CS Professional · June 2025 · Paper 3
CS Professional Compliance Management, Audit and Due Diligence June 2025: paper analysis
Our own analysis of the official paper, as of 12 October 2026. The questions and answers belong to ICSI; read them on ICSI's website.
Chapter-wise marks
Where the marks were in this paper (out of 100; internal-choice alternatives not double counted).
What each question tested
In our words, by question number. Open the official paper for the full question.
| Q | Marks | Tests | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1(a)(i) | 1 | LODR due date for the quarterly investor grievance statement | Compliance Framework |
| 1(a)(ii) | 1 | Computing complaints resolved for the quarterly investor complaints statement | Compliance Framework |
| 1(a)(iii) | 1 | LODR due date for the quarterly corporate governance compliance report | Compliance Framework |
| 1(a)(iv) | 1 | LODR due date for quarterly financial results | Compliance Framework |
| 1(a)(v) | 1 | LODR due date for the annual secretarial compliance report | Compliance Framework |
| 1(b) | 5 | Best practices for a practising company secretary pre-certifying e-forms where records are incomplete | Signing and Certification |
| 1(c) | 5 | Applicability of an amended penalty provision to a continuing takeover disclosure default, with case law | Non-Compliances, Penalties and Adjudications |
| 1(d) | 5 | Document management systems: benefits and Companies Act provisions on electronic records | Documentation and Maintenance of Records |
| 2(a) | 5 | MCA compliance monitoring system and steps to reply to a show cause notice through it | Non-Compliances, Penalties and Adjudications |
| 2(b) | 5 | Compounding of a FEMA contravention for delayed share allotment against foreign inward remittance, with case law | Non-Compliances, Penalties and Adjudications |
| 2(c) | 5 | Professional misconduct where a non-member signs certificates on behalf of a practising firm | Legal Framework Governing Company Secretaries |
| 2(d) | 5 | Confidential business documents and contents of a confidentiality policy | Documentation and Maintenance of Records |
| 2A(i) | 5 | Officer in default and professional liability of a company secretary for compliance failures | Compliance Framework |
| 2A(ii) | 5 | Document control measures and key concepts for records and archives management | Documentation and Maintenance of Records |
| 2A(iii) | 5 | Duties and guiding principles of a practising company secretary certifying the annual return in Form MGT-8 | Signing and Certification |
| 2A(iv) | 5 | Resolving an ethical dilemma using Kidder's approaches and the duty to avoid conflict of interest | Values, Ethics and Professional Conduct |
| 3(a) | 5 | Steps in appointing an auditor through a tendering process | Audit Engagement |
| 3(b) | 5 | Mandatory internal audit applicability for a private company and whether the statutory auditor can act as internal auditor | Internal Audit and Performance Audit |
| 3(c) | 5 | Purpose and key components of financial due diligence | Due Diligence |
| 4(a) | 3 | Evaluating and improving the effectiveness of an internal audit function | Internal Audit and Performance Audit |
| 4(b) | 3 | Key aspects in reviewing secretarial audit working papers | Audit Process and Documentation |
| 4(c) | 3 | CSR applicability test on net profit, turnover and net worth with exclusions for overseas branch profit and dividends | Compliance Framework |
| 4(d) | 3 | Benefits of social audit for governance and stakeholder voice | Concepts of Various Audits |
| 4(e) | 3 | Meaning of suspicion and the secretarial auditor's reporting duty on suspected fraud | Secretarial Audit |
| 5(a) | 5 | Investigating audit trail discrepancies in electronic accounting records | Audit Principles and Techniques |
| 5(b) | 5 | Causes of misstatement in corporate disclosures and modifications to the audit opinion | Forming an Opinion and Reporting |
| 5(c) | 5 | Focus areas in an information systems audit | Concepts of Various Audits |
| 6(a) | 5 | Auditor independence where a partner and dependants hold shares in the prospective secretarial audit client | Audit Engagement |
| 6(b) | 5 | Peer reviewer's examination of office systems, procedures and staff training | Peer Review and Quality Review |
| 6(c) | 5 | Reliance on third-party reports: meaning, considerations and steps to evaluate the work | Audit Principles and Techniques |
| 6A(i) | 5 | Guidelines for a secretarial auditor to verify board processes and the provisions mandating them | Secretarial Audit |
| 6A(ii) | 5 | Factors affecting quality of review work and planning considerations for a quality review | Peer Review and Quality Review |
| 6A(iii)(a) | 1 | Communication with the previous auditor on change of secretarial auditor | Audit Engagement |
| 6A(iii)(b) | 2 | Process for determining materiality in a new audit engagement | Audit Principles and Techniques |
| 6A(iii)(c) | 2 | Risk assessment in audits | Audit Principles and Techniques |
What stood out
- Part I (Q1 and Q2, 40 marks) covers compliance, records, certification and professional conduct; Part II (Q3 to Q6, 60 marks) covers audits, peer and quality review and due diligence.
- Q1(a) is unusual: five 1-mark items on LODR filing due dates and a grievance-count computation, rewarding exact knowledge of compliance calendars.
- The paper is strongly application oriented: only 8 of 35 listed entries are pure theory; the rest are short problem situations on certification, misconduct, independence, internal audit applicability and audit opinions.
- Case law support is explicitly demanded in 1(c) on takeover disclosure penalties and 2(b) on FEMA compounding.
- Q4 uses five 3-mark parts and includes a CSR applicability computation with exclusions, so numerical tests can appear even in an audit-focused paper.
Practise the chapters that carried the marks
Non-Compliances, Penalties and Adjudications, Documentation and Maintenance of Records, Audit Principles and Techniques: study guides and practice questions in the CS Professional format.