300 almost missed to clear CA finals

In a scandalous revelation, no less than 300 students were found to have actually cleared their CA final exams, only after they challenged the faulty valuation of their mark sheets. The blunder was exposed following complaints from students and lecturers pointing to errors in totaling of marks, besides repeating previous years' questions in the CA final exam papers.

 

Conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the CA Final Exam held in November last year, was cleared by 33,498 out of the 1,38,190 candidates. According to a Times of India report, around 300 final-year students cleared either a group or both groups in the final exams after they applied for revaluation. (Read more)

 

CA Final Examination, November 2011
Group	No. of candidates appeared	No. of candidates passed	% of pass
Both Groups	31705	5003	15.78
Group 1	49299	12590	25.54
Group 2	57186	15905	27.81

 

Jaydeep N Shah, ICAI president, told news reporters that a committee has been appointed to resolve the issue before the valuation of the May 2012 papers begin. Examiners have also been instructed to crosscheck the answer sheets while correcting them. The CA Finals 2012 started on May 2 and will end tomorrow, May 17.

 

A week ago, Venkata Sivakumar, a chartered accountant and lecturer in costing and finance management filed a public interest litigation on the valuation of CA papers. However, the PIL was dismissed by the Madras high court as the petition was filed by a lecturer and not a student. Details of the PIL

 

Sivakumar told TOI that only after the errors in valuation and totaling were exposed, the Supreme Court allowed students to get a copy of their mark sheets on payment of a fee. The list of candidates who have cleared a group or both the groups after re-totalling, has been published by the institute. Students might also approach the high court on this matter. (Read more)

 

On the other hand, an examiner told PTI that errors may occur as examiners have other work to do besides correcting the papers while another feels that the discrepancies might have occurred due to oversight.

 

Nonetheless, examiners must be careful to devote utmost attention in valuation and totalling of marks - as the results hold the key to the future of students taking these exams. CA Exam is one of the most prestigious exams and every effort must be made to minimize such errors.

 

CA exam is taken annually by more than one lakh students during the month of May and November. On an average, approximately 15% clear either a single group or both groups to qualify as a chartered accountant.

 

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