CA Final Course: Eligibility, Papers, Exams and Fees

CA Final at a glance

These are the main rules for the Final course under ICAI's New Scheme of Education and Training, launched on 1 July 2023, taken from ICAI's FAQs, Prospectus and exam notices:

"CA finalist" is not a term ICAI defines; it is commonly used for a student who has reached the Final level. You become a chartered accountant only after passing both Final groups and being admitted as a member of ICAI (ICAI Prospectus).

Who can register for CA Final

You can register for the Final course any time after you pass both groups of the Intermediate exam (FAQ Q 4.1).

Registering is not the same as being allowed to sit the exam. To appear in the Final exam you also need the training, courses and modules described under conditions to sit the exam below. The online modules open only once you are registered for Final (FAQ Q 7.1), so registering soon after your Intermediate result lets you work through them during articleship.

How to register and what it costs

Registration is online on ICAI's Self Service Portal, which you reach from the Students Services page on icai.org. You upload self-attested documents online; there is no need to visit an ICAI office or post physical papers (ICAI Prospectus).

• The same form registers you for the Self-Paced Online Modules. You choose your SET C and SET D subjects in it, and there is no separate fee for the modules (FAQ Q 7.3).
• After registering, you receive an email with login details to order the Final study material, and the SET A and SET B material, through ICAI's Centralised Distribution System portal (FAQ Q 4.4).

Registration fee

The registration fee is paid once. The exam fee is separate and is paid every time you apply for an exam (see exam form below). ICAI's Prospectus also lists fee concessions for some regions and for wards of deceased members; check the "Scholarships and Fee Concessions" section of the Prospectus if they may apply to you.

Papers and Self-Paced Online Modules

The Final course has six papers of 100 marks each in two groups (FAQ Q 4.3). For what each paper covers and how the syllabus changed from the old eight-paper course, see our guide to CA Final subjects under the new scheme.

Group I

• Paper 1: Financial Reporting
• Paper 2: Advanced Financial Management
• Paper 3: Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics

Group II

• Paper 4: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation
• Paper 5: Indirect Tax Laws
• Paper 6: Integrated Business Solutions (Multidisciplinary Case Study with Strategic Management)

Self-Paced Online Modules

The four modules are studied and tested online, at your own pace, after you register for Final (FAQ Q 7.1 to 7.9):

You qualify a module with at least 50% marks, and there is no limit on attempts. You must complete the minimum learning hours for a module before taking its test. Module marks are not added to your Final exam marks, and there is no negative marking.

Practical training and Advanced ICITSS

Practical training (articleship) runs alongside the Final course. It lasts 2 years and you can start it only after passing both Intermediate groups and completing the four-week ICITSS course; in the last part of training you may spend 9 to 12 months as an industrial trainee (FAQ Q 5.1 to 5.3 and 6.2). Our guide to CA articleship covers leave, stipends and industrial training in detail.

After you finish training, and before the Final exam, you must complete Advanced ICITSS. It is a four-week course combining Management and Communication Skills with Advanced IT training (FAQ Q 6.1 and 6.3).

Conditions to sit the Final exam

ICAI's FAQ (Q 4.5) lets you appear in the Final exam only if you:

1. are registered for the Final course;
2. completed practical training six months before the first day of the exam month;
3. completed Advanced ICITSS; and
4. qualified all four Self-Paced Online Modules.

For the November 2026 exam, for example, ICAI's requirements notice says 2-year training had to be completed, including excess leave, on or before 30 April 2026, and Advanced ICITSS on or before 10 October 2026. Students still on the old 3-year articleship have separate conditions listed in that notice.

The CA Final exam

Until ICAI's announcement of 6 April 2026, the Final exam was held three times a year, in January, May and September. That announcement moved it to twice a year, in May and November, from the May 2026 exam onwards. There is no Final exam in September 2026: the next one is in November 2026, with Group I on 2, 4 and 6 November and Group II on 9, 11 and 13 November (ICAI announcement, 2 May 2026). ICAI had not announced the May 2027 dates when we checked icai.org on 7 October 2026. Our CA Final exam dates guide has the full timetable and deadlines.

According to ICAI's Guidance Notes for Final, November 2026:

• There is no negative marking for wrong MCQ answers. In Papers 1 to 5, the MCQs are compulsory, carry 1 or 2 marks each and have four options.
• You can answer in English or Hindi; you choose the medium in the exam form.
• Every paper starts with 15 minutes of reading time, from 1.45 PM (ICAI announcement, 2 May 2026).

Exam form

You apply for each exam online on the Self Service Portal (eservices.icai.org) within the dates ICAI announces for that session. For the November 2026 session the fee at Indian centres was ₹1,800 for one group and ₹3,300 for both, with a late fee of ₹600 (ICAI Fee Chart, September and November 2026). Your articleship status on the portal must show "Registered" before you apply (ICAI requirements notice, November 2026).

Admit card

ICAI posts admit cards on eservices.icai.org, generally 14 days before the exam starts. You print it yourself; no physical admit card is sent (Guidance Notes, November 2026).

Passing marks, exemptions and results

You can write one group at a time or both groups together. You pass a group with at least 40% in each paper and 50% aggregate in that group, in one sitting. If you write both groups together, you also pass both if you score at least 40% in every paper and 50% aggregate across all six papers (FAQ Q 4.10).

If you fail a group but score 60% or more in a paper of that group, you are exempted from that paper for the next three exams. You then need 40% in each remaining paper and 50% aggregate including the exempted paper (FAQ Q 4.11).

ICAI publishes Final results on icai.nic.in after each session (Guidance Notes, November 2026).

How long the Final stage takes

By ICAI's rules, the earliest you can sit Final is six months after your 2-year practical training ends, so at least 2½ years after you start training, plus the wait for the next May or November session. Our guide to how long the CA course takes adds up the minimum periods for every level.

Preparing for CA Final

ICAI's Board of Studies publishes free resources on its Knowledge Portal: study material, revision test papers, mock test papers, past question papers and suggested answers. It also runs free Live Virtual Classes for Final students; the batch for the May and November 2027 exams started on 20 July 2026 (ICAI Board of Studies announcement, 13 July 2026).

In our experience, these habits help:

• Start early and plan around your articleship hours, so you are not studying six papers in the last few months.
• Clear the Self-Paced Online Modules during articleship; you cannot sit the Final exam without them.
• Solve past papers and mock test papers under exam timing, including the four-hour Paper 6.
• Use a small set of good material rather than many books, and keep time for sleep, exercise and rest.

After you pass CA Final

Once you pass both Final groups, you apply to ICAI for membership and qualify as a chartered accountant (ICAI Prospectus). If you have passed Intermediate, completed practical training and Advanced ICITSS and qualified the four modules, you can apply for ICAI's Business Accounting Associate (BAA) certificate for ₹500 while you continue to attempt the Final exam (ICAI Prospectus).