Chartered Accountancy Foundation Course Examination(CA Foundation)

About the exam

About CA Foundation

The CA Foundation exam, the Chartered Accountancy Foundation examination run by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), is passed against a fixed line: at least 40 marks in each of its four papers and 50% across all four, in a single sitting. In May 2026, 18,124 of the 90,217 candidates who appeared cleared that line, according to ICAI's result release. Two of the papers are written answers and two are multiple choice on OMR sheets with negative marking, and the examination sits three times a year, in January, May and September.

The Foundation examination is the entry level of ICAI's Chartered Accountancy course, and the ICAI Foundation Examination September 2026 guidance notes call it "a gateway to enter the profession of Chartered Accountancy". The same notes describe a descriptive-cum-objective examination of 400 marks across four papers, held in January, May and September, under the syllabus approved under Regulation 25F of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988. The ICAI Foundation Course (New Scheme of Education and Training) page links the study material for all four papers.

The course has three levels, Foundation, Intermediate and Final, under the New Scheme of Education and Training that ICAI launched on 1 July 2023, according to ICAI's FAQs on the New Scheme of Education and Training. Two 2026 developments reach beyond a single session. ICAI's announcement of 6 April 2026 on CA Final examinations moved the Final examination, and only the Final, to May and November from the May 2026 session; the September 2026 Foundation guidance notes still hold Foundation in January, May and September. Separately, the Board of Studies invited stakeholder feedback on 31 July 2026 on a comprehensive review of the Scheme of Education and Training and later extended the deadline for that feedback to 31 August 2026. Neither review notice says what will change, or from which examination.

At a glance

CA Foundation highlights

Calendar

Important dates

Each Foundation session gets its own examination announcement from ICAI's Examination Department, followed by an online exam form window on the Self Service Portal. The three 2026 sessions were scheduled as follows.

For September 2026, the Foundation guidance notes set 1 May 2026 as the last date for registering with the Board of Studies, and required candidates who applied provisionally to upload their Class 12 admit card or marksheet by 10 August 2026, failing which no Foundation admit card would be issued. The same notes say the September 2026 result is likely to be declared in November 2026.

The Board of Studies is already teaching towards a January 2027 examination: its announcement of Live Virtual Classes for January 2027 Foundation students, dated 2 September 2026, schedules those classes to begin on 16 September 2026. The Examination Department has not yet posted a January 2027 examination schedule, and the newest entry on its students' examination announcements page is dated 24 August 2026.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Eligibility has two gates, one to register and one to sit. ICAI's FAQs allow registration for the Foundation Course after passing Class 10, and require registration for at least four months on or before the first day of the examination month: by 1 January for a May examination, by 1 May for September, and by 1 September of the previous year for January.

To sit the September 2026 papers, the guidance notes required either registration by 1 May 2026 or conversion from CPT to Foundation by the date of filling the exam form. They also required the candidate to have appeared in, or passed, a Senior Secondary (10+2) examination conducted by a body constituted by law in India or outside India, or one recognised by the Central or a State Government as equivalent. Their appendix of equivalents covers the state boards, CBSE, CISCE, the National Institute of Open Schooling and several state open schools. It also accepts five GCE O-level passes with two A-level passes, subject to an Association of Indian Universities equivalence certificate, and two years of higher education, including a diploma, after Class 10 followed by admission to or completion of a degree.

Registration is valid for four years from the first eligible attempt and cannot be revalidated at Foundation level, according to the FAQs. The guidance notes add that there is no exemption in individual Foundation papers.

Foundation is skipped altogether on ICAI's Direct Entry Route, which registers a candidate straight into the Intermediate Course and which the ICAI prospectus, updated June 2025 opens to four groups:

• commerce graduates or postgraduates with at least 55% aggregate marks, or an equivalent grade, from a recognised university (open universities included), who studied any three papers, each carrying at least 50 marks in a semester or year and 100 or more over the whole course, out of accounting, auditing, mercantile laws, corporate laws, economics, management (including financial management), taxation (including direct and indirect tax laws), costing, business administration or management accounting, or papers with similar titles under other names, as the prospectus sets out;
• graduates or postgraduates in other streams with at least 60%, other than music, dancing, painting, photography, sculpture and the like;
• candidates who have passed the Intermediate examination of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India;
• candidates who have passed the Intermediate examination of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

Students in the final year of graduation or postgraduation can register provisionally for Intermediate, and the prospectus confirms that registration only on proof of the required marks.

Step by step

Application process and fee

There are two separate payments: a one-time course registration with the Board of Studies, then an exam form and fee for each session. Registration runs through ICAI's Self Service Portal, and the FAQs put the Foundation Course fee at Rs 9,000, paid at registration and covering the CA course prospectus and the Foundation study material. The prospectus charges foreign students US$ 720 for Foundation registration, while students from SAARC countries pay the regular fee.

ICAI lists these concessions and scholarships for Foundation students:

• students from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and 8 north-eastern states pay Rs 2,250 instead of Rs 9,000, a 75% concession;
• wards of deceased ICAI members get a 75% concession in the registration fee, per the prospectus, which asks for the student's declaration that annual family income is Rs 5 lakh or less;
• students with a permanent disability of 40% or above are eligible for a 100% fee exemption;
• registered Foundation students whose parents' income is not more than Rs 5,00,000 a year can apply for the Economically Needy Students Scholarship, a lump sum of Rs 6,000 (Rs 1,500 a month for four months);
• students who secure the first two ranks in a senior secondary board and join the CA course within a year of passing Class 12 have the Foundation course fee refunded in six equal instalments.

On how long the regional concession runs, ICAI's own documents disagree. The Board of Studies announcement of 21 March 2025 and the Foundation chapter of the prospectus extend it to 31 March 2028, while the prospectus's fee-concessions chapter still prints 31 March 2025 as the end date.

The exam form is filed separately for every session on the same portal, and the FAQs say it usually opens two months before each examination. For September 2026 the fee was:

Payment is online only, and the guidance notes count an application only once the portal records it and generates the barcoded exam form PDF. The fee is not refundable, though failed electronic transmissions, double payments and transactions lost after payment are considered for refund. Multiple payments against one registration number are refunded within 21 days of the last date for forms, and a candidate who has not received that refund can claim it at edpexam@icai.in within 45 days of the last date, with documentary evidence. A free correction window allows one change of centre, medium or both, and no change is allowed after it closes.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

Admit cards are hosted on eservices.icai.org generally 14 days before the examination and are not sent by post, according to the guidance notes, which ask candidates to check the name, registration number, centre and medium printed on theirs. From the May 2026 session the exam form lets candidates choose a specific centre within their zone or city, but the ICAI announcement of 2 March 2026 on centre selection keeps the final allotment with ICAI and puts the centre's name on the admit card.

On the day, the guidance notes set entry to the centre at 1.15 PM. Papers 1 and 2 run from 2 PM to 5 PM IST with 15 minutes of reading time from 1.45 PM, and Papers 3 and 4 run from 2 PM to 4 PM with no reading time. Late entry is allowed for up to 15 minutes after a paper starts, while a candidate who finishes early must stay in the hall until the scheduled end. The overseas start times in the September 2026 notes are 12.30 PM local time in Dubai, 11.30 AM in Bahrain and 2.15 PM in Kathmandu.

The guidance notes allow a battery-operated portable calculator with up to 6 functions, 12 digits and two memories, and bar scientific calculators. Merely having a mobile phone in the hall, even switched off or on silent, is treated as unfair means. For the multiple-choice papers, ICAI's guidelines for answering MCQs in Foundation Papers 3 and 4 require the 7-digit MCQ booklet number to be written on the OMR sheet in pen with its circles darkened in pencil, and answers marked on the OMR sheet only.

Candidates with a permanent disability and a Unique Disability ID card get compensatory time under the guidance notes: one hour for each of Papers 1 and 2 and half an hour for each of Papers 3 and 4 where the disability is below 50%, and one and a half hours and one hour at 50% or more. A special category, for conditions whose percentage of disability is not stated, such as writer's cramp, learning disability and blood cancer, gets one hour and half an hour. Temporary injuries such as a fracture do not qualify for extra time or a writer. Candidates arrange their own writer, qualified no higher than Class 10 passed or Class 11 appeared, whom the centre pays Rs 750 a paper, and may use at most two writers in an exam cycle.

Structure

Exam pattern

Each of the four papers carries 100 marks. ICAI's FAQs classify Papers 1 and 2 as subjective and Papers 3 and 4 as objective, and the September and November 2026 examination announcement sets their length.

In Papers 3 and 4 each wrong answer loses one-fourth of a mark, and more than one darkened circle for a question counts as a wrong answer, under the guidance notes. Rounding differs by paper: in Papers 1 and 2 only a fraction of half a mark or more is rounded up to the next full mark, while in Papers 3 and 4 any fraction is. The instructions printed on the May 2026 Quantitative Aptitude question booklet add that a correct answer earns one mark and an unanswered question scores zero.

Candidates choose English or Hindi as the answering medium on the exam form. The Paper 1 question paper is in English for everyone, Papers 2, 3 and 4 are bilingual for Hindi-medium candidates, and the OMR answer sheets for Papers 3 and 4 are in English only, according to the guidance notes.

What to study

Syllabus

ICAI's section-wise weightage for the Foundation Course, issued on 26 October 2023 and applicable from the May 2024 examination until further changes, assigns each section of each paper a share of the marks. In Business Laws, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 carries 20% to 30% and the Indian Regulatory Framework 0% to 5%. Business Economics is the one paper given single figures rather than ranges, with a note beneath its table permitting a deviation of up to 5% either way; price determination in different markets and the determination of national income carry 15% each there. Quantitative Aptitude is divided into Business Mathematics for 40 marks, Logical Reasoning for 20 and Statistics for 40.

The Business Economics syllabus takes in cryptocurrency within its money market unit and closes with an Indian Economy unit running from Chanakya and the Nand Vansh before 1950, through an OECD paper for 1950 to 1991, to basic knowledge from 1991 onwards. The Business Laws syllabus notes that if new legislation replaces any of its Acts, the corresponding provisions of the new law enter the syllabus from dates ICAI notifies.

ICAI also states the skill mix each paper assesses. In the prospectus, application accounts for 80% to 95% of Accounting and comprehension and knowledge for 5% to 20%, while comprehension and knowledge take 45% to 65% of Business Laws.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

The Board of Studies publishes the Foundation study material itself. The FAQs place it on the BoS Knowledge Portal and make printed copies available to order through the Centralized Distribution System portal once registration is confirmed. Editions are tied to examination sessions: ICAI's Business Laws study material page for the Foundation Course, like the pages for the other three papers, now lists an edition marked relevant for the May 2027 and later examinations above the one marked applicable from the May 2026 examination onwards.

For the September 2026 session, the Board of Studies scheduled Mock Test Papers Series I and II for CA Foundation from 10 August and 20 August 2026, in virtual mode and in physical mode through ICAI branches. The announcement set question papers to go up by 9:30 AM on each paper's date and answer keys within 48 hours of the paper's start, for students to check their answers and self-assess.

For January 2027, the Board of Studies announcement dated 2 September 2026 schedules Live Virtual Classes from 16 September 2026 for Accounting (11 AM to 1 PM) and Business Laws (2 PM to 4 PM) on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Business Economics (11 AM to 1 PM) and Quantitative Aptitude (2 PM to 4 PM) begin on 17 September 2026, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Past papers are posted session by session. ICAI's Foundation question papers page carries Papers 1 and 2 for each session from June 2024, and Paper 3 as well for September 2026, while its Suggested Answers page for the Foundation Course lists sessions from June 2024 to May 2026.

Where it is held

Exam centres

The September and November 2026 examination announcement lists Indian examination cities state by state, from 37 in Maharashtra and 28 in Tamil Nadu to single cities such as Port Blair, Shimla and Gangtok, and reserves ICAI's right to withdraw any city or centre. Its overseas list for the September 2026 papers has three cities, Bahrain, Dubai and Kathmandu. The May 2026 examination announcement had nine overseas cities, with Abu Dhabi, Thimphu, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat and Riyadh alongside those three.

The guidance notes divide several large cities into zones, among them Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi/New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. ICAI's result releases count the centres actually used: 609 in India and abroad for the May 2026 Foundation examination, and 566 for the January 2026 sitting.

After the exam

Answer key

For the objective papers, ICAI's Examination Department has posted the MCQ booklets with answer keys for the January 2026 and May 2026 sessions. Its MCQ questions and keys page for May 2026 says each booklet, with its key at the end, is hosted "for the purpose of guidance of students", so candidates can check their questions against the master set. In the May 2026 Quantitative Aptitude key, questions 41 and 69 carry no correct option, and the Examination Committee awarded one mark each to all candidates who appeared in Paper 3; the Board of Studies' suggested answers for the May 2026 Quantitative Aptitude paper also record that none of the options for those two questions is correct.

The route the guidance notes give for disputing a question is a representation to the Joint Secretary (Exams) at examfeedback@icai.in within a week of the last paper, for a question outside the syllabus, beyond the expected level of knowledge, ambiguously worded, or for any other valid reason. For the September 2026 papers, ICAI's notice of 1 September 2026 on candidates' observations asks for observations by email or Speed Post to reach the Examination Department by 17 September 2026, with the candidate's name, registration number, roll number, email ID and mobile number.

After the result, candidates can apply on the Self Service Portal for verification of marks and for certified copies of their answer books, which for Papers 3 and 4 means the OMR sheets. ICAI's announcement of 18 December 2025 revising these fees cut verification from Rs 100 to Rs 50 a paper and certified copies from Rs 500 to Rs 100 a paper, applying from the January 2026 results. For the May 2026 Foundation result the verification and certified copies window ran from 4 July to 2 August 2026.

Scores

Result and scorecard

ICAI declares results online, and a candidate needs both the registration number and the roll number to see one. The May 2026 Foundation result was declared on 3 July 2026 on the ICAI examination results portal, while the September 2026 guidance notes name icai.nic.in as the results site for that session.

Split by gender in the May 2026 result release, 20.88% of male candidates and 19.24% of female candidates passed. The same release counts 1,06,144 candidates admitted to that examination, of whom 90,217 appeared, and puts the all-India first rank's score at 371 marks, or 92.75%.

Statements of marks are sent by post after the result, and a candidate who has not received one within 4 to 5 weeks can write to exam.dmsfoundation@icai.in, according to the guidance notes. ICAI issues no pass certificate for Foundation. A candidate scoring 70% or more is declared "Pass with Distinction", and the remark appears on the result card only.

Scores you need

Cutoff

What the Foundation examination sets is a pass requirement in marks. The guidance notes declare a candidate passed on a minimum of 40 marks in each paper and 50% of the aggregate of all 4 papers, in one sitting, and issue rank certificates, on an all-India basis up to the 20th rank, to candidates with at least 60% in aggregate. The Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988 make no provision for improving a Foundation result, the notes add, so a candidate who has passed is not eligible to sit the examination again.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

Nothing is allotted on a Foundation result; what it unlocks is registration in ICAI's own Intermediate Course. The Foundation route in the prospectus has a student register for Intermediate after qualifying both Class 12 and Foundation, complete 8 months of theoretical education, and pass both Intermediate groups before starting two years of practical training, with the Integrated Course on Information Technology and Soft Skills completed first. The FAQs put Intermediate registration at Rs 18,000 for both groups, and schedule Intermediate examinations in January, May and September, with registration required on or before 1 September of the previous year for a May examination.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

The prospectus says ICAI's Regional Councils and branches organise coaching classes for Foundation, Intermediate and Final students, and that ICAI accredits institutions, colleges and universities to run coaching classes for CA students, with 22 colleges and universities accredited for Foundation, Intermediate and Final. It also records an MoU with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) under which students can pursue its B.Com (Accounting and Finance). For the September 2026 mock tests, the Board of Studies announcement directed students who wanted the physical mode to their local ICAI branches.

Get help

Contact

For Foundation exam form queries on eligibility and admit cards, the guidance notes give foundation_examhelpline@icai.in and phone numbers including 0120-3054851, 0120-3054852 and 0120-3054853, with the helpdesk open from 10 am to 6 pm on working days. The same notes route Self Service Portal login and OTP problems to ssp.helpdesk@icai.in or 99975 99975, and fee refunds and payment failures to edpexam@icai.in or 0120-3054834. For postal correspondence the notes give the Joint Secretary (Exams), The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, ICAI Bhawan, Indraprastha Marg, New Delhi 110 002.

ICAI's Examination Department contact sheet dated 6 June 2025 lists 0120-3894815 for the Foundation section, with the same email address. The FAQs direct further queries to the Board of Studies at bosnoida@icai.in.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Exact exam dates, registration windows, answer keys, results and pass percentages are per-cycle. Anything per-cycle here is stated for the cycle it names and is taken from the conducting body's own notification; confirm it on the official website before acting on it. Expertie does not conduct any exam, process applications or charge fees.

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