CA Course Guide: Registration, Syllabus, Trainings, Duration, Fees

Chartered Accountancy is among the most opted career options in India. With the advancements in the financial sector, students from other streams are also showing interest in the CA course.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is the governing body that handles and conducts the CA exams. The ICAI decides the eligibility criteria, syllabus, exam pattern, fee, registration, and guidelines for the CA Exam.

CA course is a three-level course and the articleship training. These three levels are:

• CA Foundation
• CA Intermediate
• CA Final

Therefore, to complete the Chartered Accountancy course and become a CA, you’ll need at least 5 years. However, the CA course duration for the graduated students is shorter by 6 months, as they don’t have to give the foundation exams.

In this 5 years duration, the CA course subjects that are you going to study are Accounting, Taxation, Auditing, Financial and Cost Management, Corporate Laws and so on.

The students looking forward to enrolling for the Chartered Accountancy course should know all the basic details. So we have brought this detailed CA Course Guide which will include the course details, fee, syllabus, eligibility criteria, duration, and many more.

A Basic Overview about the CA Course

CA Course is divided into three major levels, and each of these levels is compulsory to pass to become a CA. In this section, you’ll get the CA Course details:

• CA Foundation Course: After passing class 12th or graduation, you can enrol for the first level of CA i.e., the CA Foundation Course. The foundation level is conducted twice a year i.e., May and November. The total study time duration of this course is of 4 months, in which you will study Accounting, Logical reasoning, Economics, Business commercial knowledge, etc.
• CA Intermediate Course: CA Inter is the second stage of the CA Course, for which you need to clear the CA Foundation exam and other equivalent exams such as ICSI or ICMAI. In the 8 months study period for the CA Intermediate course, you will study accounting, law, taxation, financial management, auditing, enterprise information, etc.
• CA Final Course: CA Final is the last stage of the Chartered Accountancy course. The exam for the CA Final course is conducted in May and November. You need to clear the CA Intermediate exam and articleship compulsorily to appear in this exam. The CA Final course’s study period is around six months, where you will study subjects such as advanced accounting, corporate laws, strategic management, direct and indirect laws, etc.

We’ll be covering the details about each CA course in the following sections.

Subjects in the Chartered Accountancy Course

Now is the time to know the CA Course syllabus and the subjects that will be covered at each level. In all the CA syllabus will revolve around accounting, auditing, financial management, taxes, and laws.

CA Foundation Syllabus

The CA Foundation syllabus is divided into four different subjects. In these four subjects, you will learn about accounting, business laws, quantitative aptitude, mathematics, mercantile Laws, commercial knowledge, etc. Some parts of the CA Foundation syllabus are already covered in your schools.

The four subjects of the CA Foundation course are:

Paper 1: Principles and Practices of Accounting

Paper 2: Business Laws and Business Correspondence and Reporting

1. Part I: Business Laws
2. Part II: Business Correspondence and Reporting

Paper 3: Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning, and Statistics

1. Part I: Business Mathematics and
2. Part II: Logical Reasoning
3. Part III: Statistics

Paper 4: Business Economics & Business and Commercial Knowledge

1. Part I: Business Economics
2. Part II: Business and Commercial Knowledge

CA Intermediate Syllabus

In CA Intermediate, the number of subjects rises from 4 to 8. The CA Intermediate syllabus for this course is divided into two groups, i.e., Group 1 and Group 2. Here, you’ll learn about taxation, cost and management, advanced accounting, corporate laws, auditing, financial management, and more.

The students can appear in either or both groups at once.

Group 1

Paper-1: Accounting

Paper-2: Corporate Laws & Other Laws

1. 1. Part I: Company Law
   2. Part II: Other Laws

Paper-3: Cost and Management Accounting

Paper-4: Taxation

1. 1. Section A: Income-tax Law
   2. Section B: Indirect Taxes

Group 2

Paper-5: Advanced Accounting

Paper-6: Auditing and Assurance

Paper-7: Enterprise Information Systems & Strategic Management

1. 1. Part I: Enterprise Information System
   2. Part II: Strategic Management

Paper-8: Financial Management and Economics for finance

1. 1. Part I: Financial Management
   2. Part II: Economics of Finance

CA Final Syllabus and Subjects

The final stage of the CA Courses, i.e., CA Final, also has eight subjects that are divided into two groups. In CA Final also, ICAI allows you to appear in both groups or any of the groups at once. The major topics that the students will cover in CA Final syllabus include financial reporting, auditing, strategic cost management, taxation, etc. Here let us discuss the subjects of the CA Final course:

Group I

Paper-1: Financial Reporting

Paper-2: Strategic Financial Management

Paper-3: Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics

Paper-4: Corporate and Economic Laws

Group II

Paper-5: Strategic Cost Management and Performance Evaluation

Paper-6

1. 1. Paper-6A: Risk Management
   2. Paper-6B: Financial Services and Capital Markets
   3. Paper-6C: International Taxation
   4. Paper-6D: Economic Laws
   5. Paper-6E: Global Financial Reporting Standards
   6. Paper-6F: Multidisciplinary Case Study

Paper-7: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation

Paper-8: Indirect Tax Laws

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Eligibility Criteria for Each Level of the CA Course

Registration is the first step in the CA course. However, before filling out the registration form, the candidates must verify their eligibility in the respective CA Courses. So, let us know the CA Course eligibility for each level.

• CA Foundation: According to the CA Foundation eligibility, one must have passed the class 12th board exam from a recognized board. In addition, the candidates must have secured 50 % from the commerce background. Whereas the science background students should get at least 55% in their class 12th.
• CA Intermediate: Students can register for CA Intermediate through 2 routes: the CA Foundation route and the Direct entry route. The CA Intermediate eligibility for both the routes are: 
  • For the CA Foundation route, the candidates need to clear the CA Foundation exam with an aggregate of 50 per cent and at least 40% in each subject.
  • For the Direct entry route, candidates need to pass the graduation/ postgraduation with 55 % for commerce courses and 60% for other courses.
• Articleship: For articleship registration, the students must have undergone the ICITSS training and should qualify following criteria:
  • The student applying after appearing in CA Intermediate Exam must have completed at least one of the two groups in CA Intermediate.
  • The students taking the direct entry can start articleship directly after the CA Intermediate Registration.
• CA Final: For the CA Final Registration, one must have cleared both the groups of the CA Intermediate exam with an aggregate 50% score and at least 40% in each subject. There is no direct entry, and the candidates also need to complete the 3-year articleship training.

CA Course Registration

Students who want to appear in any CA Course have to fill out the ICAI registration form. The registration form is available on the ICAI website and is open all around the year. But there are deadlines fixed by ICAI to fill out the registration form for certain sessions.

Therefore, the last date to submit the registration form for the CA Foundation and Final exams of May attempt is January 1, and for the November session is July 1. For CA Intermediate, the last date to register for the May session is 1st Sept and 1st March for the November session. To fill out the registration form, the students must know the documents and the process to fill out the form.

Let us watch out for all the steps and details.

Documents Required for CA Course Registration

In this section, you can check all the documents that you’ll need for the CA Course registration. Firstly, we have listed the documents that are required in all three courses and then the additional documents needed for each course.

• PP size photograph and signature.
• Class 12th and 10th self-attested mark sheet.
• Nationality Proof
• CA Foundation mark sheet or Graduation Marksheet (For CA Intermediate Registration)
• CA Intermediate mark sheet (For CA Final Registration)
• Certificate of Articleship training (For CA Final Registration)

Registration Process for CA Foundation, Inter, and Final

Once you have arranged the documents, it is time to know how to fill out the registration form for the CA courses. Firstly let us see the process for CA Foundation registration, and then we will move with additional steps required for CA Intermediate and CA Final.

• Visit the official ICAI portal.
• Create a new account with ICAI by entering your basic details such as name, email, number.
• Verify the OTP sent in your mail and number and complete the verification process.
• Now, using the registration credentials you received, login into the portal.
• Click on “Apply for Foundation.”
• Now, the registration form will appear on the screen.
• Enter the enquired details and then click on next.
• Now, upload all the mentioned documents as asked on the site.
• Click on save and next.
• At last, confirm your registration by making the payments.

Therefore, these are the process that you need to follow while registering for CA Foundation Exam. The same steps will be followed in CA Intermediate and CA Final, but the only difference is that you have to log in with the same old I’d and upload different documents.

Moreover, for CA Intermediate registration, students go for either CA Foundation or Direct Route. So, you can choose the option accordingly.

For the fee for the CA Course Registration, you can refer to the below table:

Marking Scheme for CA Foundation, Intermediate and Final Exams

The marking scheme will play a crucial role in your CA exam preparation. This will assist you to plan your studies and allocate you more time to high-weightage chapters. So, check out the marking scheme for all three CA courses below.

Marking Scheme for the CA Foundation Subjects

Marking Scheme for CA Intermediate Subjects

Marking Scheme for CA Final Papers

Although the marking scheme is different for each course, the passing criteria are almost the same for all three. To pass each CA Foundation course, the students must secure 50 per cent in aggregate and 40 per cent in each subject.

In CA Intermediate and CA Final courses, you need to get the same score as mentioned above to clear a single group. The students who have secured these percentages will only be eligible to register for the next CA courses.

CA Course Exam Form/Application Form

The exam forms are different from the registration form. After filing the registration form, the next major step is to fill out the examination form. You can find the dates of filing the exam form on the official website.

For instance, the dates for filling out the application form for May 2022 exams are from February 21 to March 13 without the late fee. Make sure to fill out the form before the deadline announced by ICAI. Now, let us see how to fill out the exam form for CA courses.

• Visit the official examination portal of ICAI.
• Use your registration credentials to log in.
• Now, click on the “Apply” option.
• The examination form for the respective course will appear.
• Enter the personal details in the application form carefully and click on save and next.
• At last, pay the exam form fee and complete the process.

To get more information about the exam form at each level, you can visit the following links – CA Foundation Exam Form, CA Intermediate Exam Form, and CA Final Exam Form.

You can check the form fee for each category mentioned by ICAI in the table below.

After submitting the examination form, the students can wait for the admit card, which is released 14 days before the CA course exams. Admit cards for all the CA courses are available on the ICAI website.

Results of the CA Examinations

ICAI declares the CA results almost two months after the examination. For instance, the CA results of the Dec 2021 exams were released in the month of Feb 2022. After the result declaration, the candidates can check their results by visiting the ICAI official site. You need to enter your registration and roll number to get your result.

Now, let us have a look over the pass percentage of the CA Foundation Result and the CA Final result of December 2021.

Hence, the pass percentage gives you an idea about the number of students that appear each year and the students who are able to clear the exam. Also, this will make the students understand the competition and the hard work needed to clear the exams.

Trainings in Chartered Accountancy Course

Training is the third and compulsory stage of the Chartered Accountancy course. Without completing the training, the students cannot appear in the CA Final Exam. The training stage also teaches you the daily responsibilities of a CA.

There are four training in the CA Course, among which the articleship training is of 3 years. But the fact is that there are three more training with articleship. Let us go through all the four training of CA course.

So, the three compulsory and one optional training for the Chartered Accountancy course are:

• ICITSS Training
• AICITSS Training
• Articleship Training
• Industrial Training

ICITSS Training

ICITSS(Integrated course on Information Technology and Soft Skills) is the first training of the CA course to develop soft skills and information technology in candidates. This training will consist of Information Technology (IT) and Orientation Course (OC) each of 15 days. 

Articleship Training 

The articleship training plays a crucial role in CA Course. In this training, you will get three years of practical knowledge and experience about the work of a CA.

The CA students can apply for the articleship training only after clearing one or both CA Intermediate groups. But to apply for the articleship training, students compulsorily need to undergo the ICITSS training.

The students who have taken the direct entry to the CA Intermediate course can directly start the articleship training after registering themselves with the CA Intermediate course. But here also the ICITSS training is compulsory.

After completing the three years of articleship training, one can apply or register for the CA Final Course. You can check out the guide on how to get articleship in the big 4 firms. 

AICITSS Training

AICITSS or Advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills is a compulsory training conducted by ICAI that covers two Skills. Each of the skills requires 15 days to complete.

The main motive behind this training is to accomplish the candidates with different sets of skills such as communication skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, understanding business environment, etc. Therefore, this training also helps the students of CA to get the desired job.

Industrial Training

Industrial training is optional for CA aspirants with the motive of training candidates with industrial functioning and knowledge. So, the candidates who want to make their career in the industries and their development can opt for the industrial training program provided by the ICAI. This training program is optional and depends upon the will of the CA candidates.

CA Course Duration for Foundation, Inter and Final

Students are excited to know in how many years they can add the prefix CA before their names. Hence, the CA Course duration after the 12th is five years, whereas the duration after graduation is 4.5 years. So, here we will see the duration for each CA course and the training.

• CA Foundation: The total duration of the CA Foundation Course is 6 months, where 4 months is the study period and 2 months for results.
• CA Intermediate: For CA Intermediate Course, the study period is 8 months, and candidates need to wait 2 months for the results. Hence, the total duration of Intermediate becomes 10 months.
• Articleship Training: The total duration of the articleship training is for 3 years.
• CA Final: The study period for CA Final Course is 6 months, and the results take 2 months; thus, the total time period becomes 8 months. However, students can also study for their CA Final exams while doing the articleship training. 

However, the CA course duration depends upon the route you have opted to enter into the course, the number of attempts you have taken to clear each level, and many other factors.

CA Course Fees for Foundation, Inter and Final

The CA Course fees vary as per the different levels of the CA Courses. Students need to pay the registration fee every time to register for a new course. Similarly, the exam fee is paid apart from the registration form every time a candidate fills the exam form.

Here we will go through the fee for the individual courses in CA.

Scope after Chartered Accountancy Course in India in 2022

Once you have completed the Chartered Accountancy course and become a CA, now is the time to look out for the scopes available for CA. Talking particularly about career options after CA in India, you will find ample opportunities as the demands for Chartered Accountants are high.

The primary reason behind the high demand in India is the lack of CAs in the country. A report by the Times of India has shown that India has only 44% of the total needed Chartered Accountants, which is not enough to handle the available workloads in the firms.

Also, with time, the number of businesses in the country are increasing, and also the taxpayers, which eventually increases the demand for CA. This demand is nowhere seems to decline in the future as the graph tends to always move in the upward direction.

In India, there are different job roles and opportunities for CA. Also, they can work in any of the sectors that have been mentioned here:

• CA Firm
• Financial Institutions
• Businesses
• Consultancy Firms
• Independent practice

Some of the top CA Firms in India are Deloitte, PWC, Haribhakti & Co., Ernst & Young, Singhi & Co., Chaturvedi & Shah, etc. After clearing the CA courses, you can also try these firms to get better job opportunities and higher packages.

Read More – Courses to do after Chartered Accountancy Course 

CA Salary in India

After discussing the entire process of becoming a CA, let us move ahead in this CA Course guide and find the answer: how much a CA earn in India?

So, the very first thing is that the salary of any Chartered Accountant depends upon their post, experience, knowledge, and their ranks. But generally, for Chartered Accountants, the average salary in India starts from 7-8 lakhs per annum and reaches up to 40 lakhs per annum.

The recent placements conducted by ICAI in recent years have indicated that the monthly salary of CA in India is around INR 70000 to INR 75000. This is the starting salary which definitely hikes with time and experience. To get even a higher package, the students need to get good ranks in the CA Final exam and clear all the levels with fewer attempts.

The students who have cleared the CA Final Exams on the first attempt and other rank holders will get priority in placements and higher packages. Here you can check the CA salary in India.