Chartered Accountant

From May 2011 exams, the exam form has to be submitted online only, as the institute is doing away with the OMR application form. (Source: CA Journal July 2010)

For the CA Exams (Chartered Accountant related exams – CPT/ Inter/ Final) ICAI provides the option of filling the exam application form online.

I was initially quite apprehensive of filling the exam form online. In India, the controls being still not upto the mark, it still becomes quite problematic to get refunds if there is some problem in a transaction not going smooth.

However, I decided to fill the form online. To do this, one has to access ICAI online application page.

The following are images from actual online form that is available for CA Final of Nov 2010 exam. The online form is a single page form. However, for convenience, that has been split into 4 parts for easy viewing on the webpage. One should note that all the entries that has been scored out are ‘pre-fetched’ by the online system.

The Processing screens are as follows:

Initially one has to register. The fields include the registration number. The name field is automatically fetched from the database of the ICAI. The validating field is the date of birth. Then one has to fill one’s email address. This would be the email address which is used for communication by the ICAI relating to the exam application form.

ICAI then sends the login id and password for accessing the application page. This is sent instantly.

1) Just as you login, there is a screen that says that keep your credit card ready! One has to click on the acceptance of terms and conditions.

2) On acceptance of the terms, one is taken to the page of the actual application form. This is quite similar to the ‘verification form’ of the manual application. Many fields are auto fetched from the database of ICAI. The fields relating to registration number and name is not editable. However, the fields relating to father’s/husband’s name and address is editable.

There are certain other details like previous appearance, exemption etc. which one has to fill. Some of these are drop down menus while others are editable fields. However these detail one has to fill and these are not fetched from the ICAI database.

3) When one has filled the form, one has to pay the fees.

4) Thereafter on clicking the link, one is taken to the fees payment page. The amount of fees is ‘inclusive’ of the form charges – which one would have paid if s/he would have purchased manual application form from ICAI.

5) Although ICAI says that one has to pay using Credit Card and internet banking through certain specified banks – actually there are three options in the actual payment page. It prompts one to chose from three payment gateways:

A) ICICI Bank Payseal Gateway
B) Payment through direct debit (internet banking) from certain Banks
C) Axis Bank payment gateway.

The (A) and (C) option is basically for payment through cards. However, one can also pay through Debit Card. (Wherever ICAI says Credit Card – it also means Debit Card). It is unfortunate that ICAI does not say this in its instructions page.

In my experience with online transactions both ICICI and Axis bank payment gateways allow payment through both credit card and debit card.

(Update Feb 2010: Currently the site shows only two payment options: (1) Credit Card (2) Internet Banking of certain banks. Credit Card also means Debit Card – and the payment gateway is that of Axis Bank)

I choose to pay through Axis Bank Gateway, using my debit card.

(Two things I would say here:

a) Through these two payment gateways – one can pay using 16 digit VISA or Mastercard – whether it be debit card or credit card.

b) When I applied, the home page of ICAI also had the option to pay through internet banking facility of specified banks – which among others also named Bank of India (BOI) – but in actual payment page – the name of BOI was missing! – Initially I had planned to pay through BOI internet banking facility. But as that was missing and in the actual payment page – I found that the card payment was through the ICICI and Axis payment gateways, I paid through my VISA Debit Card)

6) On successful payment one is transferred to the ‘successful payment / authorisation’ page. Here there are options to download / print the application form.

And thats it. The whole process takes barely ten minutes – considering that one has to be careful of the details that one has filled in the form – as in the online application there is no way of rectification.

(Update: If some information have been wrongly filled in the online form, ICAI permits correction in hard copy of the form in RED ink along with a covering letter stating this correction. However, it is advisable that the student fills the form carefully and do not make any mistake and in case of problem check the latest from ICAI exam help line)

7) If one again login to ones account, there is only the link to download the filled in application form.

8 ) Thereafter one has to send the hardcopy of the application with ones photograph and attested by principal/member to the specified address of ICAI

Few things to remember:

1) Apart from as advertised on ICAI website – One can also pay through Debit Card.

2) If you are using internet banking payment option then preferably use Internet Explorer browser for internet application process of ICAI – because some banks’ websites use only internet explorer – and do not allow other browsers for internet banking transaction.

3) Fill your forms properly – keep all the data in front of you before you start the process. There seems no method to rectify any mistake later on.

4) ICAI provides no disclosure as to what would happen if something goes wrong in the process – so be careful. the following disclosures:

(13) Refund of Fees: The fee once paid by a candidate shall not be refunded/adjusted under any circumstances and no correspondence in this regard shall be entertained. However failure in electronic transmission, double payments, lost transaction (after payment) will be considered for refund provided the request is received within 60 days of the last date of submission of the form for which you may write to…(the helpline)… alongwith the credit-card/Net-banking statement showing these transactions.

(14) In the event of furnishing any wrong information / declaration, the admission shall automatically become invalid.

5) The whole process only facilitates payment and transmission of data to ICAI. So it saves you from going to ICAI branch to get application form and going to bank to get a DD. (It saves you DD commission – but does not save you application form money or the speed post charges!)

6) The whole process only facilitates your application process (the final page says – “Your application has been saved successfully” – it does not say that you have applied!. This application process is complete only when you send the hard copy with your photograph and signed by CA. So, if you dont send the hard-copy you have not applied – eventhough you have already paid the exam fees!

Update June 2010 Waiver of Exam Application Form fees for online application for exams: For the Nov 2010 exams, ICAI has waived the Exam form fees, if the application is submitted online. Hopefully this trend will continue in future also.

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