How to register and appear for ICAI CA Foundation

Urgent Notice: As of January, 2019, ICAI is performing a maintenance on its Information System portal. So, the information contained within this post may have to be updated to reflect the changes made. We will update this post with the necessary modifications as soon as more information becomes available.

The CA Foundation exam is the entry level exam in the Chartered Accountancy course. The exam is conducted by the ICAI. It is held twice yearly: once in May and the other in November.

If you want to appear for the exam in May, you’ll have to register by 31^st December of the previous year. If you want to appear for the exam in December, you’ll have to register by 30^th June of the current year.

So, for the CA Foundation May 2019 exam, you would have had to register by 31st December, 2018. If you have failed to do so, you must register for the CA Foundation November 2019 exam by 30th June, 2019.

Now let’s look at the registration procedure. 

 How to register for the CA Foundation Exam

Registration Procedure

Go to icai.org. Under the students’ tab, click on course registration forms.

Fig (1):  How to register for CA Foundation: Course Registration Form

In the course registration form page, click on “Application Form for Registration to Foundation Course.”

You will be directed to a portal page.

If you are a new user, click on the new user registration button. And follow the instructions for registration.

Once you fill out the online form, you should do the following:

1. Pay the fees online using the payment gateway
2. Print out the form generated after payment is received

Within 7 days of the date of online registration, submit the following documents to the nearest regional office

• Signed printout of the online successful registration form
• Attested copy of admit card/mark sheet of the class 12^th examination (or its equivalents)
• One recent colour photograph (attached to the printout of the online successful registration form)
• Attested copy of proof of nationality if you are a foreigner
• Attested copy of proof of special category certificate (SC/ST, OBC, Differently abled, etc.)
• Attested copy of 10^th Marksheet/Admit Card of 10^th class indicated name and date of birth

The attestation can be done by a CA, gazetted officer or the head of your educational institute (school/college principal).

Note that the reason why you need to submit a proof of special category certificate is because ICAI provides scholarships and fee waivers to such categories.

As we said earlier, you’ll need to submit all this to the nearest regional office. Here is a list of them:

 Fig (2): ICAI Regional Offices

Once you complete this registration process, ICAI provides you with study material. Collect them from the office or get it through mail.

Note that your registration will be valid for 3 years. It can also be renewed if you pay Rs. 300 as revalidation fees.

Here are the registration fees:

 Fig (3): CA Foundation Course Registration Fees

Procedure to Appear for the Exam

Once you register for the exam, it doesn’t mean that you can appear for it! You will have to file an exam application form to do so.

It works like this.

After you’ve registered, fill an exam application form on the ICAI website. Enter your registration number and password. Submit this form by the date declared by the council.

Your user name will be the registration number. It will remain the same throughout the Chartered Accountancy Course. So, don’t forget it! But you can reset your password as when needed.

You’ll then need to obtain an admit card from the ICAI website. It’s not going to be sent physically to your address. You’ll have to download it from the website itself. You’ll get it by logging in to your account.

ICAI issues the admit card 21 days before the examination date. So, don’t get too alarmed if you don’t see where to download the admit card immediately.

The admit card contains the following details:

• Your name
• Registration number
• Roll number
• Examination centre
• Exam timetable

You can download your admit card up to 3 times from the portal. Get the printout to enter the examination hall.

Exam Admittance Policy

You will be admitted to the exam only if

1. you have registered on or before 30^th June/31^st December for the exam held in November/May respectively;
2. you have passed Class 12^th or its equivalent;
3. you have paid the examination fees; and
4. you have a print out of the admit card on your person.

That’s the entire procedure in a nutshell.

Streamlined and simple.

Do you have any further questions about this procedure? Let us know in the comment section below. And if you need help in cracking CA Foundation, sign up for our video lectures today.