As a part of the CA Curriculum, a CA Student is required to undergo 3 years of articleship training under a Chartered Accountant.

Out of these 3 years of articleship, 2 years of articleship are mandatorily required to be served under a Chartered Accountant in practice. However, in the last year of training, a CA student may either continue his training under a chartered accountant in practice or enrol himself for training under a chartered accountant in employment. Training under a Chartered Accountant in employment is called Industrial Training.

This article mainly focuses on How to Register for Articleship Training. Apart from procedure for Articleship Registration, this article also focuses on:-

How to Register for Articleship Training

A CA Student who intends to undergo Articleship Training shall first find a CA Firm which has a vacancy for Article Trainees. Not all CA Firms have vacancies for keeping article trainees as ICAI has enforced a maximum limit on CA’s for training articles. The maximum limit enforced on CA’s for training articles is as follows:-

Period of Continuous Practice

Maximum No. of Articles allowed to Train

Upto 3 years

1 Article Assistant

3 to 5 years

3 Article Assistants

5 to 10 years

7 Article Assistants

More than 10 years

10 Article Assistants

The above limit is per CA and not per CA Firm. Therefore, if a CA Firm has 3 partners and all of them have more than 10 years of experience, they would be eligible to train 3×10 = 30 articles.

Once, a CA trainee has found a chartered accountant who has articleship vacancies for training CA Students and that chartered accountant has also agreed to register and train that CA Student, the CA Student has to inform the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India about the same.

Articleship Registration Forms

At the time of starting articleship training, the CA Student has to intimate ICAI that he is starting articleship and furnish all relevant details regarding the same. He would be required to purchase Form 102 and Form 103 on payment of Rs. 50 from ICAI for articleship registration and furnish all details as asked in these forms.

Form 102 and Form 103 for Registration of Articleship can also be downloaded from the website of ICAI. In case these forms are downloaded online, the CA Student would be required to pay Rs. 50 extra which he would normally be required to pay in case these registration forms were purchased physically from ICAI branches. (Download Form 102 & Form 103 online)

Articleship Registration Form 102: Deed of Articles

  1. The deed of articles should be executed on a “Non-Judicial Stamp Paper” or “Special Adhesive Stamps” of the requisite value should be affixed.
  2. The deed of articles should be executed for full period of 3 years. A deed showing lesser period will not be accepted.
  3. The deed of articles should be executed in printed Form in duplicate and signed both by the articled assistant and the chartered accountant concerned.
  4. The original deed should be retained by the Chartered Accountant and duplicate copy thereof should be given to the articled assistant.
  5. The deed of articles is not required to be submitted to ICAI for registration.

Articleship Registration Form 103: Statement of Particulars

Articleship Registration Form 103 is required to be submitted in triplicate – one copy to be submitted to ICAI, one copy each to be retained by the CA and the article. Form 103 should be signed by both the CA as well as the Article Assistant.

The copy of the articleship registration form should be submitted to ICAI along with:-

  1. Attested copy of mark-sheet of IPCC Exams
  2. Attested copy of Secondary/ Higher School Certificate as proof of Date of Birth
  3. Requisite Fees by way of Demand Draft i.e. Rs. (Rs. 50 extra in case the Forms were downloaded online)
  4. Attested Copy of completion of ITT & Orientation Program

Copies of all these forms should be attested by the CA under whom the articleship training is being done.

Articleship Registration Form 103 along with the requisite documents and fees should reach ICAI within 30 days from the date of commencement of articleship. In case, a student is unable to submit Form 103 within 30 days, Form 103 should be accompanied by a hand written application stating the reason for late submission of the articleship form. This application referred to as an application for Condonation of Delay and should be signed by both the article assistant as well as the CA.

The article assistant would also be required to pay a fee for delay in submission of the Form. The fee is as follows:-

Period of Delay

Corresponding Fees to be paid

30 days beyond the specified period

Rs. 100

31-180 days beyond the specified period

Rs. 300

Beyond 181 days

Rs. 1,000

No other document is required to be attached along with the application for late submission of articleship registration form. On receipt of the application for delay in submission of articleship registration forms, ICAI may either approve the same without any enquiry or in case of any doubts, ICAI may also ask for the following documents:-

  1. Attendance Record of the Articled Assisstant
  2. Original Deed of Articles in Form 102, executed on a non-judicial stamp paper
  3. Certified Copy of the work diary of the articled assistant
  4. Stipend Details with evidence in the form of Bank Pass Book/ Bank statement

In case a student intends to pursue any other course along with articleship, he would be required to obtain the permission of ICAI within one 1 month of starting such course by submitting an application in Form 112.

Student Identity Card

The Identity Card in Form 103 should be duly filled in with latest passport size photograph of the student and signed by the CA and student at appropriate places. The Identity Card will be stamped by ICAI and returned back to the student in a plastic cover along with the registration letter. The Identity Card and Registration Letter would be sent to the Article Assistant by normal post to his registered address.

The Identity Card shall be compulsory to all students and is valid for a period of 3 years from the date of registration. In case of transfer/extension of articled service, the card shall be required to be re-issued for the balance/extended period.

Articleship Working Hours

  1. The Working Hours of the article assistant shall be 35 hours in a week excluding the lunch break.
  2. The office hours of the principal for providing articled training to the article assistant shall not generally start before 9:00 AM or end after 7:00 PM
  3. The normal working hours of the articled assistant shall not start after 11:00 AM or end before 5:00 PM
  4. In case of excess work, the article trainee may be required to work beyond the normal 35 working hours. However, the aggregate number of working hours shall not exceed 45 hours per week.
  5. The requirement or working beyond 35 hours should not be a practice but only in exceptional circumstances. Moreover, in case a person is working beyond the normal 35 hours, the article assistant shall be entitled to compensatory leaves calculated with reference to the number of completed working hours, over and above 35 working hours.
  6. The facility of flexible working hours which was available earlier was withdrawn a few years ago

A CA Student doing Articleship is only allowed to pursue 1 additional course (except CA) along with Articleship. For pursuing this additional course, prior permission is required to be obtained from ICAI. Moreover, the classes of this additional course should not overlap with Articleship timings. Kindly refer: Official Notification on pursuing Additional Course along with Articleship

Articleship Registration Fees

At the time of Articleship Registration, the article trainee is required to pay a fee of Rs. 2,000. In case this articleship registration fees has already been paid at the time of IPCC Registration, you are not required to pay this fees again.

The Fee shall be payable by way of demand draft/ bankers cheque drawn on any bank in the name of “Secretary, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India” payable at Mumbai/Kolkatta/ Chennai/ Kanpur/ New Delhi as the case may be.

Students are requested to note that although they can start their articleship after clearing IPCC Group I, they can register for CA Final only after clearing both the groups of IPCC.