The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), considering the digital revolution taking place across the globe, acknowledged the need for the development of a digital platform wherein articled trainees can record their attendance and tasks performed in the form of an E-Diary. The digital platform (E-Diary) has been rolled out and made compulsory for CA students starting practical training from 1st January, 2026. E-Diary (Digital Practical Training Diary) for students and members, utilizing technology to ensure consistency, transparency, and digital monitoring of practical training.
The very initiative of the ICAI Board of Studies (Operation) and Members and Student Services Directorate is created to map skills, ensure consistent training standards, and improve transparency, in adherence with ICAI’s competency framework for a future-ready profession.
Features–
- Structured Digital Recording: Daily attendance and tasks performed by the articled trainee are recorded digitally, the moment they are entered into the system; stipend details, once paid, are recorded and will be displayed (during the first fortnight).
- Fortnightly Submission & Verification: Submission of tasks performed by the trainees would be on a fortnightly basis. The system validates completeness (e.g., flags incomplete entries). Principals review, suggest changes in the task performed by the trainee, should carry out the suggested changes within 7 days and resubmit. Within the next seven days, the principal must approve; otherwise, it will be considered deemed approval.
- Edit & Track: Students can access past entries, make modifications as suggested by the principal, edit or delete entries before submission, and track approval status.
- SSP-Based Login: Students access the E-Diary via their Self-Service Portal (SSP) credentials.
- Process Integration: The platform links with Form 109 (termination, if applicable) and aligns records with ICAI training guidelines.
On this digital initiative, CA. Charanjot Singh Nanda, President, ICAI, articulated, “The E-Diary will be a digitally approved and authenticated record of an articled trainee’s practical experience. It enables students to clearly demonstrate the tasks performed during training and the areas in which they have developed expertise. This digital platform will not only save valuable manhours for both principals and students but also brings greater transparency, timely approvals and help identify new and emerging areas of training, making articled training more structured, efficient, and future-ready.
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Benefits to CA Students (Articled Assistants)
- Uniform Training Quality: It shall ensure the imparting of standardized training to article trainees across all spheres and consistent learning outcomes for all trainees.
- Self-Monitoring & Skill Mapping: Articled Trainee can check the task performed, identify the learning gaps and focus on other areas of training that are pertinent in the present context.
- Awareness & Professional Growth: Regular reflection on tasks performed improves understanding of practical competencies. Maintaining E -Diary tells both the articled trainee and principal how many hours the articled trainee spent in auditing, taxation and consultancy services, etc. and for new areas of training, secondment can be acknowledged by the principal. Via E-diary principal can assess the areas where the articled trainee has expertise so that the assignment can be assigned seamlessly and completed in a time-bound manner.
- Administrative Ease: Facilitates stipend proof digitally, leave tracking, and completion formalities; decreases paperwork for both trainee and principal.
CA Principals advantages
- Enhanced Oversight & Monitoring: Real-time visibility into attendance, profile, task assigned/performed, and supports mentoring.
- Quality Assurance: Data-driven insights support prioritizing training areas, addressing weaknesses, and monitoring individual or batch performance.
- Lower administrative burden: Digital approvals, MIS reports, and system alerts ease compliance, substituting manual diaries.
Official press release text directly from the ICAI website. Click here
