Paper 3: CMA Foundation - Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics 

Law is a set of rules, regulations, principles, guidelines & theories governing an activity and Business Law are those laws which govern a trade, profession or business. So basically, Business Law governs Trade & Commerce. It is also called as Mercantile Law. One of the oldest legislations of Mercantile was Indian Contract Act which was enacted in the year 1872

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. It sets ethical standards
Ethics is a social science and it is subjective in nature

This paper is divided into 2 Parts. In part 1, you will be gaining knowledge on Fundamentals of Laws and in Part B, you will be learning Fundamentals of Ethics
At CMA Foundation level, students are expected to have a basic and elementary knowledge on various Statutory enactments relating to Indian Business and at later stages you will be introduced to Laws at an advanced level
Study of Ethics helps you to cultivate inner peace, making your life more successful at a personal level and since you will also be applying Ethics in Business, you will be able to cultivate the art of managing business with the right moral standards

There are various areas of Laws, but you will be learning only laws pertaining to business or to be precise laws governing Trade and Commerce such as Indian Contract Act, Sale of Goods Act and Negotiable Instruments Act
In ethics, you will be understanding the meaning, definitions given by various scholars, Principles of Ethics, and applicability of ethics in Business

Law requires good Interpretation skills. It takes a lot of time to understand and apply law. Therefore, good amount of time should be given for studying Law. Once the basics are strong, it helps in building strong base to acquire knowledge on Law at Intermediate and Final Level
The best approach to study this subject is to first understand the concepts and then solve multiple choice questions. This way you will retain the concepts for a longer tenure and understand your footing on the subject

Study Time: As per ICMAI rules and regulation, there should be at least 9 months of time gap from the time of registration to the time of giving exam. The reason behind this is, a student should do a thorough study of all the concepts. Therefore, it is always recommended to start immediately after registering to the course

Study content:  There are many books which are available in the market as well as various books recommended by ICMAI. However, from the point of view of exam and to conceptually understand the entire syllabus, Study materials given by ICMAI is highly recommended. Cover the ICMAI syllabus in detail and don’t indulge in any selective coverage of syllabus


Faculty	Estimated Lectures	Lectures Available in the Portal
CS Shruthi Harish	26	26
CS Akshata Rao	10	1
CA Anushree Bansal	28	28


Chapter Name	Number of Lectures
Series 1:
Section A : Fundamentals of Commercial Laws
1 : Indian Contract Act, 1872	14
2 : Sale of Goods Act, 1930	6
3 : Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881	6
Series 1:
Section B : Fundamentals of Ethics
4 : Ethics and Business	1
Series 2:
Section A: Fundamentals of Commercial Laws
Study Note 1: Indian Contract Act,1873	21
Study Note 2: Sale of Goods Act,1930	7

Fundamentals of Laws and Ethics