CMA Study Material: ICMAI's Free PDFs for Foundation, Inter and Final

Download ICMAI's study material by level

Every paper carries 100 marks, and its study notes are arranged by the modules of the syllabus, with the weight of each module listed at the start of the book.

You choose your elective once, when you enrol for the Final course (Curriculum 2022), so you need only one of the three elective books. On ICMAI's Final page, the links for Papers 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20A open files on Google Drive; they are ICMAI's own links.

ICMAI lists the books by syllabus, not by year, so a "2025" or "2026" CMA study material is simply the current Syllabus 2022 book. Syllabus 2022 has applied since the June 2023 exam term and Syllabus 2016 ran only until the December 2023 term (Curriculum 2022), so skip older books, including copies shared on other websites.

Of the 23 files posted when we checked on 6 October 2026, 21 carry 2026 dates. Most are reprints, such as Foundation Paper 1 (the July 2024 revised edition, reprinted in January 2026), Intermediate Paper 5 (a January 2026 reprint) and Final Paper 13 (a July 2026 reprint). Intermediate Papers 6 and 7 (both sections) and Final Papers 15 and 19 are revised editions issued in 2026, not just reprints. The two exceptions are the electives 20B and 20C, which are 2025 reprints of the August 2022 first edition.

For paper-by-paper links and what each paper covers, see our guides to CMA Foundation study material and CMA Inter study material. For Final, download the books from ICMAI's Final study material page.

What else ICMAI publishes for practice

The study notes teach the syllabus; ICMAI's other free resources are for practice and for updates. Apart from the past question papers, which are in ICMAI's Examination section, all of them are linked from its CMA Syllabus 2022 page.

ICMAI's Revision Test Papers page still shows only a June 2018 set written for Syllabus 2016, so those papers do not match today's syllabus.

Printed books for registered students

Every student admitted to a level has to take ICMAI's coaching, by postal (e-learning) or oral mode, and the CMA Prospectus 2025 (September 2025 edition) says students under either mode "will be provided study materials of the Institute":

• Postal coaching: the books for each subject are sent to your registered address. You can follow the parcel with ICMAI's Study Materials E-Tracking service.
• Oral coaching: the books are handed out by the Regional Council, Chapter, recognised oral coaching centre or accredited institution you joined.
• Instalments: Intermediate and Final students who pay in instalments receive the books for both groups after paying the first instalment.

The prospectus prices each study material copy at ₹400 for Foundation, ₹600 for Intermediate and ₹700 for Final, with courier charges of ₹100 per copy. Its list of student support services (Annexure XVII) also includes live webinar classes and an e-class library of recorded webinars.

ICMAI does not present its books as the only reading. The prospectus says students "should refer to other text books for a subject for in-depth study required in a professional examination" and gives a list of recommended books for every subject in its Annexure IV.

How to use CMA study material

This is the order we suggest for each paper:

1. Learn from the study notes. Read one module at a time and make short notes of your own: definitions, formats, formulas and section numbers you will want to revise. Turn to a reference book only for topics you need explained in more depth.
2. Practise as you go. After each module, answer the questions on it in the MCQ bank and, at Intermediate and Final, work through the work book illustrations for that module.
3. Add the Supplementary. Check ICMAI's Supplementary page for your own exam term and, if your paper is listed, read its supplement; it holds the updates ICMAI has issued for that term. The list is not limited to tax and law papers: for December 2026 it also includes Financial Accounting (Paper 6), Cost and Management Audit (Paper 17) and Corporate Financial Reporting (Paper 18).
4. Test yourself under exam conditions. Once you have finished a paper, take the model question paper, practice test paper and postal test paper in one sitting, within the time printed on the paper, and check your answers against ICMAI's answer papers where it publishes them.
5. Move on to past question papers. Attempt them only after you have studied the whole paper; tried earlier, they tell you little and can be discouraging. Note how the marks are split and how much detail each answer needs.
6. Track your scores and revise. Keep a record of your marks by paper and module, go back to the modules where you lose marks, and keep the last weeks before the exam for revision from your own notes.

Give every paper its share of time: to pass, ICMAI's regulations require at least 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate: of all four papers at Foundation and, at Intermediate and Final, of the group, or of both groups together if you take both at one sitting. So one weak paper can hold back your result. Our guide to the CMA exams lists all 20 papers and explains the passing marks for each level.