The New Course of Chartered Accountancy

ICAI has introduced the New scheme of Education and Training for Chartered Accountants, effective from July 1, 2023.

Following changes have been made-

• CA Foundation– 4 subjects from 6 subjects
• CA Intermediate– 6 papers (3 in each group)
• CA Articleship- Reduced from 3 to 2 years
• CA Final– 6 papers (3 in each group)

There are also many changes in the eligibility, registration validity, syllabus, subjects, paper pattern, passing criteria, exemptions, training leaves etc.

Relaxation to Old Course

Relaxation to Old Course Students to commence 3 years of Practical Training –
(i) who have passed one of the groups of Intermediate Examination under the Old Scheme.
(ii) who have registered / provisionally registered in Intermediate through Direct Entry Route under Old Scheme.
(iii) who have converted from Intermediate (Foundation/CPT Route) to Intermediate (Direct Entry Scheme) for appearing in the November 2023 Examination.

CA Foundation New Course

Currently, there are no criteria for the number of attempts in the CA Foundation course. Hence, students can give any number of attempts. The CA Foundation registration validity can also be revalidated multiple times.

But in the newly implemented scheme of Education and Training, students can register after the 10th, and the CA Foundation registration is valid for four years.

Also, now there will be no cut-off dates like January 1 and July 1 for the CA Foundation registration. This will enable ICAI to conduct three exams in a year.

CA Foundation New Syllabus

Now, in the new scheme, ICAI has removed 2 subjects: Business Correspondence & Reporting and Business & Commercial Knowledge.

• Paper – 1: Accounting (100 Marks)
• Paper – 2: Business Laws (100 Marks)
• Paper – 3: Quantitative Aptitude (100 Marks)
  • Business Mathematics
  • Logical Reasoning and statistics
• Paper – 4: Business Economics (100 Marks)

CA Foundation Passing Criteria

The ICAI has also made some changes in the CA Foundation exam pattern. In the new scheme, students have to get 50% marks to crack the CA Foundation exams, and there will be a negative marking of 0.25 Mark for every wrong MCQ answer.

Papers	Subject	Parts	Marks
1	Principles And Practice Of Accounting	–	100
2	Business Laws And Business Correspondence	Part A: Business Laws	60
		Part B: Business Correspondence And Reporting	40
3	Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning, And Statistics	Part A: Business Mathematics	40
		Part B: Logical Reasoning	20
		Part C: Statistics	40
4	Business Economics And Business & Commercial Knowledge	Part A: Business Economics	60
		Part B: Business and Commercial Knowledge	40

CA Intermediate Course

CA Intermediate Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for the CA Intermediate course is the same as before. However, to appear in the exams, the direct entry route students must undergo an 8-month study period.

CA Intermediate Registration Validity

The validity of the CA Intermediate registration is now for 5 years as against four years.  CA Intermediate students can revalidate their registration form only once with the prescribed fees.

CA Intermediate New Syllabus

Now, there will be only 6 papers in the CA Intermediate course and not 8 papers. The changes implemented by the ICAI in the CA Intermediate subjects are:

• Papers 1 and 5 are merged into one, and the 1st paper will be – Advanced Accounting.
• Enterprise Information Systems (paper 7) and Economics for Finance  (paper 8) have been removed and a new paper as Financial Management and Strategic Management (50 marks + 50 marks)is added.
• Paper 2 of corporate law will cover the Companies Act entirely. Its portion of Business law will be covered at the CA Foundation level.

Now, there will be 2 groups of 3 papers each.

Group	Paper Name	Marks
Group I	Advanced Accounting	100 Marks
Group I	Corporate And Other Laws Part I: Company Law And Limited Liability Partnership Law Part Ii: Other Laws	100 Marks Part I: 70 Marks Part II: 30 Marks
Group I	Taxation Section A: Income Tax Law Section B: Goods and Services Tax	100 Marks Section A: 50 Marks Section B: 50 Marks
Group II	Cost and Management Accounting	100 Marks
Group II	Auditing and Ethics	100 Marks
Group II	Financial Management And Strategic Management Section A: Financial Management Section B: Strategic Management	100 Marks Section A: 50 Marks Section B: 50 Marks

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CA Intermediate Passing Criteria

The passing criteria for the CA Intermediate exams has also changed. So, there will be 30% MCQ-based questions in all 6 papers with  the negative marking of .25 for every wrong answer.

Exemption Criteria for CA Intermediate

After the new scheme, if you get an exemption in any paper, then the exemption will be permanent for that paper, this  means that the ICAI will treat the exempted papers as permanently passed. However, you need to clear the rest of the papers with 50% marks in CA intermediate result.

CA Articleship Training

ICAI has reduced the CA articleship duration from 3 years to 2 years. It is good news for all the CA aspirants as now they can become CA earlier than before.

However, with the reduced period of CA Articleship, there comes a condition for aspirants who want to become a practitioner.

Students who want to practice CA must have 1 year of experience in a Chartered Accountancy firm. Afterwards, they will get a certificate of practice.

For existing CAs, if they have worked for one year in a CA firm in the last 5 years, then this condition will be treated as fulfilled.

CA Articleship Eligibility

Under the CA new scheme 2023, students have to clear both the groups of CA Intermediate and completion of ICITSS training to be eligible to start the articleship training.

The move will benefit the students, as now they can focus entirely on the practical training and don’t have to worry about exam preparation.

CA Articleship Stipend

Many students often complain that their CA articleship stipend is low. So, ICAI has decided to increase the stipend by 100%.

CA Articleship Leaves

Since students don’t have to give any exams during the practical training, ICAI has reduced the number of leaves. Students can take only 12 leaves in a year, which means 24 leaves in two years.

ICAI Self-paced Modules

ICAI has introduced self-paced modules under the new scheme of education and training. Students can study these modules at their own pace and take online exams.

The self-paced modules are divided into four sets: Set A, Set B, Set C, and Set D.

To become eligible for the CA Final exams, students have to clear these 4 sets. To clear these modules, they have to score more than 50% marks in each module.

Among the 4 sets, Sets A and B, which are Economics Law and Strategic Cost Management, are compulsory. Also, these are the deleted subjects of the CA Final old course.

In the other two sets, students can choose the topic. Students can study for these self-paced modules online during the articleship training and clear their exams simultaneously.

CA Final Eligibility and Registration

To become eligible for the CA Final course,

• Students have to pass both groups of CA Intermediate exams and complete the ICITSS training.
• Complete articleship or still in service
• Complete 6 month study period after the practical training is over.
• Crack  self-paced modules.

The CA Final registration is valid for 10 years. Aspirants can revalidate their registration after 10 years with the prescribed fee.

CA Final New Syllabus 2024

In the CA new scheme 2023, ICAI has reduced the CA Final papers from 8 to 6. Now, there are 2 groups that will include 3 papers each.

Major changes done in the CA Final Subjects are:

• Subjects of papers 4 and 5 will be removed and included in the self-paced modules.
• Now, there will be no options in Paper 6. It will be Multi-disciplinary case study with Strategic Management
• Elective subjects such as risk management, financial services and capital markets are now part of the Set C of the self-paced modules.

Talking about the CA Final exemption rules, are the same as CA Intermediate.

Papers	Subject
Paper 1:	Financial Reporting
Paper 2:	Strategic Financial Management
Paper 3:	Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics
Paper 4:	Corporate and Economic Laws
Paper 5:	Strategic Cost Management and Performance Evaluation
Paper 6A:	Risk Management
Paper 6B:	Financial Services and Capital Markets
Paper 6C:	International Taxation
Paper 6D:	Economic Laws
Paper 6E:	Global Financial Reporting Standards
Paper 6F:	Multidisciplinary Case Study
Paper 7:	Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation
Paper 8:	Indirect Tax Laws

This is all about the CA New scheme of Education and Training proposed by ICAI recently and which will be applicable from May 2024 exams. The new course will benefit future Chartered Accountants as it will prepare them for the International markets.