ICAI announces eligibility criteria for CA Final September 2025, January 2026 exams

NEW DELHI: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has issued the eligibility criteria for CA Final exams for September 2025 and January 2026. In order to apply for CA Final September 2025 exams, candidates are required to complete three years of articleship by August 31, 2025. For CA Final January 2026, applicants have to complete articleship by December 31, 2025.

Recently, the institute announced that the CA Final exams will be held thrice a year, a move opposed by the chartered accountants and aspirants who found it “suicidal” due to the huge syllabus and tight job market.

CA Final September 2025 eligibility criteria

For articleship training

Candidate must have completed a prescribed period of 3 years of articleship training as on the date of filling the examination application form,

Or

Candidate must complete the prescribed period of 3 years of articleship training including excess leave, if any, on or before August 31, 2025,

Or

Candidate must be in service as on September 1, 2025 and serving the last six months of articleship training including excess leave, if any, and due to complete 3 years of articleship training on or before February 28, 2026. (for Intermediate/IPCC/IIPCE student).

Candidate should have completed Advanced Integrated Course On Information Technology And Soft Skills (AICITSS) for being eligible to appear in September 2025 final exams.

Those who have converted from CA Final (Old Course) to CA Final (New Course) and appeared at least once in the CA Final (Old Course) exam under regulation 31(ii) are not required to complete the course before appearing in the Final examination to be held in September 2025 but in any case candidates are required to complete it before applying for the membership of ICAI.

Self-Paced Online Modules (SPOM)

In order to be eligible, candidates must have completed the Self-paced Module Test (SPMT) and SPOM. Those who were admitted to the CA Final exam till November 2023 are exempted from appearing in SPMT Set C and Set D. However, it is mandatory for them to qualify Set A and Set B before applying for membership as per table given below.

Candidates, other than this, who were admitted to the CA Final exams of May 2024 are exempted from appearing in SPMT. However, it is mandatory for such candidates to qualify Set A and Set B before applying for membership.

Other candidates are required to mandatorily qualify Set A, B, C and/or D as applicable.

CA Intermediate candidates who had cleared both the groups of CA Inter exams till November 2023 and completed Advanced ICITSS along with 2.5 years of articleship training, including excess leave, on or before August 31, 2025 are exempted from appearing in SPMT Set C and D. However, it is mandatory to qualify SET A and Set B before applying for membership.

Intermediate candidates who had cleared either of the group up to November 2023 or before and passed the remaining group under unit scheme from May 2024 to May 2025 and completed Advanced ICITSS along with 2.5 years of articleship training, including excess leave, on or before August 31, 2025 are required to undergo and pass SPOM before appearing in the exam to become eligible as per below eligibility criteria:

CA Final January 2026 eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria for candidates who are registered under 3 years of articleship training are given below.

Candidate must have completed prescribed period of 3 years of articleship training as on the date of filling the examination application form.

Or

Candidate must complete the prescribed period of 3 years of articleship training including excess leave, if any, on or December 31, 2025.

Or

Candidate must be in service as on January 1, 2026 and serving the last six months of articleship training including excess leave, if any, and due to be completed 3 years of articleship training on or before June 30, 2026. (for Intermediate/IPCC/IIPCE candidates).

Those who are registered under 2 years of articleship must have completed prescribed period of training (including excess leaves) on or before June 30, 2025. Rest of the eligibility criteria is same as that for CA Final September 2025 exams.