ICAN November 2026 Exam Timetable: Dates, Papers and Centres

Quick answer: The ICAN November 2026 professional examinations hold over three days, from Tuesday 10 November to Thursday 12 November 2026, at 63 centres across Nigeria plus Buea (Cameroon) and London. The official timetable published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria has 15 papers in total: four at Foundation level, six at Skills level and five at Professional level. Morning papers run from 9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and afternoon papers from 1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m., except the Professional level Case Study, which is a four-hour paper from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on the final day. All registration and payment is done online at icanportal.org, and no agent, bank branch or third-party website can register you.

Key takeaways

Exam dates: 10, 11 and 12 November 2026. Each level sits papers on all three days, so plan travel and leave from work accordingly.
Case Study is the only four-hour paper. Skills level Financial Management starts later than the rest, at 9.45 a.m. on Thursday 12 November.
ICAN has published the full list of 63 centres with venue addresses; Lagos alone has 13 venues, so check which one you selected on the portal before exam day.
The last published fee schedule (May 2026 diet) ranged from ₦26,570 for one Foundation paper to ₦96,500 for all six Skills papers, excluding bank charges. Always confirm the November figure on the portal before paying.
Phones, gadgets and all wristwatches are banned in the hall, and examination offences can lead to cancelled results or a lifetime ban.

Last updated: 22 October 2026

With under three weeks to the first paper, this guide pulls together what ICAN has published for the November 2026 diet: the day-by-day timetable, the examination centres, what the fees looked like at the last diet, how registration and dockets work, and the hall rules that catch candidates out every year. Every date and figure below comes from documents on the Institute's own website, icanig.org, and we link to each one so you can check for yourself.

When is the ICAN November 2026 exam?

ICAN runs its professional examinations twice a year, in May and November. The November 2026 diet is scheduled for Tuesday 10 November, Wednesday 11 November and Thursday 12 November 2026, according to the November 2026 Professional Examination Timetable and Centres PDF on the ICAN website. The previous diet was held from 19 to 21 May 2026, so the Institute has kept to its usual Tuesday-to-Thursday pattern.

Each of the three levels sits at least one paper every day. That matters if you are working: you will need the full three days off, not just the days your biggest papers fall on.

ICAN November 2026 timetable (day by day)

The timetable below is taken directly from the official PDF. Morning sessions run from 9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and afternoon sessions from 1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. unless stated otherwise.

Tuesday 10 November 2026

9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. — Foundation: Management Accounting · Skills: Financial Reporting · Professional: Strategic Financial Management
1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. — Foundation: Business Environment · Skills: Audit, Assurance & Forensic · Professional: Advanced Taxation

Wednesday 11 November 2026

9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. — Foundation: Financial Accounting · Skills: Performance Management · Professional: Strategic Business Reporting
1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. — Skills: Taxation · Professional: Advanced Audit & Assurance (no Foundation paper in this session)

Thursday 12 November 2026

9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. — Professional: Case Study (four hours)
9.45 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. — Skills: Financial Management
1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. — Foundation: Corporate & Business Law · Skills: Public Sector Accounting and Finance

Two things to note from the Thursday schedule. First, the PDF carries a reminder in bold that Case Study is four hours, so Professional level candidates should arrive well before 9.00 a.m. Second, the later 9.45 a.m. start for Financial Management is easy to misread as 9.00 a.m.; arriving early does no harm, but turning up at 9.45 a.m. for a 9.00 a.m. paper would.

How many papers are there at each level?

The November 2026 timetable lists 15 papers in total. Here is the full set by level:

Foundation (4 papers): Management Accounting, Business Environment, Financial Accounting, Corporate & Business Law.
Skills (6 papers): Financial Reporting, Audit Assurance & Forensic, Performance Management, Taxation, Financial Management, Public Sector Accounting and Finance.
Professional (5 papers): Strategic Financial Management, Advanced Taxation, Strategic Business Reporting, Advanced Audit & Assurance, Case Study.

Candidates who have been granted exemptions sit only the papers they are registered for. The current professional syllabus and the Institute's overview of the new syllabus are both available on the ICAN students page; make sure the study materials you are using match the syllabus named on your registration.

ICAN November 2026 examination centres

ICAN has listed 63 centres for this diet, 61 of them in Nigeria plus one each in Buea (Cameroon) and London (United Kingdom). The venue address for every centre is in the same official PDF linked above. Grouped by region, the centres are:

Lagos (13 venues): FCE (Technical) Akoka, Alimosho (Anchor University, Ayobo), Amuwo, Ejigbo, Ikeja 1, Ikeja 2, Ikeja 3, Ikeja 4, Ikorodu 1, Ikorodu 2, LASUED (Oto/Ijanikin), UNILAG 1, UNILAG 2 and Victoria Island.
Abuja (4 venues): Abuja 1 (Garki Area 8), Abuja 2 (Riverplate Park), Abuja 3 (Nyanya) and Abuja 4 (University of Abuja, Gwagwalada).
South West: Abeokuta, Ado-Ekiti, Akure, Ibadan 1, Ibadan 2, Ilesa, Ilisan-Remo (Babcock University), Mowe (Redemption Camp), Ogbomoso, Osogbo, Ota and Oyo (Ajayi Crowther University).
South East: Aba, Abakaliki, Awka, Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri and Umuahia.
South South: Asaba, Auchi, Benin City, Calabar, Port Harcourt 1, Port Harcourt 2, Uyo, Warri and Yenagoa.
North Central: Ilorin 1, Ilorin 2, Jos, Keffi, Lafia, Lokoja, Makurdi and Minna.
North West and North East: Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Yola and Zaria.
International: Buea (Cameroon) and London (Lambeth Accord Conference Centre, Brixton).

You choose your centre when you register on the portal. The May 2026 diet notice stated that any change after registration, such as switching centre or adding or removing a paper, attracts a ₦5,000 administrative fee, so it is worth checking your docket carefully rather than assuming you were allocated your first choice. If your venue is one of the several Lagos or Abuja locations, confirm the exact one; "Ikeja" on its own covers four separate halls.

ICAN exam fees: what the last published schedule shows

At the time of writing, the Institute had not published a separate fee notice for the November 2026 diet on icanig.org, and the amount payable is shown to each candidate inside the portal after they confirm their examination and financial status. The most recent public figures are in the May 2026 diet advertisement, which gives the following fees for Nigeria-based candidates, excluding bank charges:

Foundation level: ₦26,570 for one paper, ₦33,920 for two, ₦41,270 for three and ₦48,510 for all four.
Skills level: ₦37,490 for one paper, ₦49,250 for two, ₦61,110 for three, ₦72,870 for four, ₦84,740 for five and ₦96,500 for all six.
Professional level: ₦40,740 for one paper, ₦53,970 for two, ₦67,310 for three, ₦80,540 for four and ₦93,870 for all five.

Treat these as a guide to the scale of the cost rather than a quotation for November; fees can change between diets, and the portal figure is the one that counts. Three rules from the same notice are worth remembering whatever the amount. Examination fees, once paid, are non-refundable and cannot be deferred to another diet. Payment must be made online through the ICAN portal, because payments through commercial banks are no longer accepted for registration. And annual subscriptions are paid separately through the portal's Monnify page, not bundled with the exam fee.

Separately, the professional students' page states that new professional student registration costs ₦11,400 including bank charges, and lists exemption fees that rise with the number of papers exempted (for example ₦37,900 for one Professional level paper and ₦87,500 for five).

How registration and dockets work

If you have not yet registered for November, go straight to the ICAN professional students' portal and check the registration-for-examination page. We could not find a published closing date for the November 2026 diet on the Institute's website as of 22 October 2026. For reference, the May 2026 window ran from 12 February to 14 May, five days before the first paper, and the notice warned that no extensions or late registrations would be accommodated under any circumstances. Do not assume November will be as generous; log in and check the date shown on the portal today.

The process in brief:

Log in to the portal and confirm your examination status and financial status. The May 2026 notice is explicit that candidates must verify both before paying, and that outstanding subscriptions are settled separately.
If you applied for exemptions, confirm they have been approved before you pay. You can only register for papers in the same diet once your exemption application has been processed.
Select your papers and your preferred examination centre, then pay online through the portal. Paying is not the same as registering: ICAN's own wording is that "payment alone does not constitute enrolment", so complete the online registration steps after paying.
A few days before the exam, print your docket from the professional exam dockets page using your registration number and payment reference or PIN. Bring it to every paper.

One eligibility rule to keep in mind: the "ten-year rule" has been waived, but a five-year rule now applies at Professional level. Candidates must complete the Professional level within five years of their first credit at that level, after which earlier credits lapse. If you first passed a Professional paper in 2021 or 2022, November 2026 may be a diet you cannot afford to skip.

Exam-hall rules and offences

ICAN's hall rules are stricter than many first-time candidates expect, and the Institute publishes a full schedule of examination offences and disciplinary measures. The points that matter most on the day:

Mobile phones, electronic gadgets and programmable devices are prohibited in the examination hall. A candidate found with one is disqualified from continuing and the paper is cancelled.
All wristwatches, digital or analogue, are banned. Rely on the hall clock.
Do not bring valuables. The Institute accepts no liability for anything lost or damaged at a venue.
Penalties for malpractice range from a written warning and cancellation of a single paper to suspension for several diets, de-registration, a lifetime blacklist, reporting to your employer or sponsor, and publication of your name in the Institute's journal.
Taking an answer script out of the hall, writing another candidate's number on your script, or being rude to an invigilator are each listed offences with their own escalating penalties.

Preparing for Case Study and the final three weeks

Professional level candidates should watch the ICAN students page for the Case Study pre-seen material. For the May 2026 diet the Institute released a 16-page pre-seen scenario on icanig.org before the exam, with a clear instruction that candidates must not bring the material into the hall; the full case, including the unseen requirements, is handed out at the start of the paper. The May pre-seen also set out how marks are awarded: roughly 20 per cent each for assimilating information, structuring problems, applying judgement and drawing conclusions, plus 10 per cent each for integrative skills and appendices, with around 20 per cent of the total tied to the executive summary and about 10 per cent to ethics. Restating facts from the scenario earns nothing; analysis and recommendations do.

For every level, the practical steps between now and 10 November are the same:

Confirm your centre and session times against the official PDF, then plan how you will get there before 9.00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Work through past questions under timed conditions using the 3 hour 15 minute window, and the 4-hour window for Case Study.
Check that your study texts follow the syllabus version your registration is based on.
Print your docket as soon as dockets are released and keep a spare copy.
Pack the night before: your docket, any identification the docket asks for, pens and a basic calculator that is not programmable, and leave every other electronic item at home.

A word on scams

Every diet brings a wave of WhatsApp and Telegram messages offering "leaked" papers, guaranteed passes or registration help for a fee. ICAN's registration and payment are done only by the candidate on icanportal.org, and the Institute's own contact details for examination enquiries, as printed on its May 2026 notice, are professionalexams@ican.org.ng and 0201-71003111. Anyone else asking you to pay for a slot, a centre change or a result is not acting for ICAN.

What comes after the exam

Results are released on the portal and announced on icanig.org; the Institute does not publish a fixed results date in advance, so watch the students page rather than social media. Passing the Professional level and completing the other membership requirements leads to the induction ceremony, for which the Institute publishes a separate procedure each year. In the meantime, a part-qualified ICAN student is already attractive to employers: you can browse current accountant jobs in Nigeria, finance jobs in Nigeria and banking jobs in Nigeria on Jobsiz, and if you are still within two years of graduation, our guide to graduate trainee programmes in Nigeria explains which intakes are open and how the selection stages work.

Frequently asked questions

What are the ICAN November 2026 exam dates?

Tuesday 10 November to Thursday 12 November 2026, according to the official timetable on icanig.org. Papers are held in morning (9.00 a.m.) and afternoon (1.45 p.m.) sessions on each of the three days.

How long is each ICAN paper?

Standard papers run 3 hours 15 minutes (9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. or 1.45 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.). The Professional level Case Study is four hours, from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on 12 November, and Skills level Financial Management runs from 9.45 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. the same morning.

How much does the ICAN exam cost in 2026?

ICAN had not published a November 2026 fee notice as of 22 October. The May 2026 schedule, the latest public figures, ranged from ₦26,570 for a single Foundation paper to ₦48,510 for all four Foundation papers, ₦96,500 for all six Skills papers and ₦93,870 for all five Professional papers, excluding bank charges. Confirm the current amount on the portal before paying.

Where are the ICAN exam centres?

There are 63 centres for November 2026: 61 across Nigeria (including 13 in Lagos and four in Abuja), one in Buea, Cameroon, and one in London. The venue address of each centre is listed in the official timetable PDF on icanig.org.

Can I bring my phone or wristwatch into the ICAN exam hall?

No. Phones, electronic and programmable devices and all wristwatches are prohibited. A candidate found with a device is disqualified from the paper, and the Institute's disciplinary schedule allows for cancelled results, suspension or a lifetime ban for examination offences.

Sources

This article was prepared by the Jobsiz Editorial Team from the official ICAN documents linked above. Dates and fees were checked on 22 October 2026; always confirm the latest details on icanig.org or icanportal.org before you act on them. Ready for your next step? See accountant jobs in Lagos or build a polished CV with the free Jobsiz resume builder.