CA Foundation Accounts: What Paper 1 Tests, Chapter by Chapter

Paper 1 has six questions in three hours. Question 1 is compulsory and you answer any four of the remaining five. Each question carries 20 marks, so 120 marks are offered and 100 count. The cover page of the September 2026 paper prints this rule, and it reads the same on the seven papers before it.

Question 1 always had the same shape in those eight papers: six true-or-false statements of 2 marks each, each answered "with reasons" (12 marks), then a 4-mark theory part, then a 4-mark short entry such as a GST (goods and services tax) journal. The cover page also says "Working notes should form part of the answers", so show your workings (the step-by-step calculations behind each answer) on the answer sheet.

Company Accounts (Chapter 11) and Partnership and LLP (limited liability partnership) Accounts (Chapter 10) carry the most. Chapter 11 offered 22 to 29 marks and Chapter 10 offered 20 to 22 marks in every one of the eight papers, together 42 to 49 of the 115 marks that sit in a set chapter, which is 37% to 43%.

How we counted: we took the eight Paper 1 question papers on ICAI's Foundation question papers page (June 2024, September 2024, January 2025, May 2025, September 2025, January 2026, May 2026 and September 2026). We listed the marks printed against every question part and assigned each part to one of the 11 syllabus chapters in ICAI's Paper 1 syllabus. One 5-mark either/or part in each paper (a part where you pick one of two problems) is left out, so each column shows 115 of the 120 marks offered. The share column is each chapter's total across the eight papers divided by 920 (8 papers × 115).

Parts that fit two chapters were placed by our judgement, which can move a chapter by a few marks but does not change the Company and Partnership totals.

Two other patterns show in the count:

• Bank reconciliation was a full 10-mark question in September 2024, January 2025 and May 2025. In June 2024 and in the four papers from September 2025 to September 2026 it came only as one of two options in a 5-mark either/or part.
• Bills of Exchange was a 12-mark question once in eight papers, in September 2024.

Company Accounts offered 22 to 29 marks in every one of the eight ICAI papers, the largest share of any chapter at 22.5% of the marks counted, and Question 6(a) alone was a 15-mark Company Accounts problem each time.

Partnership Accounts followed at 20 to 22 marks, and Question 4(a) was a partner-change problem (admission, retirement, death or dissolution) of 10 to 15 marks in all eight. Together the two chapters need the longest and earliest weeks of your plan.

A 15-mark problem in Question 6(a) is hard to rescue with theory marks. Share issue, forfeiture, reissue and preference-share redemption deserve your most practice.

Skip the one of Questions 2 to 6 whose chapters you are weakest in, and accept that you cannot avoid Partnership and Company Accounts. In the eight papers, each of Questions 3, 4, 5 and 6 contained a Chapter 10 or Chapter 11 problem. Only Question 2 did not.

Our recommendation: skip Question 2 only if rectification, depreciation and bank reconciliation are your weakest chapters, because that skip leaves all of Chapters 10 and 11 in play. If those chapters are strong and partnership is weak, skip Question 3 or 4. Make the call in the first ten minutes, mark it clearly, and spend the time on workings for the four you attempt. The paper asks for four, so a fifth earns you nothing under the printed instruction.

Split your weeks in proportion to the share column, then add time to chapters you find hard. Company, Partnership, Accounting Process and Not-for-Profit together carried 65.1% of the marks offered (599 of 920 marks across the eight papers). Study them first, then Final Accounts, Depreciation, Theoretical Framework and Incomplete Records, and last Bank Reconciliation, Inventories and Bills of Exchange.

Our model, for ten weeks of Accounts study: about 2.3 weeks on Company Accounts, 1.9 on Partnership, 1.5 on Accounting Process and 0.9 on Not-for-Profit (the share percentages times ten weeks), about 6.5 weeks in all. The remaining 3.5 weeks go to the other seven chapters in proportion to their shares. Adjust it in two ways:

• Add a little to Chapters 1 and 2, because compulsory Question 1 draws on them. Its six true-or-false statements in September 2026 came from Chapters 1, 2, 8 and 11.
• Practise Question 1(a) as a verdict plus a one-line reason, because the paper asks for both.

Give bank reconciliation a short block early. It is small in share but still appeared in the paper in every one of the eight sessions, as a full question or as an either/or option.

ICAI's Paper 1 study material is enough if you studied Accountancy in Class 12 and can practise timed past papers. Coaching helps if you come from the science stream, are short on weeks, or cannot judge your own Partnership and Company answers. This is our view, not an ICAI rule.

At iProledge, our CA Foundation course costs ₹25,000 (as of 29 October 2026). It is offered live online, onsite and as a blended course, with recordings, study materials, practice questions and mock tests. We also provide doubt clearing, study planning and mentoring. Our CA Foundation coaching fees page shows what else to add to that total, and our free Accounting question bank lets you practise before you decide.

We run free demo classes and ask you to visit the academy and speak to a Career Advisor before joining. Fees once paid are not refunded, so use the demo to check how we teach Accounts first. Bring the planner above and your weakest chapters. You can complete admission in under 15 minutes through the admissions page. Ashish Kumar, one of our learners, passed CA Foundation in his first attempt with 296 out of 400 (74%) in the September 2025 window, with results announced on 3 November 2025 (our own record).

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