment by way of descriptive questions.
• Mandatory Multidisciplinary case study Paper.

Revalidation of Registration

CA Foundation Course

Validity of Foundation level registration is for 4 years. There is no revalidation of CA Foundation registration.

If a candidate is not able to clear Foundation Exam within 4 years of registration, he can opt for alternative route of direct entry to Intermediate Course subject to fulfilling stipulated conditions.

CA Intermediate Course

Validity of registration in CA Intermediate level is for 5 years. You may revalidate your registration only once after expiry of registration for a further period of 5 years.

CA Final Course

CA Final registration validity period is 10 years. Revalidation allowed in Final level. That means you may revalidate your CA Final registration again and again after expiry of validity period of 10 years.

Eligibility for appearing in ICAI Exams

CA Foundation Exams

Foundation level students shall be eligible to appear in CA Foundation exams after completion of 4 months study period and appearing in Class-12 examination.

Four Months Study Period has been specified and cut-off dates i.e. 1st January and 1st July have been removed. This will enable holding of Foundation Exams more than two times in a year.

CA Intermediate Exam

After completion of 8 months Study for students registering through Foundation Route as well as Direct Entry Route.

Earlier, for direct entry route, the students were eligible to appear in the intermediate examination after completion of 9 months of practical training. In the proposed scheme, since a student can commence practical training only after qualifying both groups of intermediate, a common study period of 8 months is proposed for students entering through the Foundation route and direct entry route as well.

CA Final Exam

• After passing both the Groups of Intermediate Examination
• Completion of 2 year of Practical Training (Articleship),
• Completion and passing of 4 Self-Paced learning Modules, and,
• Completion of Management and Communication skills (MCS) and Advanced ITT (second level)
• 6 months after the 2 year Practical Training is completed and courses completed as mentioned above, appear for Final examination.

 Four Self-paced online modules are being introduced, which the students can qualify at their own pace. Students have to, however, qualify these modules for appearing in Final examination.

Also, since the practical training period would be an examination free period commencing after students qualify both groups of intermediate examination, students will be eligible to appear in the Final examination after and completion of 6 months from the end of two years of Practical Training.

Passing Criteria of ICAI Exams

Foundation

CA Foundation Passing Criteria: 50% in each paper (with 25% negative marking for each wrong answer to MCQs in papers 3 and 4).

Intermediate

CA Intermediate Passing Criteria: 40% marks in each individual paper and 50% marks in aggregate to pass the Group with 25% negative marking (for wrong answers to MCQ based questions).

Negative marking would prevent students from resorting to guess work while answering questions. They would strive to improve their preparation and hone their application skills in order to answer correctly in the MCQ based papers.

Final

CA Final Passing Criteria: You will pass in CA Final exams if you secure at least 40% marks in each paper and 50% marks in aggregate to pass the Group.

Note that there is 25% negative marking for wrong answers to MCQ-based questions.

Paper-wise Exemption in ICAI

Foundation, Inter and Final: A candidate getting exemption in any paper will need to pass the remaining papers within the next 3 attempts.

For CA Intermediate and CA Final: After 3 attempts, the exemption can be availed further subject to passing marks of 50% in each paper. It is applicable for Intermediate and Final Group wise exams.

If student secures 60% or more in paper/s in one attempt, exemption of paper(s) for immediate 3 attempts is allowed. Thereafter, exempted paper/s will be treated as permanently passed and student has to score 50% to pass in the remaining paper/s individually. The student may, however, opt to surrender the exemption after three attempts.

Note that exemption obtained in any paper would not lapse even after three attempts. However, the candidate would be required to score 50% each in the remaining paper(s) (instead of 40% marks in individual paper and 50% marks in aggregate, as at present). He may, however, opt to surrender the exemption after three attempts.

ICAI Practical Training

Practical Training to commence only after passing both the groups of CA Intermediate in order to have exam free and seamless elective training, where a student can focus completely on his practical training rather than appearing in the remaining group of the Intermediate examination, as at present.

• Seamless and focused practical training for 2 years.
• Articleship or Practical Training can be commenced after qualifying both the groups of Intermediate examination (for students through Foundation and Direct Entry Route) and completion of IT Training and Orientation Course.
• The period of training would be an examination-free period of two years.
• There would be a reduction in the entitlement of leaves from 1/7th of the practical training period to 12 days in a year.
• Since there will be no exams during the two years of practical training, therefore, the number of leaves has been restricted to 12 days in a year.
• 100% increase in the stipend presently paid to the articled assistants.
• Option to undergo Industrial training for 9 months to 1 year (in the last leg of practical training)

During the second year of articleship training, the termination of articles shall be permitted if the articled assistant OPTS FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING or under such exceptional circumstances or conditions, as may be decided by the Council.

ICAI Articleship Period

This table show you the period of articleship of practical training under old as well as new scheme of education and training:

Articleship Current Scheme Proposed Scheme A. Total number of days of Training1095 (365 x 3)730 (365 x 2)B. Leaves permitted156 leaves (1095 x 1/7th Days)24 leaves (12 per year)C. No of Sundays (52 in a year)156 (52 x 3)104 (52 x 2)D. No. of Gazetted Holidays Approx. 15 in year)45 (15 x 3)30 (15 x 2)E. Paid leaves for Advance ITT and MCS300 [See Note]Effective days of Training [Total of A - (B+C+D+E)]708 [1095 - (156 + 156 + 45 + 30)]572 [730 - (24 + 104 + 30 + 0)]

Difference between the period of training under Current and Proposed Scheme = 136 days (708-572).

Note: Advanced ITT and MCS can be done after completion of Training under the Proposed Scheme.

Soft Skills and IT Training

• Orientation Course and ITT (first level) to be undergone before the commencement of practical training.
• Management and Communication skills (MCS) and Advanced ITT (second level) to be undergone during the Practical Training period or thereafter, but to be completed before appearing for Final Examination.
• Training will be mix of virtual and physical modes.

Requirement of COP

• One-year post-qualification work experience in a CA Firm required by Members applying for Certificate of Practice (COP) at any point of time.
• Requirement of one year post qualification work experience not applicable for a member who has worked for a minimum period of one year with a fellow chartered accountant in practice in the immediately preceding five years before the date of making such application.

A one year post qualification experience is mandated for those applying for COP. Also, members who are in industry and desire to shift to practice would also be required to have a one year experience in a CA firm before they apply for COP.

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