Articleship Transfer Rules as per ICAI & Forms

After a CA Student (enrolled through the CPT Route or the Direct Entry Route) is required to pursue 3 years of Articleship Training under a Chartered Accountant as a part of the CA Curriculum. During this 3 year articleship period he is allowed to take leaves and can also take articleship transfer.

We have already discussed about the Procedure for Articleship Registration and also about the total articleship leaves and in this post, we would mainly be discussing about transfer of articleship.

Recommended Read:

• Procedure to Register for Articleship, Registration Forms & Registration Status
• Computation of Articleship Leaves allowed

Although a CA Student is eligible to start his articleship after clearing 1^st Group of IPCC, he can register for CA Final only on clearing both groups of IPCC.

• Recommended Read: Procedure for CA Final Registration

Articleship Transfer Norms in the 1^st Year

In the 1^st year of Articleship, there is no restriction on transfer of Articleship and a CA Student can take a transfer from one CA to another CA without any prior permission of ICAI. There is no maximum limit stated on the transfer of articleship in the 1^st year and the CA Student can take transfer as many times as he wants.

No prior permission of ICAI is required in case the article assistant intends to take transfer in the 1^st year of articleship and can directly submit the Form 109 to ICAI.

There is a rumour among the CA Students that in the 1^st year of articleship, transfer is allowed only once. However, this rumour is baseless and ICAI has clarified that there is no limit on the no. of times articleship transfer can be taken in the 1^st year of articleship.

Articleship Transfer Norms in the 2^nd & 3^rd Year

In the 2^nd and the 3^rd year of training, Articleship Transfer only under the following specified circumstances:-

• Medical grounds requiring discontinuance of articles for a minimum period of three months (on production of a Medical Certificate issued by a Government Hospital).
• Transfer of a working parent to another city involving a distance of minimum 50 kms (on production of a certified copy of the transfer order and the proof of relocation to another City).
• Misconduct involving moral turpitude.
• Other justifiable circumstances / reasons: –
  • Grounds already permissible in the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 (on submission of requisite proof of the act warranting transfer/termination of articleship): –
    • Industrial Training (Regulation 51)
    • Secondment of articles (Regulation 54)
    • Conversion from PCC to IPCC (for termination of articles only. Re-registration of articles to be allowed only after passing Group-I of IPCC)
    • Death of Principal [Regulation 57(1)(c)]
    • Ceasing of practice by the Principal [Regulation 57(1)(a)]
    • Removal of name of the Principal from the Register of Member due to any reason [Regulation 57(1)(b)]
  • Marriage basis (only if there is relocation to another city involving distance of 50 kms).
  • Irregular payment or non payment of stipend with reference to Regulation 67.
  • Articled assistant desires to serve balance period of training outside India.
  • Shifting by the Principal to another city involving distance more than 50 kms.

 In case an article assistant intends to take transfer any of the above grounds, he is first required to take prior permission of ICAI before furnishing Form 109 as compared to 1^st year of Articleship wherein no prior permission is required.

Before submitting Form 109 to ICAI for transfer in the 2^nd & 3^rd year, the article assistant shall make a request on a plain paper with recommendations of the existing CA wherein he is doing his articleship for transfer of articleship along with evidence/proof (self-attested by the article assistant). Refer Official Notification of ICAI in this regard – http://www.icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=7267

It is to be noted that prior permission of ICAI is required to be taken in all the above mentioned cases except where an article trainee intends to take transfer for the purpose of Industrial Training. To prior permission of ICAI is required in case an article assistant intends to take transfer for the purpose of Industrial Training.

Recommended Read:

• Norms for doing Articleship in a Company
• Should CA Students opt for Industrial Training
• Register here to get Industrial Training Vacancies in your mailbox

Articleship Transfer Forms

A CA Student interested in taking Articleship Transfer is first required to leave the existing CA Firm wherein he is doing his articleship and then join the new CA Firm wherein he intends to pursue his articleship.

For taking articleship transfer from the existing the CA Firm, the CA Student is required to furnish Articleship Transfer Form 109 duly signed by the CA wherein he is doing his articleship. Request for transfer of articleship without the consent and sign of the CA will not be accepted by ICAI.

In case of dispute between principal and articled assistant, the matter be settled amicably among the articled assistant and the principal concerned and the Institute shall not interfere in such cases.

Once Form 109 has been submitted, the CA is required to submit Form 102 & Form 103 to ICAI for registration in the CA Firm wherein he intends to pursue his articleship. There is no additional fee to be paid for articleship transfer except the cost for purchasing the Forms.