CA foundation is an entry-level examination to join a Chartered Accountancy course. Chartered accountancy course is a dream for students pursuing commerce and who like to succeed in accounting. Registration for the CA foundation will open before May 1st and November 1st. Students have to register before the last date. If not, they can attend their exam only on the next attempt. Students who take up the CA foundation have to clear their higher secondary examinations. That’s their minimum eligibility to attend the CA Foundation examination. Students can register for the CA foundation in their 10th standard itself. CA foundation was initially called the common proficiency test(CPT) for Chartered Accountancy courses.
Important Dates to Remember
Registration for the CA foundation closes on 1st January for the May/June batch. Registration for the Nov/Dec batch closes on 1st July. Students who aspire to be chartered accountants have to remember the dates for their exam registration or else they have to wait for another 6 months.
The registration for the current exam will be valid for up to 3 years. They can attend 6 times without validating their registration. After 6 attempts they have to re-validate their registration by paying a fee of rupees 300.
Eligible Criteria for Registration
Only students who have cleared their 12 examinations are eligible to attend their CA foundation. Their board exams have to be recognized by the central or state board of school education.
However, a provisional registration is being provided for students in special cases.
- Students who have an admit card but have not attended their board examinations.
- Students who have an admit card and are attending their improvement examinations.
A chartered accountant course can be pursued by anyone. There is no age limit to pursue a Chartered Accountancy course. The minimum requirement is a 12th pass to pursue a CA. There is no limit to the attempts to clear CA. You can try as much time as you clear your exam.
How to register for the CA Foundation
Step-by-Step Process for the CA Foundation Registration
- Register with the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India that is ICAI.
- Enter your details with ICAI.
- Enter your name, DOB, father’s name, mail id, and all other necessary details for registration.
- After entering your details click enter and this will pop up to an OTP page.
- Enter your OTP received on your registered mobile number.
- After entering your OTP, you will receive your login credentials as an SMS to your registered mobile number.
- This will successfully register yourself with ICAI.
- Use these details to log in to ICAI for further process.
- After logging in click to register for CA Foundation.
- Fill in the application for CA Foundation with all your details.
- Submit all your scanned documents in the CA Foundation window.
- After submitting all your proof click Enter.
- You will be guided to the payment portal for CA Foundation.
- After paying your registration fees for the CA foundation, your registration will be successful.
- Take a printout of your invoice for your CA foundation Registration fees.
- CA Study material for the Foundation exam will be sent to your registered address once the completion of CA Foundation Registration.
Documents Required for CA Foundation
Students who are appearing for the CA foundation examination will need to submit the below-mentioned documents
- Admit Card with attestation/Mark sheet issued by the board of school education.
- Passport-size photograph of the candidate.
- Proof of Nationality for NRI students.
- For special categories attested certificate of proof of special certificate.
- 10th mark sheet.
Above mentioned documents need to be submitted by the candidates for the CA Foundation exam. Special certificates are needed only if the candidate needs them.
Registration Fees for CA Foundation Exam
| Details of Fee | For Indian Nationals (₹) | For Foreign Students ($) |
| Cost of Foundation Prospectus | 200 | 20 |
| Registration Fee | 9000 | 700 |
| CA Foundation Examination fees | 1500 | 325 |
| Total | 10700 | 1045 |
Students need to pay the registration amount for CA Foundation course fees. After the completion of payment, the candidate will receive the admit card.
After registering for CA Foundation
Once you registration for the CA Foundation, you will receive your registration letter for the CA foundation. Please bring your registration letter to your exam. If your admit card is lost, then you can use your registration letter to attend your exam under special procedures. ICAI has also advised the candidates to bring their registration letter for the CA foundation exam for the same purpose. You can download your registration letter on ICAI.org.in., the same website you used for CA registration.
Things to do after Registering for CA Foundation
After the completion of the registration process of the CA Foundation,
- ICAI will provide 4 months to prepare themselves for the entire CA foundation syllabus.
- You have to finish your syllabus within these 4 months so that you can clear your CA foundation in a single attempt.
- If you failed in your first attempt you can take up your next attempt in Nov/Dec and so on similarly.
- Take study leave to prepare for your CA foundation syllabus.
- Don’t forget to take all your documents to your exam hall such as your admit card, and government id which are all important documents to submit for verification before your exams.
During the CA Foundation exam
Be sure that you attend all your exams in the CA Foundation course. Also, attend to all the questions in each exam. The minimum percentage to clear the CA foundation is 40% in each subject and an overall aggregate of 50%. Both subjective and objective types of questions will be asked in your exams. It’s important to know which papers are objective and which are subjective. Refer syllabus blog for the same.
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