CMA Foundation Passing Marks 2026 and Pass Percentage Trends

CMA Foundation does not have a competitive cut-off. The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI) does not rank candidates against each other or fill a fixed number of seats at this level. Instead, every candidate who reaches the fixed passing marks in one sitting passes, however many others do the same.

So when students search for the CMA Foundation cut-off for December 2026, what they need is the passing criteria. This page sets out those rules, the pass trend figures that have been reported by term, and a practical score target that gives you a safe margin.

CMA Foundation passing marks

Under Regulation 20C of the Cost and Works Accountants Regulations, 1959, a Foundation candidate passes by obtaining, at one sitting, a minimum of 40% of the marks in each paper and an aggregate of 50% of the total marks of all papers. ICMAI's Council can vary the minimum pass marks at its discretion.

Note that four papers at exactly 40 each add up to only 160. To pass, you need to clear 40 in every paper and then find another 40 marks across the four papers to reach 200.

CMA Foundation pass percentage by term

ICMAI publishes the Foundation result for each term, but it does not routinely release an all-India pass percentage for Foundation alongside the result. The figures below are as reported in media coverage of ICMAI results, not taken from an ICMAI statistics release.

All figures are indicative and come from secondary reports. For your own result, rely only on the mark sheet published on icmai.in and the eICMAI portal.

Trend: what the figures tell you

Two patterns stand out in the reported numbers. First, the December terms have recorded noticeably more passes than the June terms in the years where both are available. Second, the two terms with a reported pass rate, both in 2019, were in the 75% to 80% range, well above the pass rates usually reported for the CMA Intermediate and Final levels. That is a reason for confidence, not complacency, because the per-paper minimum still applies to every candidate.

What decides whether you pass

• Your weakest paper: A single paper below 40 means you do not pass that term, even with a high total.

• Paper difficulty in that term: Calculation-heavy questions in Paper 2 or Paper 3 can take more time than planned and pull down the attempt count.

• Time management: Two papers share each two-hour session, so time lost in one paper reduces your score in the other.

• Unattempted questions: There is no negative marking, so every blank is marks given away.

Unlike a competitive exam, the number of candidates, seats or vacancies does not change the passing marks.

How to set your target

1. Aim for 55 or more in every paper: That gives you a 15-mark buffer over the minimum in each paper and a total of about 220, a clear margin above 200.

2. Set a floor for your weakest paper: Do not walk into the exam until your weakest paper is consistently scoring 50 or more in timed mocks.

3. Track attempts, not just scores: In a full session mock, you should be marking all 100 questions within two hours.

4. Review accuracy by module: If a 15% or 20% module is below 50% accuracy, fix it before adding new topics.