On 1st June 2016, ICAI has announced that they are introducing changes in the CA Course and the new CA Course would be applicable from 1st July 2017.

Several changes have been introduced at all levels of CA Exams. Infact the names of the different stages in CA Exams have also been changed. The changes are as follows:-

  1. Level 1: Name changed from CA CPT to CA Foundation
  2. Level 2: Name changed from CA IPCC to CA Intermediate
  3. Level 3: CA Final (No change in name)

Several changes have also been introduced at all these levels and these changes are mentioned below

New CA Course applicable from 2016

Changes in CA CPT (Name changed to CA Foundation)
  • For appearing in CA Foundation Exams, a student must have completed 4 months of study period
  • The Exams would be held in the month of May and Nov
  • The subjects in the CA Foundation Course are as follows
Paper 1:Principles and Practices of Accounting (100 Marks)
Paper 2:Business Law & Business Correspondence and Reporting (100 Marks)
Section A: Business Law (60 Marks)
Section B: Business Correspondence & Reporting (40 Marks)
Paper 3:Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning & Statistics (100 Marks)
Part I: Business Mathematics & Logical Reasoning (60 Marks)
Part II: Statistics (40 Marks)
Paper 4Business Economics & Business and Commercial Knowledge
Business Economics (60 Marks)
Business and Commercial Knowledge (40 Marks)

 

The CA Foundation Exam would be held in the month of May and November every year and the last date for registration for these exams would be 31st Dec and 30th June respectively. Paper 1 & Paper 2 would be objective type and Paper 3 & Paper 4 would be subjective type. Negative marking would also be there for Paper 3 & Paper 4 but would not be applicable for Paper 1 & Paper 2.

To clear the CA Foundation Exams, a student would be required to secure atleast 40% in each subject and 50% in aggregate of all the subjects.

The registration for the CA Foundation Exam would start from 1st July 2017 onwards and all students who register before 1st July 2017 would be enrolled for current scheme of CPT Exams.

 

Changes in CA IPCC (Name changed to CA Intermediate)

  1. Duration of Study: 8 months to be eligible to appear for CA Intermediate Exams
  2. Exams would be held in the month of May and November and the last date for registration would be 1st September and 1st March.
  3. Total No. of subjects increased from 7 to 8. Now, there would be 4 papers in each group.
  4. Cost Accounting and Financial Management to be 2 different subjects
  5. Info Tech and Strategic Management replaced by Enterprise Information System and Strategic Management

The subjects in CA Intermediate in the CA New Course are as follows:-

Group I
Paper 1:Accounting (100 Marks)
Paper 2:Corporate Laws and Other Laws (100 Marks)
Part I: Corporate Law (60 Marks)
Part II: Other Laws (40 Marks)
Paper 3:Cost & Management Accounting (100 Marks)
Paper 4:Taxation (100 Marks)
Section A: Income Tax Law (50 Marks)
Section B: Indirect Tax Law (50 Marks)
 Group II
Paper 5:Advanced Accounting (100 Marks)
Paper 6:Auditing & Assurance (100 Marks)
Paper 7:Enterprise Information System and Strategic Management (100 Marks)
Section A: Enterprise Information System (50 Marks)
Section B: Strategic Management (50 Marks)
Paper 8:Financial Management & Economics for Finance
Section A: Financial Management (50 Marks)
Section B: Economics for Finance

A CA Student can start articleship at any time after clearing either or both the groups of IPCC. However, before starting articleship, a CA Student would also be required to undergo 4 weeks Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills (ICITSS)

Changes in CA Final
  1. New subject introduced: Capital Markets and Financial Services
  2. Eligibility to appear for CA Final – In last 6 months of Articleship
  3. Duration of Articleship – 3 years

The subjects of CA Final new Course are as follows

Group I
Paper 1:Financial Reporting (100 Marks)
Paper 2:Strategic Financial Management (100 Marks)
Paper 3:Advanced Auditing & Professional Ethics (100 Marks)
Paper 4:Corporate Laws and Other Economic Laws (100 Marks)
Group II
Paper 5:Strategic Cost Management & Performance Evaluation (100 Marks)
Paper 6:Elective Paper (100 Marks) – To be chosen from list given below
Paper 7:Direct Tax Laws (70 Marks) & International Taxation (30 Marks)
Part I: Direct Tax Laws (70 Marks)
Part II: International Tax Laws (30 Marks)
Paper 8Advanced Indirect Tax Laws

The Paper 6 of CA Final would be elective paper and a student can choose any one of the elective papers:-

  1. Risk Management
  2. International Taxation
  3. Economic Laws
  4. Financial Services & Capital Markets
  5. Global Financial Reporting Standards
  6. Multidisciplinary Case Study

Before appearing for CA Final Exams, a CA Student would also be required to undergo 4 weeks Advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills (AICITSS) during the last 2 years of Articleship but before appearing for CA Final Exams.

Date of Implementation of the new CA Course

A. CA Foundation Course

ParticularsDate/Attempt
Last Date for CPT Registration30th June 2017
Date of Commencement of Registration for Foundation Course1st July 2017
First Foundation Exam to be held inMay 2018
Last CPT Exam to be held inJune 2019
Three Parallel AttemptsFoundationCPT
May 18June 18
Nov 18Dec 18
May 19June 19

B. CA Intermediate Course

ParticularsDate/Attempt
Last Date for Registration in CA IPCC30th June 2017
Date of Commencement of Registration for Intermediate Course1st July 2017
First Exam of Intermediate to be held inMay 2018
Last Exam of IPCC to be held inMay 2019
Three Parallel AttemptsIntermediateIPCC
May 18May 18
Nov 18Nov 18
May 19May 19

C. CA Final Course

ParticularsDate/Attempt
Last Date for Registration in Existing Course30th June 2017
Date of Commencement of Registration for Final (New) Course1st July 2017
First Exam of Final (New Course) to be held inMay 2018
Last Exam of Final (Existing Course) to be held inNov 2020
Six Parallel AttemptsFinal (New)Final (Existing)
May 18May 18
Nov 18Nov 18
May 19May 19
Nov 19Nov 19
May 20May 20
Nov 20Nov 20

 

Other Relevant Points regarding the CA New Course

  1. Students enrolling through the Direct Entry Route i.e. enrolling for the CA Course after Graduation/ Post Graduation are exempted from appearing for CA Foundation Exams. They can directly start their articleship and appear for CA IPCC Exams simultaneously.
  2. ICAI has also released a FAQ w.r.t the new scheme of Training which can be downloaded from here – FAQ on New CA Course.