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R. Sivakumar

R. Sivakumar on the ICAI's new thinking on restricting the number of attempts.

FOUR months back, the ICAI issued guidelines to such of those candidates who had exhausted five consecutive attempts in the PE I and/or PE II Examinations and who sought an appearance in the sixth attempt, that is, the May 2005 examination.

Subject to Government approval, the ICAI proposed relaxation of the five consecutive attempts to any five appearances in a period of five years. It also proposed that the said five appearances would not apply to the students who registered on or before September 30, 2001.

Further, for such of those students who have cleared one group in the PE II Exam, an additional five appearances would also be allowed within the five-yearperiod.

Notification

On May 27, 2005, the ICAI issued Notification 1-CA(7)/83/2005 to further amend the Chartered Accountants Regulations, 1988.

Accordingly, in regulation 25B, after sub-regulation (2) and before the explanation, the following proviso shall be inserted:

"Provided that a candidate, who has exhausted his five consecutive attempts in the Professional Education (Examination - I), shall be eligible to be admitted to the said examination for an additional attempt in any of the examinations held on or before the 31st December, 2005."

In regulation 28B, after sub-regulation (3) and before the explanation, the following proviso shall be inserted:

"Provided that a candidate, who has exhausted his five consecutive attempts in the Professional Education (Examination - II), shall be eligible to be admitted to the said examination for an additional attempt in any of the examinations held on or before the 31st December, 2005."

The notification clearly indicates that the Government is not willing to approve the earlier proposals, except to the extent of giving one more chance or no chance at all, that too, before December 31, 2005. In effect, the restriction is pegged at five.

Restriction on number of attempts

Right from 1979, all the committees on Review of Education and Training have suggested for some restriction or the other, but the Council never accepted any of them. However, in 1998, the Committee for Review of Education and Training recommended a restriction of five consecutive attempts in both the PE I and PE II stages, in the pretext of enabling a student to exit out of the course at an early stage and also arrest the increasing backlog.

This recommendation was implemented in 2001, without in-depth analysis of the input-output ratio. Before 2001, on an average 60 per cent of the students emerged successful in the course and, of this, around 20 per cent completed beyond the fifth attempt.

Hence, the restriction on the number of attempts denied the opportunity for these 20 per cent of students to complete the course. The backlog has also been increasing, as there has been no significant improvement in the results.

A look at the registration and the pass percentage in the last five attempts (Tables 1 and 2) indicate that, on an average, effectively 60 per cent of the students enrolled write the examination in the first attempt. It is a fact that majority of the students register prior to June 30 and between July 1 and December 31, as that is the cut-off date for taking the ensuing May or November examinations.

Analysing the enrolment at the PE II stage, between April 1 and March 31 of any given year, it can be reasonably concluded that 60 per cent of the students would have registered before June 30, 30 per cent between July 1 and December 31, and the balance 10 per cent between January 1 and March 31.

With a constant enrolment of 35,000 students every year on an average, around 40 per cent of them complete the course within five attempts.

Hence, the balance 60 percent, that is, 21,000 students, will be forced to exit. As indicated earlier, if there were no restrictions, there would be at least another 8,000 students who would have emerged successfully.

Apart from the students who have enrolled for PE II from October 1, 2001, onwards, around 1,50,000 students of the erstwhile Intermediate Examination forming part of the backlog will have no other choice except to exit. Therefore, the proposed amendment is not only objectionable, but highly unreasonable.

Why it is unreasonable

The answer for this can be taken from the various reports of the earlier committees and also from the proposals given by the ICAI four months ago. The ICAI has realised that it had made a judgmental error in terms of the consecutive attempts. There are cases of students who could not write the examination owing to other factors. There are students who would be left high and dry for passing one of the groups and equally there are students who are forced to exit having got some exemptions in two or three papers.

The ICAI examination, like those for medicine and engineering, is a professional examination. It is more a career-oriented exam than a competitive one. None of the other professional examinations, including those conducted by the AICPA, the ICAEW or CIMA, restrict the students from writing the exam. In fact, the 1979 report suggested further theoretical training in case the student failed more than six times at the final stage. In the light of the above, the proposed amendment needs to be reviewed. It is better not to restrict.

The future

If the current trends are any indication, the same unreasonableness may continue. However, if the proposed changes in curriculum are going to be different, then, one has to take into consideration the transitional path of the system. It is time the ICAI reviewed the curriculum after an in-depth study.

The ICAI has invited objections and suggestions to the draft amendments. An opportunity this is for affected students and their parents to voice their views.

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