CMA Final December 2026

The rules below are from the CMA Prospectus 2025, the latest edition linked on ICMAI's student pages; the December 2026 time table adds no new conditions.

Criterion	Requirement
Qualifying exam	Passed the Intermediate examination of ICMAI; a copy of the Intermediate pass marksheet is submitted with the enrolment form
Timing of the Intermediate pass	The Intermediate exam must have been passed in the penultimate term; the prospectus example is that a student who passes in the December exam cannot sit the next June exam
Enrolment	Completed at least four months before the exam; cut-off 31 July for the December term and 31 January for the June term
Training	Compulsory coaching, the Industry Oriented Training Programme (IOTP, 10 days), 80 hours of skills training and 15 months of practical training; the training must be completed before appearing in both groups or the remaining group
Elective	One elective paper (20A, 20B or 20C) is selected at the time of enrolment
Validity	Registration is valid for 7 years from the date of registration to complete Intermediate and Final; after that a de novo registration (Rs 5,000) is needed
Other conditions	Valid registration number; not debarred from the Final exam; exam form and fee submitted in time

• Reciprocal exemption: qualified Company Secretaries (ICSI) are exempt from Paper 13, Paper 19 and Paper 20B (fee Rs 1,000 per paper; apply online at least 60 days before the exam).

Source: CMA Prospectus 2025 (2025 edition, the latest linked for the December 2026 term).

The December 2026 Final exam is held offline at centres from 10 to 17 December 2026, with one 3-hour paper a day from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm IST. Group III and Group IV papers fall on alternate days.

Group	Paper	Subject	Marks	Exam date
III	13	Corporate and Economic Laws	100	10 December 2026
III	14	Strategic Financial Management	100	12 December 2026
III	15	Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation	100	14 December 2026
III	16	Strategic Cost Management	100	16 December 2026
IV	17	Cost and Management Audit	100	11 December 2026
IV	18	Corporate Financial Reporting	100	13 December 2026
IV	19	Indirect Tax Laws and Practice	100	15 December 2026
IV	20	Elective, any one of: 20A Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation; 20B Risk Management in Banking and Insurance; 20C Entrepreneurship and Start up	100	17 December 2026

• Marks: 100 per paper, 800 for all eight papers; a candidate can apply for one group or both.
• Passing a group: at least 40% marks in each paper of the group and 50% of the total marks of its non-exempted papers. For both groups taken together: 40% in each paper and 50% in aggregate.
• Exemption: a candidate who fails a group but scores 60% or more in a paper is exempt in that paper; the benefit runs for the next three terms and is lost if the candidate appears in the paper again.
• Language: candidates may opt to answer in Hindi.

Source: Intermediate and Final time table, December 2026; CMA Prospectus 2025 (standard of pass and exemption rules); CMA Syllabus 2022.

Group III, Paper 13: Corporate and Economic Laws

• Corporate laws (60%): Companies Act, 2013 (40%); Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016; corporate governance, social responsibility and sustainability
• Economic laws and regulations (40%): SEBI regulations; Competition Act, 2002; FEMA, 1999; banking and insurance sector laws; MSME provisions; cyber security and data privacy laws; anti-money laundering laws

Group III, Paper 14: Strategic Financial Management

• Investment decisions (25%); security analysis and portfolio management (35%); financial risk management and derivatives (20%); international financial management (15%); digital finance (5%)

Group III, Paper 15: Direct Tax Laws and International Taxation

• Direct tax laws (60%): assessment and tax computation for various entities; return and assessment procedure; penalties and prosecutions; business restructuring; tax planning; ICDS; Black Money Act, 2015; case study
• International taxation (40%): double taxation avoidance agreements; transfer pricing; GAAR

Group III, Paper 16: Strategic Cost Management

• Strategic cost management for decision making (60%): quality cost management; decision-making techniques; activity based management and JIT; performance evaluation
• Quantitative techniques (40%): linear programming; transportation; assignment; game theory; simulation; PERT and CPM; learning curve; forecasting models; data analytics tools

Group IV, Paper 17: Cost and Management Audit

• Cost audit (50%): Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules, 2014; cost auditor; cost accounting standards and GACAP; cost audit programme, documentation and report
• Management audit (25%); internal control and internal audit (15%); forensic audit and anti-money laundering (10%)

Group IV, Paper 18: Corporate Financial Reporting

• Indian Accounting Standards (25%); valuation of shares, financial instruments and NBFCs (15%); business combinations and restructuring (20%); consolidated and separate financial statements (20%); recent developments in financial reporting (10%); government accounting in India (10%)

Group IV, Paper 19: Indirect Tax Laws and Practice

• GST Act and Rules (70%): supply, time and place of supply, valuation, input tax credit, refunds, returns, e-way bill, audit, dispute resolution, inspection and prosecution, GSTN portal
• Customs Act and Rules (30%): customs procedures, manufacture in bond, duty drawback, remission and refund of duties, export promotion schemes, SEZ scheme

Group IV, Paper 20: Electives (any one)

• 20A, Strategic Performance Management and Business Valuation: performance management (50%); business valuation, methods and mergers and acquisitions (50%)
• 20B, Risk Management in Banking and Insurance: banking risks (60%); insurance business and its risks (40%)
• 20C, Entrepreneurship and Start up: entrepreneurial skill sets, eco-system, idea to action, value addition, scale up, risk management, leadership, new age business

Source: CMA Syllabus 2022 (in force from the June 2023 term); section weights are as printed in the syllabus.