Free with Suresh, the AI guideCA, CMA and CS

CMA Intermediate guidance: how the paper is cracked, from your own numbers

Cost and Management Accountancy Intermediate Course — the professional stage of the CMA qualification. Conducted by The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI), a statutory body under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959. Suresh knows this paper from the site's own pattern pages — and reads your scores, your mocks and what you haven't touched before saying a word.

Talk to Suresh about CMA Intermediate How it's decided

Reads your profile first

CMA Intermediate guidance · Plan my weeksSuresh · AI guide · has read your profile

Live

Suresh · AI guideEnglish

On the table

Carries the marks · Business Laws and EthicsLabour Codes in OutlineMarks ~10 Open the chapter

The paper · CMA Intermediate400 marksNo negative marking

Suresh“Before we plan anything: when do you sit CMA Intermediate, and how many hours a day do you really have?”

Talk TypeEnd & get my plan06:12

Ends in a plan

Stages

First paper

400 marks

Marking

No negative marking

Your guide

Suresh, free

How it's decided

CMA Intermediate, stage by stage

Twice a year — June and December terms. Pen-and-paper at ICMAI examination centres. Every paper runs three hours for 100 marks, with Section A (MCQs) and Section B (descriptive) both attempted within the same sitting.

Group I — Business Laws & Ethics, Financial Accounting, Direct & Indirect Taxation, Cost AccountingThe group most candidates attempt first

400 marks across four papers. Clearing Group I, together with completing the registered practical-training start, lets a candidate begin building towards the 15-month training requirement while Group II is still pending.

Group II — Operations & Strategic Management, Corporate Accounting & Auditing, Financial Management & Business Data Analytics, Management AccountingThe group that completes the level

400 marks across four papers. Both groups must be cleared, together with the 15-month practical training requirement, before the Final examination result can be declared.

Practical training — 15 monthsUnder a practising Cost Accountant, or in approved industry roles

Can begin immediately upon Intermediate registration, running in parallel with study. Must be substantially complete before a Final-level result is declared — check the current timing circular for the exact checkpoint rules.

CMA Final — eight papers in two groupsThe qualifying examination

Papers 13-20, including a chosen elective (Paper 20, not modelled on this hub since a question set for one elective is of no use to a candidate who chose another). Passing, plus completed training, admits a candidate to ICMAI membership.

The papers

2 papers, and how each is marked

Group I — Business Laws & Ethics, Financial Accounting, Direct & Indirect Taxation, Cost Accounting

400 marks3 hours per paperNo negative marking

The group most candidates attempt first

Marking: None on Section A. Working notes form part of the answer in Section B.

Section A: MCQs (30 marks); Section B: descriptive questions of up to 14 marks each (70 marks)

Paper 5 — Business Laws and Ethics100 marks · 180 minPaper 6 — Financial Accounting100 marks · 180 minPaper 7 — Direct and Indirect Taxation100 marks · 180 minPaper 8 — Cost Accounting100 marks · 180 min

Business Laws & Ethics and Financial Accounting are the lighter-reading papers of the group; Taxation and Cost Accounting carry the heavier computational load, mirroring their equivalents in every other accounting-institute syllabus on this hub.

Group II — Operations & Strategic Management, Corporate Accounting & Auditing, Financial Management & Business Data Analytics, Management Accounting

400 marks3 hours per paperNo negative marking

Both groups, plus 15 months of practical training, unlock CMA Final

Marking: None on Section A. Working notes form part of the answer in Section B.

Section A: MCQs (30 marks); Section B: descriptive questions of up to 14 marks each (70 marks)

Paper 9 — Operations Management and Strategic Management100 marks · 180 minPaper 10 — Corporate Accounting and Auditing100 marks · 180 minPaper 11 — Financial Management and Business Data Analytics100 marks · 180 minPaper 12 — Management Accounting100 marks · 180 min

Paper 10 (Corporate Accounting and Auditing) is taught on this hub as two subjects — Corporate Accounting and Auditing — since the single 100-mark paper genuinely combines two separable disciplines that are easier to study, and to alias into this site's existing accounting-institute content, as two distinct blocks.

Where the marks come from

Where CMA Intermediate's 800 marks come from

Eight papers of exactly 100 marks, arranged in two groups of four that can be attempted together or one at a time. Every paper carries the same internal split: Section A is 30 marks of multiple-choice questions with no negative marking, and Section B is 70 marks of descriptive answers, each of 14 marks broken into parts of 4 to 10 marks with working notes forming part of the answer.

Business Laws and Ethics100 marks · 12.5%

Group I. Commercial and industrial laws (Contract, Sale of Goods, Partnership/LLP, Negotiable Instruments, Companies Act fundamentals, the Labour Codes in outline) share Section A with Section B's business ethics — the fastest-scoring 30-40 marks in the group once the named frameworks are memorised.

Financial Accounting100 marks · 12.5%

Group I. Accounting standards and final accounts share the paper with special transactions — branch, consignment, joint venture and hire purchase accounts, plus partnership reconstitution — each examined as a full numerical problem.

Direct and Indirect Taxation100 marks · 12.5%

Group I. Income-tax computation and GST share the paper roughly evenly, with customs examined only in outline. The computation format is separately marked, same as every other tax paper on this hub.

Cost Accounting100 marks · 12.5%

Group I. Material and employee cost, overheads, cost sheets and the major costing methods (job, process, service) — numerical, format-driven, and one of the most reliably scoring papers in the level.

Operations Management and Strategic Management100 marks · 12.5%

Group II. The newest, least accounting-flavoured paper — production planning, capacity, sequencing and project scheduling in Section A, strategic management frameworks in Section B.

Corporate Accounting50 marks · 6.25%

Group II, half of Paper 10. Schedule III financial statements, amalgamation and consolidated financial statements — the company-accounting half of the paper.

Auditing50 marks · 6.25%

Group II, half of Paper 10. Audit planning, evidence, reporting and ethics — the audit-procedure half of the paper, written and Standards-driven.

Financial Management and Business Data Analytics100 marks · 12.5%

Group II. Cost of capital, capital structure and capital budgeting share the paper with the syllabus's newest topic — business data analytics, correlation, regression and dashboard design.

Management Accounting100 marks · 12.5%

Group II. Marginal costing, standard costing and budgetary control extend into pricing decisions, transfer pricing, the learning curve and responsibility accounting — the level's most decision-oriented costing paper.

What changed this cycle

Things last year's advice gets wrong

Syllabus 2022 fixed the current eight-paper, two-group structure, with every paper carrying a uniform 30% MCQ (Section A, no negative marking) plus 70% descriptive (Section B, 14-mark questions in parts of 4 to 10 marks) split — confirmed uniform across all eight papers at both Intermediate and Final, unlike some sister institutes' single fully-descriptive paper.
ICMAI has announced a transition to CMA Syllabus 2026 across all three levels, with authors and reviewers invited for new study material; secondary reporting indicates first application from around the June 2027 term, with Syllabus 2022 continuing to govern the nearer December 2026 and May-June 2027 sittings — candidates should confirm the applicable syllabus for their specific attempt closer to the date.
Intermediate registration validity was confirmed at 7 years from registration (not the shorter figure sometimes quoted for older schemes), with a DE NOVO registration process available to extend it by a further 5 years if it lapses before both groups are cleared.
Practical training now runs 15 months in total and can begin immediately upon Intermediate registration, rather than only after clearing it — but the full 15 months must be completed before a Final-group result can be declared for a candidate who has completed both groups together.

The chapters that carry the marks

Where a plan for CMA Intermediate usually starts

The highest-weight chapters in each subject, linked to their notes. Weights are estimates from previous papers where the conducting body publishes none. Your guide weighs these against your own scores.

Business Laws and EthicsAll chapters