Empanelment of Chartered Accountants: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) proposed to empanel members to act as observers for the forthcoming ICAI January 2025 examinations.
Eligible Chartered Accountants (CAs) may apply for ICAI Observer Empanelment Jan 2025. The window for empanelment of ICAI members to act as observers at the the CA exam centres remain open till 20th November 2024.
You may read the official announcement 13-CA (Exams)/Observer Empanel /January 2025 dated 21st October, 2024. Therefore, you may apply to act as Observers for CA Foundation exam and Intermediate exam to be held from 11th JANUARY to 21st JANUARY 2025 (except 20th January 2025).
Please read the eligibility conditions and make sure that you are eligible to apply for acting as observer at the examination centres for the Chartered Accountants examinations January 2025.
Act as Observers at ICAI Exam Centres
Following are the eligibility criteria for empanelment of a Chartered Accountants to act as observer in CA Foundation, CA Inter and CA Final exams January 2025:
Age Limit:
Your age should not be more than 65 years as on the date of empanelment i.e. 25th Oct, 2024.
Member of ICAI:
Your name should have been borne on the Register of Members of ICAI as on 1st July, 2022 and continues to be so.
Appearing for CA Exams:
Neither you nor your relatives or dependent will be appearing in the ensuing Chartered Accountants Examinations for students or Post – Qualification Course Examinations in Jan 2025 in any examination centres in India or Abroad.
The term “relative” or “dependant” for the purpose shall include, in relation to an individual:
- 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,
- husband’s brother,
- husband’s sister.
However, applying or appearance in ISA – AT will not be considered a disability for observership for January 2025 Examinations.
Coaching CA Students:
You are not coaching students for any of the examinations/ test conducted by the Council of the CA Institute in any institutions/ organization including Regional Councils/ Branches of the ICAI and also private coaching.
Professional Ethics:
You have not been convicted by any court of Law and no disciplinary proceedings are pending against you, either by the ICAI / Disciplinary Directorate or by any other organization, both in India or abroad.
Associated with ICAI:
You are not associated with the Institute as an elected/co-opted member of the Council/ Regional Council / Managing Committee of any Branch of the ICAI.
Guidelines for Observer:
You shall abide by the Guidelines for Observer and / or any other instructions.
Children or Relative:
He/she will not visit any of the examination centre where children or relative/s of his/her partners, employees, other associates, articled assistants, whether current or former, are appearing in a particular centre for January 2025 CA Examinations.
Duties of Observer:
A member will be allotted duties in the city of his professional address only as per Institute’s records.
The main duty of the observer is to ensure that the Question Paper Packets meant for the day of the exam, with the right code of the day are collected from the bank, (where they are kept under safe custody) opened and distributed to the candidates. Accordingly, Observer is required to be present in the assigned branch of the Bank/Examination Centre from the time when the code key is opened in the bank till the conclusion of the examination, i.e. till the answer books are pooled, reconciled, packed and handed over to the designated courier agency (including answer sheet of physically handicapped candidates, if any) for dispatch to the Examination Department.
Once the duties are assigned for acting as an Observer in a particular examination centre, he/she should attend to the said assignment and send his/her report and bill in the prescribed format immediately after the completion of his / her assignment.
In case any member is unable to perform his / her assignment, the same may be communicated to the Examination Department well in advance, so that alternative arrangement can be made. If a member neither informs the Examination Department nor discharges the duties assigned, he/she would be liable for such action under the provisions of the Chartered Accountants Act 1949 and the Regulations framed thereunder, as deemed fit.
Kindly note that giving false/misleading declaration regarding conflict of interest / involvement in coaching and any unauthorized absence from the Exam Centre during the exams will lead to action under disciplinary provisions in accordance with the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder.
Honorarium:
Honorarium of ₹3000/– per day / per session and ₹350/– as conveyance reimbursement for ‘A’ class cities and ₹250/– for other cities per day (to cover cost of local travel) besides reimbursement of postal, stationery, telephone expenses, if any, will be paid.
The list of A class cities is as under:
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi/ New Delhi, Hyderabad/ Secunderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata/Howrah, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, and Pune.
How to empanel to Act as Observer in ICAI Exams
If you fulfill the above mentioned eligibility criteria, desirous of empanelling yourself for the assignment, may do so, online at the following official website i.e. observers.icaiexam.icai.org.
You have to provide your ICAI membership number along with Date of Birth for login to the official website i.e. Observers.ICAIexam.icai.org for empanelment of CA as observer for CA 2025 examinations. Note that applications made by Chartered Accountants by any other mode will not be entertained by ICAI.
Please do not send the hard copy of the Observers Application to the Institute. However you can retain a copy of the same for your reference.
Allotment of assignment of Observer for the CA Main Examinations to be held in January 2025 will be hosted on observers.icaiexam.icai.org.
Following are the important dates related to empanelment of CA to act as observer in ICAI examinations:
| Events | Date |
|---|---|
| Opening of the window for empanelment | 25.10.2024 |
| Closing of the window for empanelment | 20.11.2024 |
| Hosting of the details of Self Selection of observer assignments | Last Week of December 2024 /First Week of January 2025 (Tentative) |
Kindly note that, The Examination Committee in its 648th Meeting held on 8th and 9th January 2024 among others has decided that there should be a cooling off period for one attempt after three (3) consecutive attempts for Observership duties. The same is applicable w.e.f. May 2024 with retrospective details.
Please read the eligibility conditions and make sure that you are eligible to apply and that you will be able to undertake the assignment during the relevant period. For any further clarifications, you may write to us at observer@icai.in or call 0120- 3054829 / 3054846.