New Foundation Programme for ACS course-Announcement by ICSI

Introduction of New Syllabus & Pattern for Foundation Programme Examinations from December, 2012 Session

The Foundation Programme being the entry level to the Company Secretaryship Course and gateway to the profession of Company Secretaries, the Syllabus Review Committee based on the feedback received from various stakeholders has completed the formulation of detailed contents of the Foundation Programme. We are pleased to inform you that the Council of the Institute has approved the new syllabus for the Foundation Programme.

Salient Features and Requirements

The salient features of the new syllabus and the changed pattern of conducting the examinations for the same is summarized below :-

1. Effective date for New Syllabus

(i) The new syllabus of Foundation Programme will be effective from 1st February, 2012.

(ii) There are four subjects under the new syllabus viz.

§ Business Environment and Entrepreneurship;

§ Business Management, Ethics and Communication;

§ Business Economics;

§ Fundamentals of Accounting and Auditing.

2. New Pattern of Examination

Keeping in view the tech-savvy new generation and with a view to leverage the information technology, the Council of the Institute has decided to conduct Optical Mark Recognition ( OMR ) based Examination ( Objective Type Multiple Choice Questions ) for the Foundation Programme under the new syllabus.

3. First Examination

First examination under this new syllabus will be held from December 2012 session of CS examinations.

4. Option to students under existing syllabus

(i) Students who have registered prior to 1st February, 2012 (subject to the validity of their registration) will have option to continue with the existing syllabus till June, 2013 Session.

(ii) From December, 2013 session, all students will be automatically switched over to the new syllabus.

(iii) In other words, from December, 2012 to June, 2013 session of examination both syllabi (existing syllabus as well as new syllabus) will run parallel.

5. Switchover to new syllabus

(i) Students under the existing syllabus may switch over to the new syllabus. They may exercise their option to switch over to the new syllabus while filling up the examination form for December, 2012 session and no other formal request is required to be sent to the Institute for the purpose.

(ii) Students switching over to new syllabus will not have to pay any charges other than the cost of Study Materials under new syllabus, if any, to be purchased by them.

(iii) Students of existing syllabus are NOT eligible for any paper-wise exemptions on switching over to the new syllabus and they will have to appear in all the papers under the new syllabus irrespective of their performance in previous sessions of examinations or any other qualifications.

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