Paper 3 · 100 marks · 3 hours

CA Final Advanced Auditing & Professional Ethics

The full ICAI syllabus for Advanced Auditing, Assurance and Professional Ethics, every past paper with official Suggested Answers, and free AI-graded practice so you know exactly where you stand before exam day.

ICAI Study Material

Syllabus — Advanced Auditing & Professional Ethics

All 19 chapters, per ICAI's New Scheme of Education and Training.

1 Quality Control
2 General Auditing Principles and Auditors Responsibilities
3 Audit Planning, Strategy and Execution
4 Materiality, Risk Assessment and Internal Control
5 Audit Evidence
6 Completion and Review
7 Reporting
8 Specialised Areas
9 Related Services
10 Review of Financial Information
11 Prospective Financial Information and Other Assurance Services
12 Digital Auditing and Assurance
13 Group Audits
14 Special Features of Audit of Banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies
15 Overview of Audit of Public Sector Undertakings
16 Internal Audit
17 Due Diligence, Investigation and Forensic Accounting
18 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Assurance
19 Professional Ethics and Liabilities of Auditors

How to study Advanced Auditing & Professional Ethics

Where the marks tend to concentrate

Standards on Auditing (SAs) as a block is consistently the single largest source of marks in the paper — audit evidence, risk assessment, materiality, group audits, and reporting-related SAs recur across attempts.
Audit Report and Company Audit-related provisions (including CARO reporting) form another consistently heavy, recurring section.
Professional Ethics and audit of specific entities (banks, NBFCs, insurance) appear regularly, usually as shorter, focused questions.

Common mistakes to avoid

Answering audit-scenario questions in generic language instead of naming the specific SA and its requirement — ICAI's solutions cite SA numbers and expect the same.
Treating Professional Ethics as low-priority theory, when it is a reliable, straightforward source of marks if the Code of Ethics is actually read rather than skimmed.
Not practising CARO reporting formats enough, which costs marks on presentation even when the substantive judgment is correct.

How ICAI marks this paper

Advanced Auditing is a subjective, largely case-study-based paper. Marks are awarded for correctly identifying the relevant Standard on Auditing or legal provision, applying it to the scenario given, and reaching a well-reasoned professional judgment — citing the right SA is explicitly rewarded even if the final conclusion could be argued either way. There is no negative marking.

Weightage patterns are aggregated from past ICAI papers, not an official ICAI table — treat as directional guidance.