Clause by clause analysis of Proposed scheme of Education and Training by ICAI

Amendments to Chartered Accountants Regulations

1. Certificate of Practice

A person shall be eligible for the Certificate of Practice on completion of 1 year of post qualification work experience with a Fellow CA in practice.

However, the said condition do not apply for a member who has worked for a minimum period of 1 year with a fellow CA in practice in the immediately preceding 5 years before making such application.

2. Omission of CPT curriculum from the Chartered Accountants Regulation

In the amended Regulation, the Common Proficiency Test has been omitted from the Curriculum of Chartered Accountancy Course.

3. Admission to Foundation Course

• A Candidate who has passed the Class 10^th examination conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or outside India an examination recognised by CG or SG as equivalent thereto.
• A Candidate who has already been registered for CPT or Foundation course shall be eligible for conversion. The conversion will be valid for 4 year from the date of registration / conversion.
• The fee for the registration into Foundation Course shall not exceed Rs. 25 Thousands along with an application for registration.
• The fee for Candidate residing out of India shall pay such fee as may be fixed by the Council from time to time.

4. Eligibility for Foundation Examination, Course and Syllabus

A candidate shall be admitted to the Foundation examination if –

• Registered with the Board of Studies for a minimum of 4 months on or before the 1^st day of month in which the examination is compiled.
• Has appeared in the Class 12^th examination conducted by the examining body in India or Outside India recognised by CG or SG as equivalent thereto for the purpose of admission to Graduation course.
• The fee for the Foundation examination shall not exceed Rs. 10 thousand in any case. For candidates residing outside India, the Council may fix the fee for the examination from time to time.

5. Admission to Intermediate Course

 In the proposed scheme of Education and Training, there shall be 2 Groups in the Course which shall be termed as “Intermediate Course” i.e. Group I and Group II.

• For getting registered under the Intermediate course, the the candidate shall pass the Foundation examination under these regulations and Class 12^th examination conducted by an examining body constituted by law in India or Outside India.
• For candidates who have passed the Foundation course under the erstwhile regulations or Common Proficiency Test (CPT) or Professional Examination (PE – I) shall be eligible to get registered under the Intermediate course in the proposed education scheme and training.
• For candidates who have been registered under the PE – II or IPCC or PCC, they shall be converted into Intermediate course under these proposed regulations.
• In the Direct entry scheme to the Intermediate Course for the candidates who have cleared the Graduate or Post graduate course, the candidate shall have –
  Secured 50 % marks or more in a semester or year and cumulatively 100 % marks or more over the entire duration of the concerned course, by studying any 3 papers out of Accounting, Auditing, Mercantile Laws, Corporate Laws, Economics, Management (including Financial Management), Taxation (including Direct Taxes Laws and Indirect Taxes Laws), Costing, Business Administration or Management Accounting or similar to the title of the papers with different nomenclatures, as approved by the Board of Studies of the Institute; or

Secured 60% marks or more of the total marks or its equivalent grade in the examination for Graduate or Post-Graduate, other than prescribed in the aforesaid clause (a), conducted by any recognized University (including Open University).

For the registration under Direct Entry Scheme, the following points shall be taken into consideration –

• The marks secured in the subjects in which a person is required by the University (including Open university) to obtain only pass marks and for which no special credit is given, shall be ignored; and
• A fraction of half or more shall be rounded up to the next whole number and any fraction of less than half number shall be ignored.

• For candidates who are pursuing graduation / post-graduation course, the candidate should give the sufficient proof to the passing of the examination to get provisionally registered into the Intermediate examination as required by the aforesaid clauses. Provided if the candidate fails to secure the minimum marks, then the provisional registration shall stands cancelled and the amount of registration and exam fee shall be refunded.
• For candidates who have passed the Intermediate or equivalent examination conducted by the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India or Institute of Company Secretaries of India, shall also be eligible for registration to Intermediate Course.
• The fee for the registration to the Intermediate course shall not exceed Rs. 25 thousand and for the candidates who is residing out of India, such fee as may be decided from time to time.
• The period of registration shall stand validated for the period of 5 years from the date of registration / conversion and the same shall get a one time re-validation for a further period of 5 years on making the application of the form and the payment of prescribed fee.
• The Registration into the Intermediate examination shall also be treated as registration into “Business Accounting Associate”.

6. Eligibility for Intermediate examination, fee, syllabus

 The candidate shall be eligible to give the Intermediate examination under these proposed regulations after completing the study course for such period as may be specified by the Council from time to time as on the first day of the month in which the examination is to be held.

• For the Candidates who shall be getting Direct entry into the Intermediate examination, the following conditions need to be satisfied :-
  • The candidate has undergone a study period of not less than 8 months, and
  • Submission of satisfactory proof that the candidate has passed the Graduation / Post graduation examination
• The candidates who are registered under the erstwhile PE 2 or PCC or IPCC or Intermediate course, they shall be eligible to give the examination subject to such conditions as specified by the Council.
• The fee for the Intermediate examination under the proposed regulations, in any case, shall not exceed Rs. 10 Thousand.

7. Admission to Final Course under proposed Regulations

• The candidate shall have to clear the Intermediate examination under the proposed scheme to get enrolled for the Final examination.
• The candidates who has passed the erstwhile Intermediate examination or PE – II or IPCC or PCC examination but has not registered under the Final course on the date of coming into force shall be eligible to get enrolled for Final examination subject to compliance with other provisions of these regulations.
• For candidates who are registered under the erstwhile Final course shall be eligible to get registered under the Final course under the proposed scheme of education and training.
• For registration into the Final course, the candidate shall not pay the fee of more than Rs. 40 thousands.
• The validity of registration into the Final Course shall be 10 years from the date of registration / conversion. It is subject to re-validation for a further period of 10 years on making an application approved by the council and n payment of such fee as may be fixed by the council from time to time.

8. Eligibility for Final examination

• The candidate shall be eligible for the examination of the Final course, if :
  • The candidate is registered under the Final course and has passed both the groups of Intermediate examinations; and
  • Completed the practical training as required for admission as a member at least 6 months before 1^st day of the month in which the exam is held; and
  • Successfully completed advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills under regulation 51E; and
  • Passed the self placed online modules as per regulation 51F; and
  • Has compiled with such other requirement as may be specified by the Council.
• For the candidates who have completed the erstwhile Intermediate or PCC or IPCC or PE – II shall be eligible for examination under the Final course. For appearing for the Final examination, the candidate shall have to complete the Advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills under Regulations 51E and self placed online modules under Regulation 51F.
• The candidate shall pay the Final examination fee for 1 group or both group, which shall not exceed Rs. 10 Thousand in any case.

9. Criteria for passing the Foundation examination

• For candidates appearing for the erstwhile Foundation examination, the passing criteria shall be minimum of 40% marks in each subject along with cumulative 50% marks in the aggregate of all the subjects.
• For candidates appearing for the Foundation examination under the proposed scheme, the passing criteria shall be the minimum of 50% in each paper.
• The Council may adopt the criteria of negative marking in a paper having objective type questions.

10. Criteria for passing the Intermediate examination

• There shall be Group I and Group II in the Intermediate examination. The candidate shall have to pass both the groups to clear the Intermediate examination.
• For passing the Intermediate examination, the candidate shall : –
  • Secures at least 40% marks in each paper of the groups along with 50 % marks aggregate in each of the Groups; or
  • Secures at least 40% marks in each paper of the groups along with 50 % marks aggregate in both groups.
  • The candidate shall successfully complete Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills under Regulation 51D; and
  • Completes the practical training as provided in these regulations.
  • Completes the self placed online modules
• The Candidate who has passed the Intermediate Examination under the proposed scheme shall be eligible for Business Accounting Associate Certificate.
• The Candidate who has passed either the PE – II or PCC or IPCC or earlier examinations equivalent to Intermediate examination shall be eligible to apply for the Business Accounting Associate Certificate subject to the requirements as required by the Council from time to time.
• In case the candidate has availed the exemption in any of the subjects in the erstwhile Intermediate or PE II or PCC or IPCC, then the candidate shall be eligible for the exemption in that subject for those unexpired chances if the subject or subjects belong to the proposed scheme of education and training. For passing the particular group, the candidate shall have to secure the minimum 40% marks in the corresponding papers along with cumulative minimum 50% marks to clear that group.
• For the proposed scheme of education and training, the candidate securing 60% marks shall be required to avail that exemption for any or more 3 examinations and for the corresponding papers, then the candidate shall have to clear with minimum 40% marks along with cumulative 50% in that group.
• For those who have exhausted the exemption and if they have not cleared the corresponding papers, then they still can avail the exemption provided the candidate shall have to secure minimum 50% marks in those papers to clear that particular group.

11. Criteria for passing the Final Examination

• In the Final course of examination, there shall be 2 Groups i.e. Group I and Group II.
• For passing the Final examination, the candidate shall fulfil the following conditions: –
  • Secures at least 40% minimum marks in each of the subject of the particular group along with cumulative 50% marks in the group (in case of giving papers Group wise); or
  • Secures at least 40 % minimum marks in each of the subjects of the both group along with cumulative 50% marks in both the groups.
• If any candidate has cleared any of the group of the erstwhile Final examinations, then the candidate shall have to clear the remaining group to clear the Final examination. The passing criteria shall be 40% marks in the subjects along with the cumulative 50% marks in that group.
• For those candidates who have the exemption in any of the subject in the group of the erstwhile Final examination, then the candidate shall have to procure minimum 40% marks in the remaining subjects along with the minimum of 50% marks in that particular group to clear that group.
• For the candidates under the proposed scheme, the candidates who have secured 60% marks in any of the subjects i.e. exemption in any of the subjects in the particular group but failed in the remaining papers means unable to score 40% marks in the remaining papers. Then to clear that group, the candidate has 3 chances to use that exemption and in the remaining papers, the candidate has to score 40% minimum marks along with cumulative 50% marks in that group.
• For the candidates who has the exemption but failed to clear the exemption in 3 attempts. Now, the candidate can still avail the exemption by scoring 50% minimum marks in each of the papers of that particular group.

12. Stipend for the Articles

The stipend for the Article assistants shall be as follows: –

13. Period of Articleship

In the proposed scheme of education and training, the period of Articleship shall be 2 years. In the erstwhile scheme, the candidate who has cleared the Intermediate examination has to undergo 3 years of Training. Now, it has been reduced to 2 years. However, for the candidates who has been undergoing the articleship under the existing scheme, then the candidate shall have to complete the articleship as per the executed Deed of Article. Under the proposed scheme, the articleship can be terminated only during the 1^st year. It can not be done in the second year except the candidate has to undergo Industrial training or under the exception circumstances

For the candidates who have cleared the Final examination and want to pursue Practice as their career shall have to undergo Post Qualification experience under the Fellow Chartered Accountant in practice for 1 year to hold the Certificate of Practice.

For the candidates who shall be opting for Industrial training, the remuneration for the training shall not be less than Rs. 15,000/- per month.

For the candidates who have cleared the Final examination but have not completed the advanced Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills shall not be treated as completed the Final examination unless and until they have completed this course. As per the proposed scheme under Regulation 51E, the candidates shall have to complete this course before undergoing the Final examination.

A new Regulation 51F have been inserted which states that the candidates who have passed the Intermediate examinations shall have to pass the Online self placed modules in which they have to score minimum 50% marks in each modules.

The maximum period for which an Article can be seconded to the Member in Industry shall be 1 year.

The Article assistant is eligible for 12 leaves during each year of the training.