As we all know, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (“ICSI”) has recently declared the result of ICSI Executive and Professional Programme Examination Result June, 2016. It’s a matter of fact that ICSI has revised the syllabus for Professional Programme in the year 2013 and very first examination (Professional Programmer- New Syllabus) was conducted in June 2014 only.

It is relevant to mention here that after the introduction of new syllabus, it was decided that June 2015 would be the last attempt for students who enrolled themselves under the old syllabus. There was no compulsory switch over till June 2015.

We all should appreciate that ICSI after considering the request of students decided to give an extension of two more attempts (December 2015 and June 2016) for students who were enrolled under the old syllabus.

Since result of ICSI Professional Programme has been declared on August 25, 2016 and there are various students who were unable to clear the exams under the old syllabus and are left with one or two modules only.

Lets understand the impact after the compulsory switch over.

Old Syllabus (Professional Programme)

New Syllabus (Professional Programme)

Module-I 1.   Company Secretarial Practice 2.   Drafting, Appearances and Pleading Module-II 3.  Financial, Treasury and Forex Management 4.  Corporate Restructuring, and Insolvency Module-III 5. Strategic Management, Alliances and International Trade 6. Advance Tax Laws and Practice Module-IV 7. Due Diligence and Corporate Compliance Management 8. Governance Business Ethics and Sustainability

Module-I 1.  Advanced Company Law and Practice 2. Secretarial Audit, Compliance Management and Due Diligence 3. Corporate Restructuring, Valuation and Insolvency Module-II 4.         Information Technology and Systems Audit 5.         Financial, Treasury and Forex Management 6. Ethics, Governance and Sustainability Module-III 7.  Advance Tax Laws and Practice 8.  Drafting, Appearances and Pleading 9.   Open Book

Lets understand all permutations and combinations

Cases	Old Syllabus	New Syllabus
Case-1 1st Module of old syllabus is left	Only two exams and fees of one Module	Students have to appear for four exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules. Further, students are supposed to obtain 100 marks in Module-III and 50 marks in Module-I and II separately.
Case -2 2nd Module of old syllabus is left	Only two exams and fees of one Module	Students have to appear for four exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules. Further, students are supposed to obtain 100 marks in Module-II and 50 marks in Module-I and III separately.
Case-3 3rd Module of old syllabus is left	Only two exams and fees of one Module	Students have to appear for three exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced by Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Also, students have to pay fee for two modules (II and III). Further, students are supposed to obtain 100 marks in Module-III and 50 marks in Module-II separately.
Case-4 4th Module of old syllabus is left	Only two exams and fees of one Module	Students have to appear for four exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules. Further, students are supposed to obtain 100 marks in Module-II and 50 marks in Module-I and III separately.
Case-5 1st and 2nd Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for six exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-6 1st and 3rd Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for five exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced by Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-7 1st and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for six exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-8 2nd and 3rd Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for five exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced with Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-9 2nd and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for six exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-10 3rd and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Four exams and fees of two Modules	Students have to appear for five exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced by Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-11 1st, 2nd and 3rd Modules of old syllabus are left	Six exams and fees of three Modules	Students have to appear for seven exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced with Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Fee would be not an issue under this case.
Case-12 1st, 2nd and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Six exams and fees of three Modules	Students have to appear for eight exams since Information Technology (Paper No. 4) and Open Book (Paper No. 9) are new. Also, students have to pay fee for all three modules.
Case-13 1st, 3rd and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Six exams and fees of three Modules	Students have to appear for seven exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced with Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Fee would be not an issue under this case.
Case-14 2nd, 3rd and 4th Modules of old syllabus are left	Six exams and fees of three Modules	Students have to appear for seven exams since Strategic Management (Paper No. 5 of old syllabus) has been replaced by Information Technology (Paper No. 4). Further, Open Book (Paper No. 9) will be an extra paper for such students. Fee would be not an issue under this case.

In case further attempt(s) are not granted to the students enrolled under the old syllabus. The following options may be considered.

Illustration

If Mr. A is left with 1^st Module of old syllabus then he would be required to to give the following exams:

Paper No. 1 from Module-I

Paper No.4 from Module-II

Paper No. 8 and 9 from Module-III

Instead of granting further attempts, ICSI may give an option of adjustment (i.e. set-off) with exams already passed by the respective students. Suppose Mr. A has passed 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Module. Now, he is supposed to give 4 exams (as mentioned above) instead of 2 exams. Lets assume, he has scored the following marks in Module-II, III and IV under the old syllabus as under:

Module-II

Financial, Treasury and Forex Management – 48 (forty eight)

Corporate Restructuring, and Insolvency- 55 (fifty five)

Module-III

Strategic Management, Alliances and International Trade- 50 (fifty)

Advance Tax Laws and Practice- 57 (Fifty Seven)

Module-IV

Due Diligence and Corporate Compliance Management- 61 (sixty one)

Governance Business Ethics and Sustainability- 48 (Forty eight)

_________________________________________________________________

Now, lets write his (Mr. A’s) marks corresponding to the subjects under the new syllabus

Module-I

1. Advanced Company Law and Practice- LEFT
2. Secretarial Audit, Compliance Management and Due Diligence- 61 (sixty one)
3. Corporate Restructuring, Valuation and Insolvency- 55 (fifty five)

Module-II

4. Information Technology and Systems Audit- NEW
5. Financial, Treasury and Forex Management- 48 (forty eight)
6. Ethics, Governance and Sustainability- 48 (forty eight)

Module-III

7. Advance Tax Laws and Practice- 57 (Fifty Seven)
8. Drafting, Appearances and Pleading- LEFT
9. Open Book- NEW

Now, ICSI may give an option to secure 150 marks (passing criteria 50 per cent) separately in all three modules in the following manner:

For Module-I

As you may see above, Mr. A has secured 116 marks so he would be required another 34 marks to secure 150 marks. However, every student is supposed to secure atleast 40 marks in each paper. Therefore, the following option may be given:

“40 marks or balance of the respective group (150 – sum of cleared exams in the respective group) whichever is higher”.

In this case students would get relief, they would be required to get only 40 marks instead of 50.

For Module-II

As you may see above, Mr. A has secured 98 marks so he would be required another 54 marks to secure 150 marks. Therefore, we can give the option as under:

40 marks or balance of the respective group (150 – sum of cleared exams in the respective group) whichever is higher.

Relevant to mention here that in this case student has to obtain 54 marks instead of 50 marks.

For Module-III

As you may see above, Mr. A has secured 57 marks so he would be required another 93 marks to secure 150 marks in remaining two exams. Therefore,  the following option may be provided:

40 marks each in all remaining papers (i.e. two) and total should reach 150 after considering the marks of paper already passed.

In this case students would get relief, they would be required to get only 93 marks instead of 100 marks

At last, ICSI may also consider the request of all students to charge paper-wise fee from the students who are just left with one module.

Disclaimer: