ICAI CA Intermediate Examination 2026 — Complete New Scheme Guide

The Chartered Accountancy (CA) Intermediate examination, conducted by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), is the critical mid-tier qualification milestone in the journey to becoming a Chartered Accountant.

Under the New Scheme of Education and Training, the curriculum has been streamlined from 8 papers to 6 comprehensive papers featuring mandatory 30% Case-Scenario Based MCQs without negative marking.

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1. ICAI CA Intermediate — At a Glance (Verified 2026)

Parameter	Official Verified Details
Conducting Body	The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)
Exam Frequency	3 Times a Year: January, May, September
Registration Fee (Both Groups)	₹18,000 INR (Includes CDS physical study material coupons)
Registration Fee (Single Group)	₹11,000 INR
Exam Application Fee	₹2,700 INR (Both Groups) / ₹1,500 INR (Single Group)
Total Number of Papers	6 Papers (Group 1: 3 Papers | Group 2: 3 Papers)
Total Marks	600 Marks (100 Marks per paper)
Exam Duration	3 Hours per paper (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM) with 15-minute advance reading time
Question Format	30% Case-Scenario MCQs (30 Marks) + 70% Descriptive Theory/Numericals (70 Marks)
Negative Marking	None (Zero negative marking in MCQs)
Passing Criteria	Minimum 40% in each individual paper AND Minimum 50% aggregate in the group
Mandatory Study Period	8 Months between registration date and the first day of the exam month
Articleship Prerequisite	Must pass Both Group 1 & Group 2 + complete ICITSS before starting articleship

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2. Eligibility Pathways: Foundation Route vs Direct Entry

Feature	Foundation Route	Direct Entry Route
Target Candidates	Students who have passed Class 12 and cleared ICAI CA Foundation.	Graduates, Post-Graduates, or CS/CMA Intermediate cleared students.
Academic Benchmark	Minimum 40% per paper and 50% aggregate in CA Foundation.	• Commerce Graduate/Post-Graduate: $\ge 55%$ Marks • Other Graduates: $\ge 60%$ Marks • Passed Intermediate of ICSI (CS) or ICMAI (CMA).
Articleship Timing	After passing Both Groups of CA Inter + ICITSS.	After passing Both Groups of CA Inter + ICITSS.
Study Period	Mandatory 8 Months study period before appearing in exams.	Mandatory 8 Months study period before appearing in exams.

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3. The 6 Papers Detailed Syllabus Breakdown (New Scheme)

Group 1 (300 Marks)

Paper 1: Advanced Accounting (100 Marks)

Integrates the former Accounting and Advanced Accounting papers into a unified, high-level financial reporting standard paper.

• Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS / AS Framework): Presentation of Financial Statements, AS 1 (Disclosure), AS 2 (Valuation of Inventories), AS 3 (Cash Flow Statements), AS 4 (Contingencies), AS 5 (Net Profit/Loss for Period), AS 7 (Construction Contracts), AS 9 (Revenue Recognition), AS 10 (Property, Plant and Equipment), AS 11 (Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates), AS 12 (Government Grants), AS 13 (Investments), AS 14 (Amalgamation), AS 15 (Employee Benefits), AS 16 (Borrowing Costs), AS 17 (Segment Reporting), AS 18 (Related Party Disclosures), AS 19 (Leases), AS 20 (Earnings Per Share), AS 22 (Taxes on Income), AS 24 (Discontinuing Operations), AS 26 (Intangible Assets), AS 28 (Impairment of Assets), AS 29 (Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets).
• Company Financial Statements: Preparation of Balance Sheet and Statement of Profit and Loss as per Schedule III of Companies Act 2013, Managerial Remuneration, Divisible Profits and Dividends.
• Accounting for Corporate Restructuring: Internal Reconstruction and External Reconstruction (Amalgamation, Absorption).
• Branch Accounting: Dependent branches, independent branches, foreign branch conversion.

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Paper 2: Corporate and Other Laws (100 Marks)

• Part I: Company Law (70 Marks): The Companies Act, 2013 from Chapter I to Chapter VII:
  • Incorporation of Company and Matters Incidental Thereto
  • Prospectus and Allotment of Securities (Private placement, public offer)
  • Share Capital and Debentures (Sweat equity, bonus shares, rights issue, buy-back)
  • Acceptance of Deposits by Companies
  • Registration of Charges
  • Management and Administration (Annual General Meeting, Extraordinary General Meeting, Resolutions, Postal Ballot)
  • Declaration and Payment of Dividend
  • Accounts of Companies (CSR provisions, Internal Audit)
  • Audit and Auditors (Appointment, removal, qualifications, disqualifications, powers and duties)
  • Companies Incorporated Outside India (Foreign Companies).
• Part II: Other Laws (30 Marks):
  • The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008: Concept, incorporation, partners, winding up.
  • The General Clauses Act, 1897: Principles of statutory interpretation, general definitions.
  • Interpretation of Statutes: Primary rules (Literal, Mischief, Golden rule), internal and external aids to construction.
  • The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA): Current account vs Capital account transactions, residential status.

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Paper 3: Taxation (100 Marks)

Divided into two equal 50-mark sections:

Section	Marks	Key Statutory Areas Tested
Section A: Income Tax Law (Direct Tax)	50 Marks	Basic concepts, residential status & scope of total income; Incomes exempt from tax; Computation of Income under 5 Heads: Salaries, Income from House Property, Profits and Gains of Business or Profession (PGBP), Capital Gains, Income from Other Sources; Clubbing of income, Set-off and carry forward of losses; Deductions under Chapter VI-A (80C to 80U); Advance Tax, TDS, TCS; Computation of Total Income and Tax Liability under Default New Tax Regime (Section 115BAC) vs Optional Old Regime.
Section B: Goods and Services Tax (GST)	50 Marks	Constitutional provisions of GST; Concept of Supply (Section 7 of CGST Act); Charge of GST (Forward charge, Reverse Charge Mechanism - RCM); Composition Levy; Place of Supply, Time of Supply, and Value of Supply; Input Tax Credit (ITC - Eligibility, Apportionment, Blocked Credits under Section 17(5)); Registration under GST; Tax Invoice, Credit & Debit Notes, E-Way Bill; Payment of Tax and Returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B).

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Group 2 (300 Marks)

Paper 4: Cost and Management Accounting (100 Marks)

• Material Cost: EOQ, stock levels, inventory control methods, ABC analysis.
• Employee Cost (Labour): Labour turnover, incentive wage plans (Halsey, Rowan).
• Overheads: Allocation, apportionment, primary and secondary distribution, machine hour rate, under/over-absorption.
• Activity Based Costing (ABC): Cost pools, cost drivers, traditional vs ABC costing.
• Cost Sheet: Preparation of functional cost sheets.
• Cost Accounting Systems: Integrated and non-integrated accounts, reconciliation of cost and financial profits.
• Unit & Batch Costing, Job Costing, Contract Costing.
• Process and Operation Costing: Joint products and by-products, equivalent production units.
• Service Costing: Transport, hospital, hotel costing.
• Standard Costing: Material, labour, and overhead variance analysis.
• Marginal Costing: CVP analysis, BEP, Margin of Safety, Key factor decisions.
• Budgets and Budgetary Control: Flexible budgets, cash budgets, master budgets.

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Paper 5: Auditing and Ethics (100 Marks)

• Nature, Objective and Scope of Audit: Standards on Auditing (SAs) issued by ICAI, auditor independence, professional skepticism.
• Audit Strategy, Audit Planning and Audit Programme.
• Risk Assessment and Internal Control: Understanding entity environment, identifying material misstatement risk, internal control evaluation, testing of controls.
• Audit Evidence: Sufficient and appropriate evidence, audit procedures (Inquiry, Inspection, Observation, External Confirmation, Analytical Procedures, Reperformance).
• Audit of Items of Financial Statements: Verification and vouching of assets, liabilities, income, and expenses.
• Audit Documentation and Audit Sampling (SA 230, SA 530).
• Completion and Review: Subsequent events (SA 560), Going concern (SA 570), Written representations (SA 580).
• Audit Report: Unmodified vs modified opinions (Qualified, Adverse, Disclaimer of Opinion), Key Audit Matters (SA 701).
• Special Audits: Audit of Banks, Audit of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Audit of Government entities, Audit of Co-operative Societies.
• Ethics and Terms of Audit Engagements: Code of Ethics, fundamental principles of professional ethics (Integrity, Objectivity, Due Care).

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Paper 6: Financial Management and Strategic Management (100 Marks)

Divided into two 50-mark sections:

Section	Marks	Core Strategic & Financial Management Topics
Section A: Financial Management (FM)	50 Marks	Scope and objectives of FM; Financial analysis through Ratios; Types of Financing; Cost of Capital (Cost of Debt, Equity, Preference, WACC); Capital Structure Theories (Net Income, Net Operating Income, MM Approach, Trade-Off Theory); Leverages (Operating, Financial, Combined); Capital Budgeting Decisions (NPV, IRR, MIRR, Payback, Profitability Index, Risk analysis); Dividend Decisions (Walter, Gordon, MM Model); Management of Working Capital (Treasury, Receivables, Inventory, Cash).
Section B: Strategic Management (SM)	50 Marks	Introduction to Strategic Management; Strategic Analysis: External Environment (PESTLE, Porter's 5 Forces) and Internal Environment (SWOT, Value Chain, Core Competence, TOWS Matrix, BCG Matrix, Ansoff Matrix); Strategic Choices (Corporate level, Business level, Functional level strategies); Strategy Implementation and Control; Strategic Leadership and Digital Transformation.

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4. Exam Pattern & Case-Scenario MCQ Format

Paper No.	Subject Name	MCQ Portion (30%)	Descriptive Portion (70%)	Max Marks	Duration
Paper 1	Advanced Accounting	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Numerical)	100 Marks	3 Hours
Paper 2	Corporate and Other Laws	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Descriptive)	100 Marks	3 Hours
Paper 3	Taxation (DT + GST)	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Mixed)	100 Marks	3 Hours
Paper 4	Cost & Management Accounting	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Numerical)	100 Marks	3 Hours
Paper 5	Auditing and Ethics	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Descriptive)	100 Marks	3 Hours
Paper 6	FM & SM (50 + 50 Marks)	30 Marks (MCQs)	70 Marks (Mixed)	100 Marks	3 Hours

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5. Passing Rules, Set-Off & Permanent Exemption Policy

1. Single Group Passing Rule: Minimum 40% in each individual paper (40/100) AND minimum 50% aggregate across the 3 papers (150/300 marks).
2. Both Groups Simultaneously (Set-Off Benefit): If a student appears in Both Groups together, they can take advantage of the Set-Off rule. For example:
   • Group 1 Score: 140 / 300 (Passed individual papers with 40+, but 10 marks short of aggregate).
   • Group 2 Score: 165 / 300 (Passed individual papers with 40+, with 15 surplus marks).
   • Total Score: $140 + 165 = 305 / 600$ marks. The candidate passes BOTH groups via Set-Off!
3. New Permanent Exemption Rule: If you score $\ge 60$ marks in any paper:
   • That paper is exempt for the next 3 immediate attempts.
   • Under the New Scheme, if you do not clear the group in 3 attempts, you can convert that exemption to a Permanent Exemption, with the condition that you must score at least 50% marks in the remaining unpassed papers.

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6. Next Steps: Practical Training (Articleship) & SPOM

Once you clear Both Groups of CA Intermediate:

1. Complete ICITSS: 15 days Information Technology Training (ITT) + 15 days Orientation Programme (OP).
2. Commence 2-Year Articleship: Register under a practicing Chartered Accountant firm for 24 months of practical audit, taxation, and advisory training.
3. Complete Self-Paced Online Modules (SPOM): Mandatory online modules (Set A: Corporate Law, Set B: Strategic Cost Management, Set C & Set D: Electives) before registering for CA Final.

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Source: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) | Official Portal: icai.org