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:-
- Level 1: Name changed from CA CPT to CA Foundation
- Level 2: Name changed from CA IPCC to CA Intermediate
- 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
- 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 4 | Business 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)
- Duration of Study: 8 months to be eligible to appear for CA Intermediate Exams
- Exams would be held in the month of May and November and the last date for registration would be 1st September and 1st March.
- Total No. of subjects increased from 7 to 8. Now, there would be 4 papers in each group.
- Cost Accounting and Financial Management to be 2 different subjects
- 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)
- New subject introduced: Capital Markets and Financial Services
- Eligibility to appear for CA Final – In last 6 months of Articleship
- 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 8 | Advanced Indirect Tax Laws |
The Paper 6 of CA Final would be elective paper and a student can choose any one of the elective papers:-
- Risk Management
- International Taxation
- Economic Laws
- Financial Services & Capital Markets
- Global Financial Reporting Standards
- 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
| Particulars | Date/Attempt | |
| Last Date for CPT Registration | 30th June 2017 | |
| Date of Commencement of Registration for Foundation Course | 1st July 2017 | |
| First Foundation Exam to be held in | May 2018 | |
| Last CPT Exam to be held in | June 2019 | |
| Three Parallel Attempts | Foundation | CPT |
| May 18 | June 18 | |
| Nov 18 | Dec 18 | |
| May 19 | June 19 | |
B. CA Intermediate Course
| Particulars | Date/Attempt | |
| Last Date for Registration in CA IPCC | 30th June 2017 | |
| Date of Commencement of Registration for Intermediate Course | 1st July 2017 | |
| First Exam of Intermediate to be held in | May 2018 | |
| Last Exam of IPCC to be held in | May 2019 | |
| Three Parallel Attempts | Intermediate | IPCC |
| May 18 | May 18 | |
| Nov 18 | Nov 18 | |
| May 19 | May 19 | |
C. CA Final Course
| Particulars | Date/Attempt | |
| Last Date for Registration in Existing Course | 30th June 2017 | |
| Date of Commencement of Registration for Final (New) Course | 1st July 2017 | |
| First Exam of Final (New Course) to be held in | May 2018 | |
| Last Exam of Final (Existing Course) to be held in | Nov 2020 | |
| Six Parallel Attempts | Final (New) | Final (Existing) |
| May 18 | May 18 | |
| Nov 18 | Nov 18 | |
| May 19 | May 19 | |
| Nov 19 | Nov 19 | |
| May 20 | May 20 | |
| Nov 20 | Nov 20 | |
Other Relevant Points regarding the CA New Course
- 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.
- 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.
