Empanelment to act as ICAI exam observers for January 2026 CA Examination. Last date to apply is 07/11/2025
Empanelment of Chartered Accountant Members to act as Observers at Examination Centres for The Chartered Accountants Examinations to be held in January, 2026.
ICAI proposes to empanel members to act as Observers for the forthcoming January 2026 Chartered Accountants Examinations scheduled as under
| Final, Intermediate and Post Qualification Course Examinations | 5th to 17th January 2026 [Except 14th January 2026] |
| Foundation Examination | 18th, 20th, 22nd and 24th January 2026 |
Cooling Period
Kindly note that, The Examination Committee in its 648th Meeting held on 8th and 9th May 2024 among others has decided that there should be a cooling off period for one attempt after three (3) consecutive attempts for Observership duties.
Eligibility criteria for empanelment:
Members who fulfill the following criteria are eligible for empanelment, to act as Observers.
(i) He/she should not be more than 65 years of age as on the date of empanelment, i.e. 8th October, 2025.
(ii) His/her name should have been borne on the Register of Members as on 1st July 2023 and continues to be so;
(iii) Neither he/she nor his/her relatives* or dependant* is / will be appearing in the ensuing Chartered Accountants Examinations in January 2026 in any examination centres in India or Abroad.
* the term “relative” or “dependant” for the purpose shall include, in relation to an individual, the wife, husband, son, daughter-in-law, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, granddaughter, brother, brother’s wife, brother’s son, brother’s daughter, sister, sister’s husband, sister’s son, sister’s daughter, wife’s brother, wife’s sister and husband’s brother and husband’s sister
(iv) He/she is not coaching students for any of the examinations / test conducted by the Council of the Institute in any institutions / organization including Regional Councils / Branches of the Institute and also private coaching.
(v) He/she has not been convicted by any court of Law and no disciplinary proceedings are pending against him/her, either by the ICAI / Disciplinary Directorate or by any other organization, both in India or abroad.
(vi) He/she is not associated with the Institute as an elected/co-opted member of the Council / Regional Council / Managing Committee of any Branch of the ICAI.
(vii) He/she shall abide by the Guidelines for Observer and / or any other instructions
The members desirous may visit the Observer Portal ie. http://observers.icaiexam.icai.org and make online application to act as observership for January 2025 Examinations.
The activity schedule of the portal is as under:
| Opening of the window for empanelment | 8th October 2025 (Wednesday) |
| Closing of the window for empanelment | 7th November 2025 (Friday) |
| Hosting of the details of self selection of observers assignment | Last Week of December 2025 (Tentative) |
Applications by any other mode will not be entertained.
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