ICAI CA Foundation Syllabus 2025 for Exam

CA Foundation Syllabus

In recent times economic growth has accelerated, causing a surge in demand for professionals from financial and accounting fields.

 In India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) regulates the number and standard of professionals in these fields.

The Chartered Accountancy Course is the fusion of both theoretical and practical learning in proper proportions. The members of the ICAI are well-equipped with the required knowledge.

Three levels of examinations test the aspirants. The first of which is the CA-Foundation level. This module gives you all the information you need about the CA-Foundation Subjects and the CA-Foundation Syllabus.

CA- Foundation Course

The first level of testing of Chartered Accountancy is the CA-Foundation Exam. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in India(ICAI) holds these exams two times a year, May and November.

The course was initially called Common Proficiency Test (CPT). It was a full MCQ paper, and a few students attempted the CPT without the necessary preparation and passed by guessing the answer.

That caused a problem for them at the CA-Intermediate level, with many students failing and dropping out. They had not learned the basics during the Foundation course.

The Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants of India then decided to hold the CA-Foundation Exam. Its partly objective and partly descriptive. The student must know his basics to pass the exam.

To get through the CA-Foundation Exams, one must be well acquainted with the CA-Foundation syllabus 2025 and the CA-Foundation subjects.

CPT  is now CA-Foundation

CA-Foundation 2025 - Is it Difficult to Pass the Exams?

The best way to crack the CA-Foundation exams is by knowing the CA-Foundation syllabus well. Please note that the CA-Foundation syllabus comprises four papers. They are the same basics of accounting and financial aspects which you studied in 11th and 12th.

The difficulty level in the CA Foundation exam is minimum. Nevertheless, you can master it only by cutting out all distractions and focusing on studies alone.

CA-Foundation- All you need to know

ICAI-CA-Foundation Syllabus 2025

With the transition from the CPT to CA-Foundation Exam, there is a remarkable change in the syllabus.

You cannot move to the next level without passing all the subjects of the syllabus. That is why you need to be focused and plan well for it.

A certain level of difficulty has been introduced in the syllabus of CA-Foundation with the change in curriculum to make sure that a sure foundation is laid for students to perform better in succeeding levels.

Along with the CA-Foundation syllabus 2025, the student needs to be well acquainted with the Exam Pattern for CA Foundation 2025 too.

ICAI CA Foundation Syllabus 2025- for CA-Foundation Subjects with the Marks Weightage

The student must know the CA-Foundation subjects and the marks that each segment carries. Along with the vast CA-Foundation syllabus for 2025, the question paper is lengthy too. You will have to manage your time well to get the required marks to pass in CA Foundation exams. The marks weightage will help in proper time management in CA-Foundation Exam.

Given below is the CA-Foundation Syllabus 2025, along with the segment-wise allocation of marks.

The total marks for the CA-Foundation Course are 100 marks. You have to score 200 marks out of 400 (100marks each for each subject) as the aggregate should be 50%. You also must score 40% in each subject to clear the CA- Foundation exams.

The module further specifies each CA-Foundation subjects section-wise weightage, which helps in time management and better performance in the exams.

Read further for section-wise marks weightage for each subject.

CA Foundation Course Subjects 2025 With Marks Distribution

CA- Foundation 2025-PAPER–1: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF ACCOUNTING

The Paper 1 for the CA-Foundation 2025 is the Principles and Practice of Accounting. It is a 100 marks paper to be answered in three hours. It is the basic concepts of accountancy, already dealt with in the 11th and 12th.

The subject is the crux of the syllabus. Principles and Practice of Accounting are the fundamentals and give the basic guidelines needed for accounting practice in India and worldwide.

ICAI with Paper 1- Principles and Practice of Accounting aims to develop a better understanding in students by way of conceptualization of principles and accounting practice. The student must know how to apply the concepts in solving problems, calculations, accounting ratios, and drafting financial statements.

The very title suggests that a chartered accountant is a professional who is an accountant. It implies the requirement of accounting knowledge in the CA-Foundation course.

The objective of ICAI in including this subject of the CA-Foundation Exam is to make sure that the foundations of accounting are solid in the aspirants. The study makes further studies in the subject easy.

Principal and Practice of Accounting

The main topic in CA-Foundation subject is the concept and accounting of depreciation. Study it thoroughly with sufficient practice. Also, learn the Final accounts of sole proprietorship and get an introduction to company accounts.

Cover the entire syllabus with emphasis on topics, Accounting Process, Books of Accounts, Preparation of Trial Balance, Bank Reconciliation Statement, Preparation of Trial Balance, Inventories, Accounting for Special Transactions, Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes, Financial Accounts of Sole Proprietors, Final accounts of sole proprietors, Final Accounts of Partnership Firms, Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit organization, Income, and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet, Preparation of Receipts and Payment Accounts, and Income and Expenditure Account, introduction to company accounts and Balance Sheet for Not-for-Profit Organization in preparation of CA-Foundation exam.

CA-Foundation Syllabus for 2025 - PAPER–2: BUSINESS LAWS AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTING

The Business Correspondence and Reporting paper is one paper of 100 marks of three hours duration. The Business Correspondence and Reporting Paper should be answered only in English, irrespective of the chosen language. Business Laws and Business correspondence go hand in hand. You need to have a command over the language to give a proper interpretation of the law.

CA-Foundation exam - paper 2 - Business Laws and Business Correspondence and reporting have the marks weightage as follows :

Section A: Paper 2-Business Laws (60 marks)

Section B: Paper 2-Business Correspondence and Reporting (40 marks)

Both Business laws and Business Correspondence and reporting are included for CA-Foundation Exam to help the students develop their knowledge and attract clients by communicating with them.

CA- Foundation- Paper 2 - Section A-Business Laws and its Provisions (60 Marks)

Paper 2 -Business laws and their provisions in section A of paper-2. One cannot perform an accounting operation without a sound knowledge of Business Laws. It is Business laws that hold up a business. Accountancy depends on the policies that business law provides.

The various ACTs covered by the subject are:

• The Indian Contract Act, 1972
• The Sale of Goods Act, 1930
• The Indian Partnership Act, 1932
• The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
• The Companies Act, 2013

For the CA-Foundation Exam in Business Laws, study all the chapters well and give importance to the topics Indian contract act 1872, The sale of good Act, the Indian Partnership Act, the limited liability partnership Act, and the Companies Act 2013.

Chartered Accountants must know their legal and professional responsibilities and the legal implications of every business transaction.

If the chartered accountant has proper knowledge of business law, the business he works for will grow. Improper accounting leads to law violations that could result in huge expenses or the closing down of business.

The ICAI, through section A Business Law and its provisions aims, at training the students to understand the necessary business laws provisions and develop an ability to apply them to solve issues related to business.

CA- Foundation- Paper 2 - Section A-Business Laws and its Provisions (60 Marks)

Section B: Business Correspondence and Reporting (40marks)

The paper 2 Section B - Business Correspondence and Reporting is essential as it is impossible to work as a chartered accountant with these skills.

The best way to communicate is by writing. Your writing gives the right impression to the person reading it. All your knowledge will be a waste if you cannot communicate it properly.

The business world demands a high level of accuracy, presented with clarity. That is expected of any professional working in the field and more so from a chartered accountant.

Whether in practice or a job, he will need to correspond for business purposes and draft and present reports. For that, an efficient CA requires Section B Business Correspondence and reporting skills.

Your writing and application skills are tested in the Business Correspondence and reporting paper of the CA Foundation exam. Your vocabulary, root words, synonyms knowledge should be good. The use of suffixes, phrasal verbs, collocations is also of great importance.

Learn the grammar (vocabulary, root words, synonyms knowledge, suffixes, phrasal verbs, collocations) well. Know the rules and know how the right way of utilizing them in a business context.

Give importance to writing style, format, and other such relevant topics in business correspondence.

The objective of ICAI is to encourage the aspirant to develop his communication skills through learning business correspondence and reporting.

SECTION B: BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTING (MARKS 40)

CA - Foundation Syllabus for PAPER –3: BUSINESS MATHEMATICS, LOGICAL REASONING, AND STATISTICS

In CA-Foundation Syllabus, the Paper-3- Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning, and Statistics is not easy to score.

The prime cause for fear is the mindset of the student. Students have heard that it is difficult to pass and approach the subject with this fear in their minds. It is the same Mathematics basics that they learned in Plus 1 & 2 and passed the exams.

Secondly, students who have changed streams and registered for the CA-Foundation course have not learned the fundamentals, and they are very much confused about the subject.

That is the primary cause for failure in the subject. The students who did not do business Mathematics in Plus 1 & 2 will find it hard to understand and clear this subject without first learning the basics.

The students need to understand the methods of solving the problems. Unlike theory subjects, Business Mathematics and Logical Reasoning cannot be read and understood but must be worked out.

Nevertheless, a student should know that in Paper-3-Business Mathematics and Logical Reasoning and Statistics are scoring subjects. With proper preparation, you should not only be able to pass the exam but should be able to do exceptionally well in it.

Paper-3- is divided into three parts. They are as follows:

Part A - Business Mathematics

Part B - Logical Reasoning

Part C - Statistics.

The subjects Business Mathematics and Statistics have a weightage of 40 marks, and Logical Reasoning is out of 20.

The paper is objective type with 100 MCQs, use the right strategy. Make sure that you are sure of the answer. Marks(a quarter) are deducted for every wrong answer. Do not resort to guesswork.

If you leave it blank, you will not lose any mark, but you will not gain a mark, too. In this exam, every mark matters, and you need to fight for it.

The Business Mathematics, logical reasoning, and Statistics syllabus is given below in detail.

Syllabus for CA-Foundation-Part A Business Mathematics

A total of 40 questions is from part A. Please note that you will need the most time to answer this paper as it comprises time-consuming calculations to solve problems. Make sure to manage your time, failing which, you will not be able to answer the question paper fully.

Go through old question papers and work out as many as possible. Time yourself so that you will be well aware of the time required to solve problems. Such knowledge will help a lot during the exams.

Through such a practice, you will also be able to note which are the most important topics. But taking such consideration, do not leave out any chapter. Your best chance to score maximum marks is to study all there in the syllabus.

The concepts of differential and integral calculus and ratio and proportion indices have to be understood. If you find it difficult you could ask the help of experts in these topics.

On careful analysis of the paper, you will notice that most of the questions are from the chapter Time Value of Money and few questions from the Linear Inequalities chapter. Note the importance given to one chapter and some others little importance. However, do not set aside any as unimportant. For your luck, if questions are from the chapter that you did not study, you could end up failing the exams.

The strategy is to study all the chapters but a little extra effort with the chapter Time Value of Money.

Part – A. Business Mathematics (40 Marks)

CA- Foundation Syllabus - Section B-Logical Reasoning

You will have 20 questions from this segment. You cannot take it easy with Logical reasoning thinking it is only 20 marks. You will need to work for it as much as you did with business mathematics. The paper could be unpredictable.

If you study the question paper of the past few years, the only thing you can predict is that most questions are from the odd man out series and number series and from coding and decoding.

Nevertheless, you cannot ignore anything.

The subject is not conceptual but logical and can be mastered only with much practice. Time management is a priority in this subject too.

Part – B: Logical Reasoning (20 Marks)

CA-Foundation Syllabus - Part C - Statistics

If you compare the three subjects Business Mathematics, Logical Reasoning, and Statistics, Statistics is easier to score marks in, and the maximum marks are 40. Nevertheless, you must have the proper knowledge of the subject to do well in it. The statistical description of data is a plus point.

The paper will have several theory questions, and some question papers in the past have had more than 50%. The testing is of your knowledge and ability in the statistical description of data.

If you have good knowledge of the subject, you could answer anything above ten questions, and depending on the extent of your hold on the subject, you can do all 20 too. Moreover, such knowledge will help you answer them quickly.

That, in turn, will add to the total score and give you more time to do Logical reasoning and Business Mathematics. Make an additional effort to realize this.

To handle the subject, you must know that the subject matter is interrelated. Nevertheless, the focus should be on chapters like measures of central tendency and dispersion. The chapter on Probability has the most calculations and thus is time-consuming.

If you have understood the concepts of the chapters Probability, Measures of Central Tendency, and dispersion you, could easily understand the chapters Index Numbers, sorting of odd ones, and time series.

In short, you must study all the chapters, but pay special attention to Probability, Measures of Central Tendency, and dispersion. 

Part – C: Statistics (40 Marks)

Important -ICAI -CA-Foundation Syllabus 2025 - Part A-Business Mathematics and Part B-Logical Reasoning- Deleted Chapters

The latest announcements from the ICAI for the CA-Foundation 2025 have stated that three chapters have been deleted, from Business Mathematics and Logical Reasoning. Statistics have no deletion.

They are Unit II Matrices, Unit II Time Series and Syllogism. Part C Statistics, nothing is deleted.

Part A-Business Mathematics and Part B-Logical Reasoning- Deleted Chapters

With the removal of syllogism, Part C Statistics can be studied more thoroughly.

CA Foundation Syllabus-PAPER – 4: BUSINESS ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL KNOWLEDGE (100 marks)

Paper 4 Business Economics and Business and Commercial Knowledge comprise of two sections. They are as follows :

Part A - Business Economics (60 marks)

Part B - Business and Commercial Knowledge (40 marks)

CA Foundation 2025-Part A Business Economics

The study of economic theory integrated into Business practice is known as Business Economics. Business Economic tools help understand the basic concepts of business such as the theory of demand and supply, theory of production and cost, etc. One must also know the Government policies for business.

The subject facilitates a better understanding of economic policies and to application solving business problems.

The student should be familiar with economic policies for growth in business and the Government policies for business growth. Economic policies for growth in the business help the better running of the company, and Government policies for business growth, in particular, have a significant impact on business.

ICAI does not give you marks when you write your interpretations. Instead, they look for the language of the study material.

Pay special attention to,

• Theory of demand and supply
• Theory of production and cost

Also, make sure that you know the entire subject matter.

ICAI-CA-Foundation - Business Economics - 60 marks

CA Foundation 2025-Business and Commercial Knowledge

The Business World undergoes rapid development and change in trends. There is an accepted terminology in business that a Chartered accountant must know. That is why Business and Commercial Knowledge are is included in the ICAI CA Foundation Syllabus 2025.

Business and Commercial knowledge are necessary for chartered accountants to understand the rapid changes in the business world. A CA aspirant enters the business world with Commercial knowledge, an introduction to the real world of business.

CA-Foundation Syllabus - Commercial Knowledge

Tips to pass in CA Foundation paper-4-Business Economics and Business and Commercial Knowledge

• The best reference material for Business Economics is the study material and for Business and Commercial knowledge financial newspapers and magazines.
• Keep in touch with the latest happenings in the business, economy, and commerce. Know the relevant terms.
• Business Economics and business and commercial knowledge have practical and theory papers. Study them well.

Conclusion

The success of a chartered accountant might have inspired you, and that is why you decided to get the knowledge of CA-Foundation subjects.

It is important to note that he did not get there by magic but by sheer determination, sacrifice, and hard work. It is his willingness to give it his best shot that won him the title.

With hard work in just five years, you could be where he is today!

The article is a detailed study of the CA-Foundation Syllabus and CA-Foundation Subjects.