CMA Final Syllabus: 8 Papers, Marks by Section, Pass Rule

The CMA Final syllabus under Syllabus 2022 has seven compulsory papers (13 to 19) and one elective (Paper 20), each worth 100 marks. ICMAI's Final curriculum page lists the papers and links each paper's detailed syllabus PDF. The section weights below come from the ICMAI Syllabus 2022 document. A weight is a percentage of the paper's 100 marks, so a 60% section carries 60 marks.

The law and tax papers (13, 15 and 19) change with amendments. The ICMAI CMA Prospectus states that subjects related to applicable statutes are read with amendments made from time to time, so study from material updated for your exam term. If you are moving up from Intermediate, our CMA Inter syllabus guide covers the eight papers before this one.

No older scheme applies. Syllabus 2022 took effect from the June 2023 term, and Syllabus 2016 continued only until the December 2023 term, according to the ICMAI Syllabus 2022 document. Old-scheme students who wanted to convert had to apply at least six months before the exam and buy the new study material.

If a page, PDF or set of notes mentions the 2018 or 2019 Final papers, or the syllabus of ICWAI (the Institute's former name, the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India), it describes the old scheme. Check its paper names against the table above before you study from it.

As of October 2026, Syllabus 2022 governs the December 2026 Final term, as the clarification for that term issued on 15 September 2026 in ICMAI's student circulars shows. ICMAI has begun preparing a revised CMA Syllabus 2026, which KollegeApply reports is likely to apply from the June 2027 term. The first term it covers is set by ICMAI's notice, so check the circulars before you register for any term after December 2026.

Five of the seven compulsory papers (13, 15, 16, 17 and 19) each have one section worth 50 marks or more. Papers 14 and 18 spread their marks across five and six sections, and the largest section in either is 35 and 25 marks respectively. This is our count from the ICMAI weights in the table above.

The next table is our floor test. For each paper we sorted the sections from largest to smallest and added them until the total reached 40 marks, the pass floor. The result is the fewest sections whose full marks reach 40. These are ceilings, since nobody scores full marks in every question, so the real number of sections you need is higher.

Our recommendation follows from the table. In Papers 13, 15, 16, 17 and 19, learn the largest section first and learn it to exam standard, because it alone can carry you past 40. In Papers 14 and 18, and in elective 20C, treat every section as compulsory, because skipping one leaves you short of the pass floor even with full marks elsewhere.

You pass a group by scoring at least 40% marks in each paper of the group and an aggregate of at least 50% of the total marks of its non-exempted papers. You pass the Final by passing all groups. Both rules are in the "Standard of Pass" section of the ICMAI CMA Prospectus.

Take four papers with scores of 55, 55, 55 and 35. The total is 200 out of 400, exactly 50%, yet the group fails because 35 is below 40. This is why the floor test matters more than your average.

If you sit both groups in the same term, the Prospectus takes the 50% aggregate across both groups together, with 40% still needed in each paper you appeared in. Passing all eight papers at one sitting without any exemption also qualifies you for ICMAI's Certificate of Merit.

An exemption works like this, per the same Prospectus:

• If you fail a group but score 60 or more in a paper, you are exempted from that paper for the immediately successive three terms, counted from the term in which you earned it.
• In the next sitting, the marks in each exempted paper are reckoned as 50 when your group aggregate is worked out.
• If you also scored at least 40 in every other paper of that group, ICMAI instead carries forward the actual marks you scored in the exempted paper.
• If you appear again in an exempted paper, the benefit is cancelled.

Here is a worked example (our arithmetic). You score 70, 45, 38 and 52 in a four-paper group. You fail on the 38, and the 70 earns an exemption. Because 38 is under 40, there is no carry-forward, so that paper counts as 50 next time. To reach 200 of 400, the three papers you re-sit must total at least 150, with 40 in each.

Choose 20A if you want a numbers-heavy valuation paper, 20B if your career is in banking or insurance, and 20C only if you will cover many small sections. ICMAI requires you to select one elective at the time of enrolment for the Final course, as a one-time option. Each elective is 100 marks, 12.5% of the Final's 800.

Source: ICMAI Syllabus 2022. Our advice is to pick by the work you want to do, since you cannot change the elective later. The floor test table shows that 20C is the only elective that needs three sections at full marks to reach 40.

Sit both groups together only if you can revise all eight papers to the floor-test standard in one window. Otherwise, split them and sit first the group in which you have started more papers. The figures below are from the June 2026 Final results, declared on 5 August 2026, as compiled by CMA Knowledge.

The Group III and Group IV rows describe different candidates, and those who chose Group IV alone may have been better prepared, so the table does not show that one group is easier. Of the 4,337 candidates who sat both groups, 1,430 (32.97%) passed both and 702 (16.19%) passed one, so about half (2,132 of 4,337, or 49.2%) cleared at least one group. We draw no conclusion about difficulty from this. For a fuller breakdown of past sessions, see our CMA pass percentage guide.

Two points drive our recommendation. A both-groups sitting has eight 40-mark floors to clear instead of four, even though the 50% aggregate is pooled across all eight papers. And a paper in which you score 60 or more can be banked through the exemption rule, which makes a first group sat properly worth more than two groups sat thinly. Group III holds the law, finance, tax and cost papers; Group IV holds audit, reporting, GST and your elective. Count the papers you have not yet started in each group and sit first the group with fewer.

As of October 2026, CMA Final at iProledge costs ₹10,000 per paper, which is ₹40,000 for one group and ₹80,000 for both (4 × ₹10,000 and 8 × ₹10,000). You can pay by Unified Payments Interface (UPI), net banking, card, no-cost EMI (equated monthly instalment, NCEMI) or a flexible plan. Admission takes under 15 minutes.

We start with the floor test, then the group split, then the classes. At our free demo class and in the session with a Career Advisor, we go through the eight papers with you, mark which have one dominant section and which need breadth, and fix the elective and the groups before you pay. Fees once paid are not refunded, so this conversation comes first.

Our CMA Final classes run offline in Bengaluru, live online anywhere in India, or blended. Visit our Jayanagar or Malleshwaram enquiry centre to meet a Career Advisor. You get recordings, study materials, practice questions and mock tests, plus doubt clearing, study planning and mentoring. Our CMA test series guide explains how to use mock scores to decide what to revise next, and you can see our programmes on the courses list.

To book a demo class, call +91 90198 10080 or +91 87925 71811 (calls are answered within 5 minutes), or contact us.