ICAI CA Intermediate Course 2024 Syllabus, Paper Pattern

Standards (IFRS converged standards) and IFRSs; Convergence vs Adoption; Objective and Concepts of carve outs.

• AS1 Disclosure of Accounting Policies
• AS2 Valuation of Inventories
• AS3 Cash Flow Statements
• AS4 Contingencies and Events Occurring After the Balance Sheet Date

• AS5 Net Profit or Loss for the Period, Prior Period Items and Changes in Accounting Policies

• AS6 Construction Contracts

• AS7 Revenue Recognition

• AS8 Property, Plant and Equipment

• AS9 The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates

• AS10 Accounting for Government Grants

• AS11 Accounting for Investments

• AS12 Accounting for Amalgamations (excluding inter-company holdings)

• AS13 Employee Benefits

• AS14 Borrowing Costs

• AS15 Segment Reporting

• AS16 Related Party Disclosures
• AS17 Leases Earnings Per Share

• AS18 Consolidated Financial Statements of single subsidiaries (excluding problems involving acquisition of Interest in Subsidiary at Different Dates, Cross holding, Disposal of a Subsidiary and Foreign Subsidiaries)

• AS19 Accounting for Taxes on Income

• AS20 Accounting for Investment in Associates in Consolidated Financial Statements

• AS21 Discontinuing Operations

• AS22 Interim Financial Reporting

• AS23 Intangible Assets

• AS24 Financial Reporting of Interests in Joint Ventures
• AS25 Impairment of Assets
• AS26 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities, and Contingent Assets

• Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013 (Division I)
• Preparation of financial statements – Statement of Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
• Buyback of securities
• Accounting for the reconstruction of companies

1. Preliminary
2. Incorporation of Company and Matters Incidental thereto
3. Prospectus and Allotment of Securities
4. Share Capital and Debentures
5. Acceptance of Deposits by Companies
6. Registration of Charges
7. Management and Administration
8. Declaration and Payment of Dividend
9. Accounts of Companies
10. Audit and Auditors
11. Companies Incorporated Outside India

1. Income-tax law: An introduction
2. Significant concepts in income-tax law, including person, assessee, previous year, assessment year, income, agricultural income
3. Basis of Charge
4. Procedure for computation of total income and tax payable in case of individuals

• Residential status

• Scope of total income

• Salaries
• Income from house property
• Profits and gains of business or profession
• Capital gains
• Income from other sources

• Application of CGST/IGST law
• Concept of supply including composite and mixed supplies
• Charge of tax including reverse charge
• Exemption from tax Composition levy

• Classification
• Place of supply
• Time of supply
• Value of supply
• Input tax credit

• Objectives and Scope of Cost and Management Accounting.

• The users of Cost and Management accounting information, Functions of management
• Accounting.

• Role of the cost accounting department in an organization and its relation with other departments.

• Installation of Costing System.
• Relationship of Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and
• Financial Management.

• Cost terms and Concepts.

• Cost Reduction and Cost Control

• Elements of Costs.

• Cost behavior pattern, Separating the components of fixed, variable, semi-variable, and step costs.

• Methods of Costing, Techniques of Costing.

• Digital Costing

• Functional classification and ascertainment of cost.

• Preparation of Cost Sheets for the Manufacturing sector and for the Service sector.

1. Introduction to procurement procedures. Valuation of receipts, issue and closing stock of Material, Stock verification.
2. Material requirement analysis through digital costing including Government e-Marketplace (GeM). Introduction to Costing through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Process of tender and quotation.
3. Inventory control:

• Techniques of fixing the level of stocks- minimum, maximum, reorder point, safety stock, determination of the optimum stock level
• Determination of Optimum Order Quantity- Economic Order Quantity (EOQ)
• Techniques of Inventory control- ABC Analysis, Fast, Slow moving and Non-moving (FSN), High, Medium, Low (HML), Vital, Essential, Desirable (VED), Just-in-Time (JIT)- Stock taking and perpetual inventory system, use of inventory control ratios, Digital Inventory control.

4. Treatment of Normal/Abnormal Losses w.r.t. waste, scrap, spoilage, defective, obsolescence.

1. Introduction to Attendance and Payroll procedures.
2. Elements of wages- Basic pay, Dearness Allowance, Overtime, Bonus, Holiday and leavewages, Allowances, and perquisites
3. Employee Cost Control
4. Employee Turnover- Methods of calculating employee turnover, causes of employee turnover, effects of employee turnover
5. Remuneration systems and incentive schemes- Premium Bonus Method (Halsey Plan and Rowan Plan

1. Identification of direct expenses with the main product or service and its treatment

1. Functional analysis- Factory, Administration, Selling, Distribution, Research and Development.
2. Behavioral analysis- Fixed, Variable and Semi-Variable.
3. Allocation and Apportionment of overheads using the Absorption Costing Method.
4. Factory Overheads- Primary and secondary distribution.
5. Administration Overheads- Method of allocation to cost centers or products.
6. Selling & Distribution Overheads- Analysis and absorption of the expenses in products/customers, the impact of marketing strategies, and the cost-effectiveness of various methods of sales promotion.
7. Treatment of Research and development cost in cost accounting

1. Recording of financial data and its segregation.
2. Introduction to Non-integrated and Integrated Accounting Systems.
3. Items included in cost accounts only but financial accounts and vice versa.
4. Reconciliation of profit as per Cost and Financial Accounts (under Non-Integrated Accounting System)

Job cost cards and databases, collecting direct costs of each job, attributing overheads to jobs, Application of job costing.

Determination of optimum batch quantity, Ascertainment of cost for a batch, Preparation of

batch cost sheet, Treatment of spoiled and defective work

1. Process cost recording, Process loss, Abnormal gains and losses, Equivalent units of production, Inter-process profit, and Valuation of work in process.
2. Joint Products-Apportionment of joint costs, Methods of apportioning joint cost over joint Products.
3. By-Products-Methods of apportioning joint costs over by-products, treatment of By-Product cost

Determination of Costs and Prices of services

1. Setting up Standards, Types of Standards, and Standard Costing as a method of performance Measurement.
2. Calculation and Reconciliation of Material Cost, Labour cost, Variable Overhead, Fixed Overhead.

1. Basic concepts of marginal costing, Contribution margin, Break-even analysis, Break–even and profit volume charts, Contribution to sales ratio, Margin of Safety, Angle of Incidence,Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis (CVP).
2. Determination of Cost of a product/ service under marginal costing method, determination of cost of finished goods, work-in-progress.
3. Comparison of Marginal costing with absorption costing method- Reconciliation of profit under both methods.
4. Short-term decision-making:

• Make or buy decision
• Discontinuation decision
• Multiproduct break-even analysis
• Limiting factor (key factor)

• Meaning of Budget, Essentials of Budget, Budget Manual, Budget setting process, Preparation of Budget and monitoring procedures.

• The use of budget in planning and control.

• Flexible budget, Preparation of Functional budget for operating and non-operating functions

• Cash budget, Master budget.

• Introduction to Principal/ Key budget factor Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB), Performance budget, Control ratios, and Budget variances.

• Budgets and motivation.
• Feedback and Feedforward controlling in budgeting

• Origin of Auditing, Meaning of Audit, Need for Audit (Benefits of Audit), Objective of the Audit, Scope of Audit, External Audit engagements, Qualities of Auditor.
• Inherent Limitations of an Audit; Relationship of auditing with other disciplines.(SA 200 Overall Objectives of the Independent Auditor and the Conduct of an Audit in Accordance with Standards on Auditing)

• Auditor’s responsibility to plan an audit of financial statements. Benefits of audit planning.

• Planning is a continual and iterative process.

• Discussion of elements of planning with the entity’s management.

• Involvement of Key Engagement Team Members in planning the audit. Preliminary engagement activities.

• The auditor’s consideration of client continuance and ethical requirements. Planning activities.

• Establishing an overall audit strategy- Assistance for the auditor. Development of audit plan.

• Documenting the overall audit strategy and audit plan; Audit program.

• Development of Audit Plan and Program

• Audit Risk.
• Risk of Material Misstatement, Inherent Risk and Control Risk, and Detection Risk.
• Sampling and Non-Sampling Risk.
• Concept of Materiality, Materiality in Planning and Performing an Audit.
• The auditor’s responsibility to apply the concept of materiality.
• An auditor’s determination of materiality is a matter of professional judgment. Materiality and Audit Risk.
• Application of materiality in planning and performing the audit. Concept of Performance Materiality.
• Determining materiality and performance materiality when planning the audit.
• Use of Benchmarks in determining materiality for the financial statements as a whole. Materiality level or levels for particular classes of transactions, account balances, or disclosures.
• Revision in materiality as the audit progresses. Documenting the Materiality.

(SA 320 Materiality in Planning and Performing an Audit).

• Identifying and Assessing the Risk of Material Misstatement, Risk Assessment procedures.
• Understanding the entity and its environment; Internal control.
• Documenting the Risks.
• Evaluation of internal control system.
• Testing of Internal control; Internal Control and IT Environment (SA 315 Identifying and Assessing the
• Risks of Material Misstatement Through Understanding the Entity and Its Environment).

Digital Audit: Key features, Impact of IT-related Risks, Impact on Controls, Internal Financial Controls as per Regulatory requirements, Types of Controls, Audit approach, Understanding and documenting Automated environment, Testing methods, data analytics for audit, assessing and reporting audit findings.

• Meaning of Audit Evidence.
• Relevance and Reliability of Audit Evidence
• Sufficient appropriate audit evidence
• Meaning of Assertions
• Assertions contained in the Financial Statements. Source of audit evidence
• Test of controls
• Substantive Procedures- Test of details and Substantive analytical procedures, Audit procedures for obtaining audit evidence.
• Evaluation of Audit Evidence (SA 500 Audit Evidence), Audit Trail

(Using the work of Internal Auditors – SA 610)

• Internal audit function.
• External Auditor’s Responsibility for the audit, Evaluating the internal audit function.
• Basics of Internal Financial Control and reporting requirements. The distinction between Internal Financial Control and Internal Control over Financial Reporting.
• Audit Sampling: (SA 530 Audit Sampling). Meaning of Audit Sampling.
• Designing an audit sample; Types of sampling (Approaches to Sampling).
• Sample Size and selection of items for testing; Sample selection method.
• Obtaining evidence of the existence of inventory; Audit procedure to identify litigation & claims.
• Obtaining evidence regarding the presentation and disclosure of segment information
• (SA 501 Audit Evidence – Specific Considerations for Selected Items)
• External confirmation procedures.
• Management’s refusal to allow the auditor to send a confirmation request; Negative Confirmations (SA 505 External Confirmations); Audit evidence about opening balances; Accounting policies relating to opening balances; Reporting with regard to opening balances (SA 510 Initial Audit Engagements-Opening Balances)
• Meaning of Related Party; Nature of Related Party Relationships & Transactions; Understanding the Entity’s Related Party Relationships & Transactions (SA 550 Related Parties)
• Analytical Procedures.
• Meaning, nature, purpose, and timing of analytical procedures; Substantive analytical procedures.
• Designing and performing analytical procedures prior to Audit.
• Investigating the results of analytical procedures (SA 520 Analytical Procedures)

• Audit of sale of Products and Services; Audit of Interest Income, Rental Income, Dividend Income, Net gain/loss on sale of Investments, etc.

• Audit of Purchases, Employee benefits expenses, Depreciation, Interest expense, Expenditure on Power and fuel, Rent, Repair to building, Repair to Machinery, Insurance, Taxes, Travelling Expenses, Miscellaneous Expenses, etc.
• Audit of Share Capital, Reserve and surplus, Long-term Term Borrowings, Trade Payables, Provisions, Short-term Term Borrowings, and other Current Liabilities.

• Audit of Land, Buildings, Plant and equipment, Furniture and fixtures, Vehicles, office equipment, Goodwill, Brand/Trademarks, Computer Software, etc.

• Audit of Loans and advances, Trade Receivable, Inventories, Cash and cash Equivalent, and Other Current Assets. Audit of Contingent Liabilities. (The list of items is illustrative only.)

• Concept of Audit Documentation
• Nature & Purpose of Audit Documentation; Form, Content & Extent of Audit Documentation. Completion Memorandum.
• Ownership and custody of Audit Documentation (SA 230 Audit Documentation).

• Meaning of Subsequent Events;
• Auditors’ obligations in different situations of subsequent events.
• Procedures for subsequent events. (SA 560 Subsequent Events).
• Responsibilities of the Auditor with regard to Going Concern Assumption; Objectives of the Auditor
• regarding Going Concern.
• Events or Conditions that may cast doubt about the Going Concern Assumption.
• Audit Procedures when events or conditions are identified (SA 570 Going Concern). Overview and
• Introduction of Evaluations of Misstatements identified during the audit (SA 450).
• Written Representations as Audit Evidence.
• Objective of Auditor regarding Written Representation.
• Management from whom Written Representations may be requested.

• Forming an opinion on the Financial Statements.

• Auditor’s Report- basic elements (SA 700 Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements).

• Communicating key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report (SA 701) Types of Modified Opinion, Circumstances When a Modification to the Auditor’s Opinion is Required, Qualified, Adverse Disclaimer of Opinion (SA 705 Modification to the Opinion in the Independent Auditor’s Report).

• SA 706 Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs and Other Matter Paragraphs in the Independent Auditor’s Report.

• Nature of Comparative Information.

• Corresponding Figure; Comparative Financial Statements (SA 710 Comparative Information – Corresponding Figures and Comparative Financial Statements).

• Branch audit; Joint audit; Reporting requirements under the Companies Act, 2013, including CARO

• Appointment of Auditor, Audit Procedure and Audit Report in respect of different Category of Entities, Government; Local bodies; Not-for-profit organizations; Trust and Societies, Partnership Firms, Audit of different types of undertakings, i.e., Educational Institutions, Hotels, Clubs, Hospitals, etc. Basics of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) Audit and Co-operative Societies Audit.

• Understanding of accounting systems in Banks, Audit Approach, Audit of Revenue items, Special Consideration in Bank Audit with emphasis on Advances and NPAs

• Meaning of Ethics. – Ethics is a State of Mind, Need for Professional Ethics.

• Principles-based approach v Rules-based approach (Ethical or Legal).
• The fundamental principles of Professional Ethics: Integrity;
• Objectivity; Professional Competence and Due care; Confidentiality; Professional Behaviour.
• Independence of Auditors.
• Threats to Independence: Self-interest threats, Self Review threats, Advocacy threats, Familiarity threats, Intimidation threats.
• Safeguards to Independence; Professional Scepticism, Terms of Audit Engagements Preconditions for an audit; Audit Engagement
• Agreement on Audit Engagement Terms
• Terms of Engagement in Recurring Audits (SA 210 Agreeing the Terms of Audit Engagements)
• Overview and Introduction of SQC 1 Quality Control for Firms that Perform Audits and Reviews of Historical Financial Information and Other Assurance and Related Services Engagements
• Overview and Introduction of SA 220 – Quality Control for an Audit of Financial Statements).

• Introduction to Financial Management Function

• Objective and scope of financial management

• Profit Maximisation, Wealth Maximisation and Value Creation

• Role of Financial Manager and Financial Controller

• Financial management environment

• Functions of finance executives in an organization

• Financial distress and insolvency

• Users of financial analysis.

• Sources of financial data for analysis.

• Calculation and Interpretation of ratios.

• Limitations of ratio analysis

• Different Sources of Finance, Characteristics of different types of long-term debt and equity
• finance, Method of raising long-term finance.

• Different Sources of Short-term Finance.
• Contemporary sources of funding- P2P lending, Equity funding, Crowdfunding, Start-up funding, etc.

• Internal funds as a source of finance.

• International sources of finance

• Other sources of finance- Lease Financing, Sale and leaseback, Convertible debt, Venture capital, Grants, etc.

• Significance of cost of capital
• Factors of cost of capital
• Measurement of costs of individual components of capital
• Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
• The marginal cost of capital.

• Significance of capital structure
• Determinants of capital structure
• Capital structure planning and designing
• Designing of optimum capital structure.
• Theories of Capital Structure and Value of the firm-relevancy and Irrelevancy of Capital Structure
• EBIT- EPS Analysis, Breakeven- EBIT Analysis.
• Under/ Over Capitalisation

• Types of Leverages- Operating,Financial and Combined.
• Analysis of leverages.

• The objective of capital investment decisions
• Methods of Investment Appraisal
• Payback period, Discounted payback period.
  • Accounting Rate of Return (ARR).
  • Net Present Value (NPV) – The meaning of NPV, Strengths, and limitations of NPV method, The working capital adjustment in NPV analysis, Capital rationing, and Equivalent Annual Costs.
  • Internal Rate of Return (IRR)- Limitations of the IRR method, Multiple IRRs.
  • Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR)- Definition and explanation of MIRR, Process for calculating MIRR, Strengths of the MIRR approach. Profitability Index

• Basics of Dividends.

• Cash dividend, stock dividend/ bonus share, stock splits, share buyback.

• Determinants of dividend.

• Relevancy and Irrelevancy of Dividend Policies- Traditional Approach, Walter’s model, Gordon’s model, Modigliani and Miller (MM) Hypothesis

• The management of working capital- Liquidity and Profitability.

• The Working capital financing decisions- Primary and Secondary Sources of Liquidity.

• The Working Capital Cycle (Operating Cycle) is the effectiveness of Working Capital based on its operating and cash conversion cycles.

• Assessment of working capital requirement.

• Management of Accounts Receivables (Debtors).

• Factoring and Forfaiting.

• Credit Management:

– Credit granting.

– Monitoring accounts receivables.

– Debt collection.

• Management of Accounts Payables (Creditors). Management of Cash and treasury management.

• Banking norms of working capital finance

• Meaning and Nature of Strategic Management.
• Importance and Limitations of Strategic Management.
• Strategic Intent – Vision, Mission, Goals and Values.
• Strategic Levels in Organizations (Network, Corporate, Business and Functional)

• International and Macro Environment: PESTLE
• Analysis. Defining the industry for analysis (Value Chain, PLC).
• Porter’s Five Forces – Industry environment analysis.
• Understanding customers and markets.
• Competition in the industry

• Understanding key stakeholders (Mendelow’s Model).
• Strategic drivers (Industry & markets, Customers, Channels, Products & Services, Competitive
• Advantage).
• The role of resources and capabilities.
• Combining external and internal analysis (SWOT Analysis).
• Gaining competitive advantage (Michael Porter’s Generic Strategies).

• Strategic Choices: Concentric, Conglomerate, Market Development, Product Development, Innovation, Horizontal integration, vertical integration, Turnaround, Divesture, Liquidation.
• How to Develop Strategic Options:
  • Ansoff’s Matrix
  • ADL Matrix
  • BCG Matrix
  • GE Matrix

• Implementation: Formulation vs. Implementation Matrix, Linkages and Issues.
• Strategic Change through Digital Transformation.
• Organization Structure (hard) and Culture (soft).
• Strategic Leadership.
• Strategic Control.
• Strategic Performance Measures