CA (Chartered Accountancy) Foundation: Business Laws, BCR and Quantitative Aptitude Syllabus

Foundation: Business Laws, BCR and Quantitative Aptitude syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Foundation: Business Laws, BCR and Quantitative Aptitude in CA (Chartered Accountancy), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Indian Contract Act, 1872

   4 topics

   • Nature and Essentials of a Valid Contract
     • Offer, acceptance and consideration
     • Capacity, free consent and legality of object
   • Performance and Discharge of Contracts
     • Breach and remedies for breach
   • Contingent and Quasi Contracts
   • Contracts of Indemnity, Guarantee, Bailment, Pledge and Agency
2. 2

   Other Business Laws

   4 topics

   • Sale of Goods Act, 1930
     • Conditions and warranties
     • Transfer of ownership and unpaid seller
   • Indian Partnership Act, 1932
     • Rights and duties of partners; registration
   • Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
   • Companies Act, 2013 - Basics
     • Kinds of companies and incorporation
3. 3

   Business Correspondence and Reporting

   4 topics

   • Communication
     • Process, types and barriers to communication
   • Vocabulary, Grammar and Sentence Types
   • Comprehension and Precis Writing
   • Formal Writing - Letters, Emails and Reports
     • Official correspondence and meeting documents
4. 4

   Business Mathematics

   4 topics

   • Ratio, Proportion, Indices and Logarithms
   • Equations and Matrices
     • Linear, quadratic and simultaneous equations
   • Time Value of Money
     • Simple and compound interest
     • Annuities, present value and EMI
   • Permutations, Combinations, Sequences and Series
5. 5

   Statistics and Logical Reasoning

   4 topics

   • Statistical Description and Representation of Data
     • Measures of central tendency and dispersion
   • Correlation and Regression
   • Probability and Theoretical Distributions
     • Binomial, Poisson and Normal distributions
   • Index Numbers and Logical Reasoning
     • Number series, coding-decoding and direction tests
     • Seating arrangements and blood relations
6. 6

   Business Economics

   5 topics

   • Nature and Scope of Business Economics
   • Theory of Demand, Supply and Elasticity
     • Law of demand and consumer behaviour
   • Theory of Production and Cost
   • Price Determination in Different Markets
     • Perfect competition, monopoly and oligopoly
   • Business Cycles and Determination of National Income

Foundation: Business Laws, BCR and Quantitative Aptitude flashcards for CA (Chartered Accountancy)

24 of 51 cards from the Foundation: Business Laws, BCR and Quantitative Aptitude deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the legal definition of a 'contract' under Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872?

   A contract is an agreement enforceable by law. Symbolically: Contract = Agreement + Enforceability by law. An agreement (offer + acceptance) that is enforceable becomes a contract.

2. List the essential elements of a valid contract under Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

   Offer and acceptance, intention to create legal relations, lawful consideration, capacity of parties, free consent, lawful object, certainty of terms, possibility of performance, not expressly declared void, and legal formalities (where required).

3. Distinguish between a 'void agreement' and a 'voidable contract'.

   A void agreement is not enforceable by law from the beginning (no legal effect). A voidable contract is valid and enforceable at the option of the aggrieved party (e.g., consent caused by coercion, fraud) until it is repudiated.

4. Define 'offer/proposal' under Section 2(a) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

   When one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to such act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal.

5. What is the difference between an 'offer' and an 'invitation to offer'?

   An offer is a final expression of willingness to be bound on acceptance. An invitation to offer (e.g., goods on display, catalogues, advertisements, tenders) invites others to make offers; it cannot be accepted to form a contract.

6. State the rule in Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. regarding general offers.

   A general offer made to the world at large can be accepted by anyone who performs the conditions; acceptance need not be communicated separately, and the offer becomes a binding unilateral contract upon performance.

7. Define 'acceptance' under Section 2(b) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and state when an agreement arises.

   When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted; an accepted proposal becomes a promise, and a promise (with consideration) forms an agreement.

8. What are the essential rules of a valid acceptance?

   It must be absolute and unqualified, communicated to the offeror, in the prescribed/usual mode, given while the offer is alive, by the person to whom the offer was made, and cannot precede the offer. Silence is not acceptance.

9. Define 'consideration' under Section 2(d) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

   When, at the desire of the promisor, the promisee or any other person has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains, or promises to do or abstain from doing, something, such act, abstinence or promise is called consideration.

10. State the rule 'consideration may move from the promisee or any other person' and its consequence in Indian law.

    Under Section 2(d), consideration may move from the promisee or any other person. Hence a stranger to consideration can sue, but a stranger to the contract (privity) generally cannot, subject to exceptions.

11. What is the general rule and key exceptions to 'no consideration, no contract' (Section 25)?

    An agreement without consideration is void, except: (a) natural love and affection between near relatives, in writing and registered; (b) compensation for past voluntary services; (c) a written, signed promise to pay a time-barred debt.

12. Who are the persons incompetent to contract under Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872?

    A minor, a person of unsound mind, and a person disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject. Only a person of the age of majority, of sound mind, and not disqualified is competent.

13. State the legal effect of an agreement made by a minor (Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose).

    A minor's agreement is void ab initio (void from the beginning). It cannot be ratified on majority, no specific performance lies, but a minor can be a beneficiary, and his estate is liable for necessaries supplied.

14. Define 'free consent' under Section 14 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

    Consent is free when it is not caused by coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation, or mistake. Two or more persons consent when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense (consensus ad idem, Section 13).

15. Distinguish between 'coercion' (Section 15) and 'undue influence' (Section 16).

    Coercion involves committing/threatening an act forbidden by the IPC or unlawful detaining of property to obtain consent. Undue influence arises where one party dominates the will of another and uses that position to gain an unfair advantage.

16. Distinguish 'fraud' (Section 17) from 'misrepresentation' (Section 18).

    Fraud is a false statement made knowingly, or without belief in its truth, or recklessly, with intent to deceive. Misrepresentation is an innocent false statement believed to be true. Fraud involves intent to deceive; misrepresentation does not.

17. What agreements are void as having an unlawful object or consideration under Section 23?

    Object/consideration is unlawful if it is forbidden by law, would defeat the provisions of any law, is fraudulent, involves injury to person or property, or the court regards it as immoral or opposed to public policy. Such agreements are void.

18. What are the modes of performance of a contract regarding 'who must perform' the promise?

    The promisor must perform; but performance may be by the promisor, his agent, or legal representatives (for non-personal contracts). Contracts involving personal skill must be performed by the promisor himself.

19. List the ways in which a contract may be discharged.

    By performance, by mutual agreement (novation, rescission, alteration, remission, waiver), by impossibility/frustration, by lapse of time, by operation of law, and by breach (actual or anticipatory).

20. Explain 'novation', 'rescission' and 'alteration' under Section 62.

    Novation: substituting a new contract for the old (or new parties). Rescission: cancelling the contract by mutual agreement. Alteration: changing one or more terms of the contract by mutual consent. All discharge the original contract.

21. State the doctrine of 'supervening impossibility' (frustration) under Section 56.

    A contract to do an act which, after the contract is made, becomes impossible or unlawful by an event the promisor could not prevent, becomes void when the act becomes impossible or unlawful (e.g., destruction of subject matter, change of law, death in personal contracts).

22. What is an 'anticipatory breach' of contract and the aggrieved party's options?

    Anticipatory breach occurs when a party repudiates the contract before the due date of performance. The aggrieved party may either treat the contract as discharged and sue immediately, or wait until performance is due and then sue.

23. List the remedies available to an aggrieved party for breach of contract.

    Rescission of the contract, suit for damages, suit for quantum meruit, suit for specific performance, and suit for injunction.

24. State the rule in Hadley v. Baxendale (Section 73) on measure of damages.

    Damages recoverable are those arising naturally in the usual course from the breach (ordinary damages), and those which both parties knew, at the time of contract, to be likely from breach (special damages). Remote/indirect losses are not recoverable.

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