Starting and Scaling a CA Practice: The Rules That Actually Shape It

The advice given to a new practice is mostly about clients. The constraints that actually shape it are in two sets of ICAI guidelines, and most of them are about what you may not do.

Start with what the guidelines require of the practice itself

Books of account. The Guidelines on Ethical Issues, 2026 require a member in practice, or the firm of which he is a partner, to maintain proper books of account in electronic or physical form, and set the minimum at three: a cash book, a ledger, and a bill register.

A bill register is the one firms skip, and it is the one that makes everything else possible — you cannot manage realisation, or answer a question about what was billed against an engagement, without it.

The audit ceiling. A member may not hold appointment of more than the specified number of audit assignments of companies under section 141 of the Companies Act, 2013. The Explanation puts it at 40 audit assignments, whether private or other companies, with One Person Companies and dormant companies excepted — and for a firm, 40 per partner.

The counting rules matter as much as the number: assignments accepted singly or jointly with another member or firm are counted; the audit of a company's head office and branches by one member or firm is one assignment; audits of one or more branches of the same company likewise count as one; the number of partners is taken on the date of acceptance; a member in full-time or part-time employment elsewhere is not counted for the firm's reckoning; and a part-time practising partner is not taken into account. A member must keep a record of assignments accepted, in the format the guidelines set out.

That is the company audit ceiling. The separate ceiling of 60 tax audits, and the way the UDIN portal now enforces it, is in the 60 tax audit limit.

Fees. Two rules, often confused. A member shall not charge fees less than the minimum fees mandated by the Central or State government or a regulator, or prescribed by the Council, for any professional service prescribed under any law. Separately, ICAI's Committee for Capacity Building publishes a Revised Minimum Recommended Scale of Fees — recommended, not mandated — separately for Class A and Class B cities.

Some of its figures, so the conversation with a prospective client starts from something:

• Tax audit — ₹37,500 and above in Class A cities, ₹25,000 and above in Class B.
• Company audit, small private company with turnover up to ₹2 crore — ₹45,000 and above (Class A), ₹30,000 and above (Class B); medium private or public company — ₹75,000 and above (Class A), ₹50,000 and above (Class B).
• Per day rates where work is charged by time — principal ₹15,000 and above (Class A) or ₹10,000 (Class B); qualified assistant ₹7,500 or ₹5,000; semi-qualified ₹3,000 or ₹2,000.
• Return of income for an individual with salary or other sources — ₹6,000 and above (Class A), ₹4,000 (Class B); a private limited company, active — ₹22,500 and above (Class A), ₹15,000 (Class B).
• Incorporation of a private limited company or LLP — ₹30,000 and above (Class A), ₹20,000 (Class B).

Getting paid. A member must not accept appointment as auditor where the undisputed audit fee of the previous auditor has not been paid, and must not sign the audit report of a public interest entity where its own undisputed audit fee for the immediately preceding year is unpaid — for other entities, where two immediately preceding years are unpaid. "Undisputed audit fees" means the provision for audit fee in accounts signed by both the auditee and the auditor, with applicable taxes and expenses.

That last rule is a collections tool most firms never use. It is also a reason to make sure the fee provision in the client's accounts matches what you billed.

What you may and may not say in public

Here the record needs correcting. Press coverage has described ICAI as "allowing advertising" from 2026. What exists is the Council Guidelines for Advertisement, 2008, updated up to December 2025 and reproduced as Chapter 3 of the Code of Ethics, 2026, which permits a write-up on conditions.

The conditions are the rule, and they are strict. The write-up shall be honest and truthful; there shall be no exaggerated claims about services, qualifications or experience; it must make no disparaging references or unsubstantiated comparisons to the work of others; it must not bring the profession into disrepute; it must not contain testimonials or endorsements concerning members or the fees charged; it must not contain information about achievements or awards except those given by the Central or State Governments or regulatory bodies, or any other position held or accreditation granted; a monogram of any kind or any catch words are not permissible; and it must not contain photographs of events, though photographs taken at cultural programmes and festivals may be posted on social networking sites provided there is no element of advertisement or solicitation.

What the write-up may include is itemised: name, membership number, age, dates of becoming ACA and FCA, date from which a certificate of practice is held, recognised qualifications, languages known, telephone and email, professional address, website, the CA India logo, a passport style photograph, and the number of employees by category. Client names and the nature of assignments may be given only with the client's permission, and for services exclusively reserved for chartered accountants, only the client's name.

The website rules, which are more permissive than people think

Paragraphs 3.3.1 to 3.3.12 are where a practice's visibility is actually built:

• Members and firms, and networks or alliances registered with ICAI, are free to create their own website, and no format is prescribed.
• Websites may run on "pull" as well as "push" technology — but for services exclusively reserved for chartered accountants, only the pull model is permitted: the information reaches a person who specifically asks for it.
• Information about those exclusive services must not be circulated by email or any other technique except on a specific pull request.
• A member may not issue any circular or advertisement soliciting people to visit the website — but may mention the website address on professional stationery and email.
• The website may display peer review status and the firm's Audit Quality Maturity Model level as reviewed by a peer reviewer or AQMM reviewer, the year of establishment, addresses, the nature of services, partner and employee details with areas of experience, job vacancies including articleship, the number of articled assistants, and network affiliation.
• Fees charged cannot be given, except where a regulator requires disclosure, to the extent of that requirement and only while it applies.

Read together with the write-up conditions, the position is clear enough to plan around: a firm may publish, explain and be findable. It may not boast, rank itself against others, or put a client's testimonial on the page.

Which is why the durable way to be found is work that answers a question — the same reason this journal exists. Whether the AQMM level is worth displaying, and who has to have one, is in AQMM applicability.

What to build, in what order

• Year one: the register, not the brand. Bill register, engagement letters, a UDIN discipline, and a record of audit assignments in the prescribed format. Every ceiling and every fee rule above is enforced against records you either kept or did not.
• Then capacity, not headcount. The ceilings are per partner and per member; the constraint on a small practice is rarely clients, it is signed-off hours. Standardising the working papers — the same checklist, the same routing of exceptions — is what makes a second engagement cost less than the first.
• Then visibility, within the guidelines. A website that explains, articles that answer, a peer review status and an AQMM level worth displaying.
• Then the technology decision, which is a question about where the hours go rather than about features. The checklist for that is in audit automation tools.

The quiet ones

Three rules that catch established practices, not new ones:

• A partner in more than one firm carries one aggregate ceiling across all of them and across assignments accepted in an individual capacity.
• The number of partners is counted on the date of acceptance — taking on assignments in anticipation of a partner joining does not work.
• The Guidelines on Ethical Issues also require a member to follow the Council's direction not to accept an appointment where an earlier auditor was removed unjustifiably.