ICWAI (ICAI) : Syllabus - Foundation Course

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Syllabus : Foundation | Intermediate Group I | Intermediate Group II | Final Group III | Final Group IV

Paper 1 : Organisation and Management Fundamentals (One Paper: 3 hours: 100 marks)

Section I - Organisation (30 marks)

i. Functional areas of organisation - different organisation structures, operations of main functional areas of business, the organisation and the activities of different functions. Formal and informal organisation – principles of organisation, criteria for grouping activities.
Schools of organisation theory - classical, behavioural and systems, current trends and approaches, behaviour in organisation, role of behavioural science.
Organisational management - objectives (missions, goals and targets), conflict between the objectives; appropriate strategy formulation; the determinants of culture – the different models available for categorising cultures; different models of organisational management available to achieve goal congruence.

Section II - Management (70 marks)

Human resource management - human resource plan; the human issues relating to recruitment, dismissal, retirement and redundancy. Models of human behaviour and motivation and their application (e.g. Taylor, McGregor, Maslow, Hertzberg, etc); training, development and design of reward system.
Management of relationship - process of management covering planning, organising, staffing, directing, motivating, communicating and control; the concepts of power, authority, responsibility and delegation; the characteristics of leaders and managers; management style theories, contingency approach.
Theories of group development, behaviour and roles. The sources of conflict in organisations and the ways in which the conflict can be managed.
Management of change - The stages in the process of management change, approaches to the management of organisational development and major cultural and structural change; the importance of managing critical period of change and the ways in which these periods can be managed effectively.
Pattern of management - broad policies and functions, structural pattern of the Board of Directors; concept of public sector, social objectives; public sector management. Current management thoughts.

Paper 2: Financial Accounting Fundamentals (One Paper: 3 hours: 100 marks)

i. Basics of bookkeeping and accounting - definition and its usefulness. Financial accounting principles, concepts and convention - measurement of business income. Position Statement. Accounting Standards - national and international (basic knowledge).

System of book keeping - double entry system, books of prime entry, subsidiary books, recording of cash and bank transactions, preparation of ledger accounts, preparation of trial balance - interpretation and usefulness.

Bank reconciliation statement - Need for reconciliation between cashbook and bank pass book and problems relating to the preparation of bank reconciliation statement.

Accounting mechanics (including computerization.), bill of exchanges, consignment and joint venture.

Concept of capital, revenue and deferred revenue expenditure, opening entries, closing entries, adjustment entries and rectification entries, trading, manufacturing and profit and loss account and balance sheet. Bad debts and reserves for bad debts - its accounting treatment. Depreciation - its significance and accounting.
Concept of single entry vis-à-vis double entry system of accounting, their interrelationship and conversion from single entry system to double entry system. Preparation of receipts and payments accounts and income and expenditure account. Significance of reserves and provisions. Preparation of profit and loss account and balance sheet of different organisations.
Partnership Accounts - Admission, Retirement, Death, Dissolution.
Joint stock company accounts - issue, forfeiture and redemption of preference shares and debentures, profits prior to incorporation and company profit and loss account and balance sheet as per provision of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).

Paper 3: Economics and Business Fundamental (One Paper: 3 hours: 100 marks)

Section I - Economics (50 marks)

Basics of economics - definition, scope and subject matter of economics - a few fundamental concepts like utility, wealth, factors of production, demand and supply, elasticity, equilibrium, land and the laws of diminishing returns.
Theory of employment - types of unemployment, concepts of full employment and how it can be achieved.
Labour and population theories, definition of capital and growth of capital, steps in capital formation.
Market forms - value under perfect competition and under imperfect competition.
National Income - Gross National Product, Net National Product, measurement of national income, economic growth and fluctuations, consumption, savings and Investments.
Distribution - income determination and equilibrium relating to rent, wages, interest and profit.
Money - definition and functions of money, quantity theory of money, inflation, effects of inflation on production and distribution of wealth, control of inflation, money supply, liquidity preference and managerial efficiency, rate of interest and investment.
Banking - definition, functions and utility of banking, the principles of commercial banking, multiple credit creation, essentials of a sound banking system.
Central bank - Functions, weapons of credit control and the money market.
International trade - basic features of import - export.
National and International Financial Institutions - Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Export-Import Bank (EXIM), Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank).
Public finance - direct and indirect taxes, principles of taxation, effects of taxation on production and distribution, taxable capacity, deficit financing systems.

Section II: Business Fundamentals (50 marks)

( i )Types of business units - sole proprietorship, partnership, companies, co-operatives, Hindu Undivided Family, joint stock companies, public utility services and state enterprises.
Company organisation and management - types of companies - their formation, incorporation and commencement of business, memorandum of association and articles of association, prospectus, shares and debentures, Board of directors and general meetings.

(ii) Business objectives - concept and rationale of social responsibility, business and its environment, interface with legal, political, economic, social and cultural aspects.
Stock exchange and its workings - dealers and brokers’ transactions, economic significance, conditions of membership, role of stock exchanges.
Business communication and report writing - commercial correspondence and report writing.

Paper 4: Business Mathematics and Statistics Fundamentals (One Paper: 3 hours: 100 marks)

Aim: To ensure a basic understanding a quantitative tool and their elementary application of business problems.
Level of knowledge: Basic knowledge.

Arithmetic (15 marks)
Average, mixtures, computation of interest, discounting of bills, percentages, ratios and proportions.

Algebra (25 marks)

Number systems – real, imaginary, rational and irrational.
Elementary knowledge of sets and the operations on them. Simple applications and solution by the use of Venn diagram. Truth table and its applications to statements.
Indices and surds, variation, logarithms, permutations and combinations, compound interest.
Solution and systems of linear simultaneous equations (3 variables only). Quadratic equations, solution of linear inequalities (by geometrical method only).

Mensuration (30 marks)

Area and perimeter of triangles, circles, parallelogram, regular polygon, volume and surface of cube, prism, cylinder, pyramid, cone, frustums and spheres (including zone and segments). Plain Co-ordinate Geometry (Rectangular Cartesian co-ordinates only). Length of line segments, section ratio, gradient of a line, equations of straight lines, circles, parabolas, Ellipse and hyperbolas (standard forms only).

Elementary Statistics (30 marks)

Graphical presentation of statistical data, frequency distribution, measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) measures of dispersion (range, mean deviation, standard deviation, variance), measures of skewness and kurtosis.