Exam patterns › Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics

The five ethics clauses ICAI keeps testing

In the Audit papers under the new syllabus, ICAI's suggested answers applied each of these five Schedule clauses in two separate questions. No other clause came up more than once.

How to prepare: revise these five first, with the exception in each, then the rest of the Schedules.

The five clauses

A clause counts for a question only when ICAI's suggested answer names it and applies it to the facts.

1. 2 questions

   First Schedule, Part I, Clause (6): soliciting

   Sep 25Jan 26In Nov 2026 MTP

   Watch for: Responding to a tender for audit work is misconduct, unless the tender sets a minimum fee.

2. 2 questions

   First Schedule, Part I, Clause (8): the previous auditor

   Nov 24Jan 26In Nov 2026 MTP

   Watch for: Write to the previous auditor before you accept the audit. Communication in writing is the requirement.

3. 2 questions

   First Schedule, Part I, Clause (10): fees on results

   May 24Jan 26In Nov 2026 MTP

   Watch for: Fees based on profits, or contingent on findings or results, are misconduct, except where Regulation 192 allows them (for example, non-assurance work for a client that is not an audit client).

4. 2 questions

   First Schedule, Part I, Clause (11): other business or occupation

   May 24May 25In Nov 2026 MTP

   Watch for: Any other business or occupation needs the Council's permission, general or specific.

5. 2 questions

   Second Schedule, Part I, Clause (10): client money

   Sep 25Jan 26

   Watch for: An advance against fees need not go into a separate bank account. Client money for expenses not spent within a reasonably short time must.

ICAI's Nov 2026 mock tests

Four of the five are back in ICAI's mock test papers: Clause (6) in Series II Q2(a), Clause (8) in Series II Q4(b), Clause (10) of the First Schedule in Series I Q4(b), and Clause (11) in Series I MCQ 6.

How to prepare

1. Revise these five first, with the exception in each: a minimum fee, Regulation 192, the Council's permission, advance fees.
2. Then the rest of the First and Second Schedules.
3. Practise them as MCQs and case questions against the clock.

More exam patterns

• Consolidated balance sheet: the adjustment checklist
• Financial instruments: only three question types
• All exam patterns

Sources: ICAI suggested answers, CA Final Paper 3 (May 2024, Nov 2024, May 2025, Sep 2025, Jan 2026, May 2026); ICAI Mock Test Papers Series I and II for November 2026; ICAI study material, Paper 3, Module 3, Chapter 19.

CA-MCQs is an independent platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by ICAI. ICAI's questions are paraphrased; the full questions are in ICAI's suggested answers on its BoS Knowledge Portal.