Exam-prep leave in articleship: six extra days can cost a sitting

Summary

An articled assistant earns leave at one-sixth of the period actually served, and every day taken beyond that is served again at the end of articles under a supplementary deed. On the three-year route that can move a term ending in October 2027 into November, and the first CA Final sitting from May 2027 to November 2027, over a handful of days.

The situation

Between October and December every year, trainees in their final stretch decide how much leave to take before CA Final. Most do the arithmetic the way the coaching blogs state it: "one day of leave for every six days served, up to 180". Then they book a two-month block and assume the principal will sort out the rest.

The rule is not wrong, but it answers the wrong question. It gives the leave you have earned. What matters is the date your articles actually end once any excess is added back, and which exam sitting that date lets you apply for. The sitting cut-offs run to the last day of a month, so a handful of days can cost you six months.

The rule

Leave on the three-year and 3½-year routes. Regulation 59 of the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988: an articled assistant "shall earn at the rate of one-sixth of the period for which he has actually served, excluding from such period, the period for which he has been on leave subject to a maximum of 180 days". The days (including intervening holidays) on which you appear for an ICAI examination count as service, not leave (ICAI's text of Regulation 59, re-read today).

Because leave taken shrinks the period that earns leave, the ceiling on a three-year term is 156 days, not 180. With L days of leave in a 1,095-day term, L can be at most (1,095 − L) ÷ 6, which gives L ≤ 156.

Exam-preparation leave. Regulation 59 gives "three months or to the extent due, whichever is less", on an application at least fifteen days in advance. It is part of your earned leave, not an extra allowance on top.

Leave on the two-year New Scheme. For registrations on or after 1 July 2023 the 2023 Amendment Regulations provide twelve days of leave in each year of practical training.

Excess leave. Under Regulation 58, a trainee who takes more leave than is due serves a further period equal to the excess, under the principal last served, on a supplementary deed in Form 107. The deed must reach ICAI within 60 days of the expiry of the original articles. A delay can be condoned, but condonation is not automatic.

The sitting. ICAI's announcement of 4 July 2026 for CA Final November 2026 set the pattern that has held for four cycles:

Carried forward to May 2027, the same pattern gives 30 April 2027 or 31 October 2027 for the three-year route and 31 October 2026 for the two-year route. These are derived from the pattern, not announced. ICAI publishes the May 2027 criteria around January.

Where people go wrong

Counting to 180. On a three-year term the most you can take without excess is 156 days. Take 161 and you have earned 155, which puts you 6 days over.

Treating those 6 days as trivial. Take a trainee who started on 1 November 2024. Her term ends on 31 October 2027, exactly the last day of the six-month window for May 2027. With 6 days of excess she finishes on 6 November 2027, one week past the window, and her first sitting becomes November 2027. Cutting her 61-day exam-prep block by 6 days gives the May sitting back.

Assuming New Scheme days roll over. Twelve days a year on the two-year route may or may not pool across the two training years. No source I can find says either way. Plan as if they do not: then three extra days in year one are excess even if year two goes unused.

Forgetting weekends inside a block. Whether a principal's register counts the Sundays inside a continuous leave block as leave is not stated in Regulation 59. Most registers count calendar days. Ask your principal how yours is kept before you plan to the last day.

Missing the Form 107 clock. The 60 days run from the end of the original term, not from the day you realise you are over. A trainee who discovers the excess when the principal signs the completion form is already late.

Relying on a twelve-month branch. For some converted streams, ICAI's November 2026 announcement reportedly allows completion as late as October 2027, "depending upon the training stream". Which streams it covers has not been stated. Do not plan a sitting on it without confirming with ICAI.

What to do

1. Write down your route, your Form 103 start date and every leave block already taken, from your principal's register, not from memory.
2. Work out your earned leave to the date you plan to start exam-prep leave, then the most you can still take without going over.
3. Size the exam-prep block to whatever keeps your real end date inside the sitting you want, and apply at least fifteen days in advance.
4. If you will be over, diarise Form 107 for the day your original term ends and have the deed ready inside 60 days.
5. Check the date against ICAI's eligibility announcement for your sitting as soon as it is out, and treat any date the pattern gives you as provisional until then.

The tool

I built a leave tracker because I kept doing this sum on paper for students, and the paper version never survived a second leave block. You enter your route, your start date and your leave log. It gives you the leave earned under whichever regime applies, the excess, your real end date after the Form 107 extension, how many more days you can take without moving that date, and which CA Final sitting the date reaches, with ICAI's announced cut-offs marked separately from the derived ones. It also shows how many days you would need to cut to win a sitting back. The three unsettled points above are shown as flags, not answers. It is not an ICAI record: your principal's register and the forms your principal signs govern, and the tool files nothing. Your log stays in your browser.

Open the articleship leave page

Sources

1. ICAI — Regulation 59, leave for articled assistants (re-read 26 September 2026) — https://www.icai.org/post/792
2. ICAI — Regulation 58 and supplementary articles — https://www.icai.org/post/813
3. Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Regulations, 2023, Notification No. 1-CA(7)/201/2023 of 21 June 2023, reproduced by Taxscan — https://www.taxscan.in/icai-notifies-new-ca-scheme-amends-chartered-accountants-regulations/291810
4. abcaus — excess leave and the Form 107 supplementary deed — https://abcaus.in/icai/excess-leave-ca-articled-assistant-supplementary-articles-deed.html
5. BCAS Referencer — the 156/180 split — https://www.bcasonline.org/Referencer2018-19/part5/chartered-accountants-act-and-regulations.html
6. CAclubindia — ICAI announces eligibility criteria for CA Final November 2026 — https://www.caclubindia.com/news/icai-announces-eligibility-criteria-for-ca-final-november-2026-exams-26636.asp