CA Foundation, Intermediate, Final 2026 — Exact ICAI Exam Dates

ICAI announced the September 2026 and November 2026 exam schedules on 2 May 2026. The application window opens 6 July 2026 and closes 19 July 2026 (late-fee window through 22 July).

Here are the exact paper-by-paper dates, straight from the ICAI announcement.

CA Foundation — September 2026

Four papers across four days:

• 2 September 2026 (Wednesday) — Paper 1: Accounting
• 5 September 2026 (Saturday) — Paper 2: Business Laws
• 7 September 2026 (Monday) — Paper 3: Quantitative Aptitude (Maths, Logical Reasoning, Statistics)
• 9 September 2026 (Wednesday) — Paper 4: Business Economics

Each paper is three hours. All four are pass-or-fail per paper — no carryforward of group results.

CA Intermediate — September 2026

Eight papers split across two groups:

Group I

• 1 September — Paper 1: Advanced Accounting
• 3 September — Paper 2: Corporate & Other Laws
• 6 September — Paper 3: Taxation
• 8 September — Paper 4: Cost & Management Accounting

Group II

• 10 September — Paper 5: Auditing & Ethics
• 12 September — Paper 6: Financial Management & Strategic Management
• 14 September — Paper 7: Enterprise Information Systems
• 16 September — Paper 8: Indirect Tax Laws

Group I and Group II can be written together or separately, depending on a student’s preparation state.

CA Final — November 2026

Six papers across two groups, spread over two weeks:

Group I

• 2 November — Paper 1: Financial Reporting
• 4 November — Paper 2: Advanced Financial Management
• 6 November — Paper 3: Advanced Auditing, Assurance & Professional Ethics

Group II

• 9 November — Paper 4: Direct Tax Laws & International Taxation
• 11 November — Paper 5: Indirect Tax Laws
• 13 November — Paper 6: Integrated Business Solutions (multi-disciplinary case study)

Days until the next paper

If you’re reading this on 16 May 2026:

• CA Intermediate Group I (Sep 1): 108 days
• CA Foundation (Sep 2): 109 days
• CA Final Group I (Nov 2): 170 days
• CA Final Group II (Nov 9): 177 days

What this means for your study plan

Three things to bake in:

1. Foundation students: You have ~108 days. Three full revisions of Paper 3 (Maths) is realistic only if you start practising chapters now. We publish 290 Foundation Maths MCQs on Telegram at @PookieCAMaths — free 20/day, ₹49 to unlock a full chapter for six months.

2. Intermediate students: Group I and II together = eight exams in 16 days. The bottleneck is Group II’s Audit (Paper 5) — start there. The full Intermediate bank is coming September 2026; subscribe to @PookieCABot to get the launch ping.

3. Final students: You’ve got more runway — 170+ days. But Paper 3 (Advanced Auditing) carries Section 143(3) in 9 of the last 10 attempts at 176 marks. Revise that early. Final bank opens November 2026.

Stay updated

The full ICAI announcement (with rules around exemptions, hostel-city pairing, and CPT-to-Foundation conversion) is on icai.org/announcements. We’ll re-publish here whenever ICAI amends the calendar.

For day-of reminders, follow the Telegram channels:

• CA Foundation Maths: @PookieCAMaths
• CA Foundation (Eco, Law, Accounts): @PookieCAFoundation
• All levels (announcements): @PookieCABot

Or join the discussion at forum.pookieca.com.