Checked 29 September 2026. From Rules 3 to 7 of the CGDA circular of 11.03.2025 and the clarification of 14.08.2019. Each sitting's circular sets its own cut-off date; the May 2023 Part-I used 01.05.2023.
The Defence Accounts SAS examination is open only to serving staff of the Department in certain grades, after a minimum period of service. The rules are short, but three of them trip people up: which grades may sit, when the two years are counted to, and what happens to service before a transfer into the Department. This guide goes through Rules 3 to 7 of the 2025 text and gives a checker that works out the first sitting you would qualify for. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of the Controller General of Defence Accounts or the Ministry of Defence. Every rule here is quoted or summarised from CGDA circulars; CGDA headquarters and your PCDA/CDA decide every individual case.
CGDA circular of 11.03.2025 and clarification of 14.08.2019. Official.
Who may sit: Rule 3
Rule 3 opens the examination to Senior Auditors, Auditors, Clerks, Typists, Data Entry Operators, Stenographers, Hindi Translators and Librarians. It is a list of grades, not of pay levels, and it covers the whole Department regardless of how you entered it. For ordinary departmental candidates, staff outside these eight grades are not eligible on the rules as printed. SAS Apprentices (Rule 7) and direct-recruit AAOs (under the AAO Recruitment Rules) are separate cases, taken below.
| Grade (Rule 3) | Notes (official unless marked) |
|---|---|
| Senior Auditor, Auditor | The largest eligible grades. Authorised strength 17,751 posts combined (UO of 23.12.2019) |
| Clerk, Typist | Eligible in their own right; they do not need to become Auditors first |
| Data Entry Operator | Service as DEO Grade A counts (Rule 5) |
| Stenographer, Hindi Translator, Librarian | Eligible; the rules add nothing special for these grades |
| SAS Apprentice (not in Rule 3) | Sits the first examination after appointment and must pass during probation (Rule 7) |
| Direct-recruit AAO | Not in Rule 3; the AAO Recruitment Rules require qualifying SAS during the two-year probation |
Two years of service: Rule 4 and the counting date
Rule 4 asks for two years of service, and says three things about it. Continuous temporary service counts. Probation must have been cleared. And the rule applies uniformly to staff who came in departmentally, through the Staff Selection Commission, or by inter-departmental transfer. The rule itself does not say on what date the two years are measured. CGDA's clarification of 14 August 2019 does: two years in the Rule 3 grades as on the first day of the month in which the examination is held. For the May 2023 Part-I the registration circular printed that date as 01.05.2023.
Our arithmetic on what that means: add two years to the day your qualifying service began, then take the first month whose 1st falls on or after that date. If you joined on 1 June, you qualify for a sitting held in June two years later. If you joined on 16 June, you miss June by fifteen days and qualify from July. With sittings preferably in February and September (Rule 1), a few days can move you by a whole cycle.
From which sitting can you apply?
Give your grade, the date your continuous service in one or more of the Rule 3 grades began, and the month of a sitting you have in mind. No SAS sitting has been notified since September 2023, so choose any month; Rule 1 says CGDA prefers February and September.
Our application of Rules 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the 2025 text and the 14.08.2019 clarification (two years counted to the 1st of the month in which the exam is held). The two years are service in the Rule 3 grades, per the 2019 clarification, so time in the Department in any other post is not counted. For a transferee we count from the date you joined the Department in a Rule 3 grade, because service elsewhere counts only once you have two years in the Department, which meets the rule on its own. A Board of Officers screens every candidature; your PCDA/CDA decides.
| Service began (example) | Two years complete on | First qualifying month (our arithmetic) | Next February or September sitting |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 February | 1 February, two years later | February, two years later | That February |
| 2 February | 2 February, two years later | March, two years later | September of that year |
| 16 June | 16 June, two years later | July, two years later | September of that year |
| 1 October | 1 October, two years later | October, two years later | February of the following year |
The last column assumes the preferred February and September months. Rule 1 lets CGDA decide the calendar on need, and the gap since September 2023 shows it does; the counting date for any real sitting is the one in its own circular.
Rule 5: DEOs and inter-departmental transferees
Rule 5 settles two special cases. Service as a Data Entry Operator Grade A counts towards the two years. Service rendered in another department before an inter-departmental transfer is not counted unless the candidate has served at least two years in the Defence Accounts Department. Our reading of the second part: since two years in the Department already satisfies Rule 4 by itself, a transferee in practice waits two years from the date of joining the Department, whatever their earlier service. The checker counts it that way.
Rule 7: SAS Apprentices
An SAS Apprentice is required to sit the first examination held after appointment and to pass it during probation. The May 2023 registration circular granted one additional chance to SAS Apprentices who had not passed Part-I under the pre-revised syllabus, to appear in the 2023 Part-I and Part-II under the new syllabus (it was not framed as a fifth chance on top of the four chances in Rule 6). The special pre-revised Part-II in September 2023 gave them one mercy chance, with services liable to termination for those who failed. The rules treat the apprentice route as a probation condition, not as an optional promotion attempt.
Direct-recruit AAOs
The Assistant Accounts Officer Recruitment Rules of 2015 say a direct recruit, selected through an entrance examination of the UPSC (a draft of January 2026, not yet in force, would move it to the Staff Selection Commission), is appointed on probation for two years and must qualify the Subordinate Accounts Service examination during that time for confirmation and regular appointment. The SAS rules do not describe how a direct-recruit AAO registers, so ask your office.
How candidature is processed
| Step (2023 practice, official) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Registration | Online on the CBT portal in a fixed window: 18 to 27 April 2023 for Part-I, reopened from 4 to 8 May 2023 for eligible candidates who had missed it (approval by offices up to 10 May); no offline registration |
| Screening | A Board of Officers in each PCDA/CDA screened candidature against service records (Rule 9) |
| Minor omissions | Candidates otherwise eligible were to be recommended provisionally, not rejected |
| Withdrawal | A window (4 and 5 May 2023); an approved withdrawal did not count as a chance |
| Transferred candidates | A candidate relieved but not yet joined applied through the PCDA/CDA that relieved them, choosing a centre near the new station |
| Centre | Nearest centre to the place of duty (Rules 18 and 19) |
The next sitting may change details, but the shape has been stable: your own PCDA or CDA owns your candidature, not headquarters. If something in your service record is wrong, the 2023 FAQs said to raise it through proper channel and have the Board proceedings record the discrepancy.
If you are close to the line
Most eligibility questions reach an office in the weeks after a sitting is notified, when there is little time to fix a record. Three checks are worth doing now, while no sitting is announced (our advice, based on how the 2023 cycle ran). First, confirm with your establishment section the exact date your qualifying service began, and whether any break interrupts it; Rule 4 counts continuous temporary service, so a break matters. Second, if you came on inter-departmental transfer, confirm the date you joined the Department, because Rule 5 runs from it. Third, if your probation has not been formally declared cleared, ask when it will be. The 2023 registration window was ten days long, reopened for five more days only after candidates asked, and CGDA said it would not accept offline registration. Do not count on an extension.
Things that will not make you eligible
Common misreadings
- Pay level alone. Rule 3 lists grades; a post outside them does not count, whatever its level.
- Service outside the Department, for a transferee, before two years in the Department (Rule 5).
- Probation not yet cleared, even with two years of service (Rule 4).
- The CAG's rules. The IA&AD SAS asks for three years in a particular field office and has tied fresh registrations to vacancies; neither applies to the Defence Accounts SAS.
Rules 3 to 5 of the 2025 text are official; the CAG comparison is from the CAG SAS page and Circular 8 of 2026.
For the IA&AD version of these rules, see the CAG SAS eligibility guide. ProSyllabus has no CGDA SAS practice quizzes.
Who can appear in the CGDA SAS examination?
Senior Auditors, Auditors, Clerks, Typists, Data Entry Operators, Stenographers, Hindi Translators and Librarians of the Defence Accounts Department, under Rule 3 of the 2025 text.
How many years of service do I need for CGDA SAS?
Two years, including continuous temporary service, with probation cleared (Rule 4).
On what date are the two years counted?
The first day of the month in which the examination is held, per CGDA's clarification of 14.08.2019. For the May 2023 Part-I that was 01.05.2023.
Does DEO service count?
Service as DEO Grade A counts (Rule 5).
I came on inter-departmental transfer. Does my old service count?
Only once you have served at least two years in the Defence Accounts Department (Rule 5), which in practice means waiting two years from joining.
Do SSC entrants and departmental promotees have different rules?
No. Rule 4 applies uniformly to departmental, SSC and inter-departmental entrants.
Can I sit Part-II straight away?
No. Only candidates who qualify Part-I may sit Part-II (Rule 2).
What must an SAS Apprentice do?
Sit the first examination after appointment and pass during probation (Rule 7). The May 2023 registration circular granted one additional chance to SAS Apprentices who had not passed Part-I under the pre-revised syllabus, to appear in the 2023 Part-I and Part-II under the new syllabus.
Is there an exam fee?
None is published in the rules or the 2023 circulars.
Sources
- official — CGDA — Circular AN/SAS/16200/ORDERs/2023/Vol. XIII, 11.03.2025: revised SAS scheme and Annexure A "SAS Rules 2019 (Revised)" with the syllabus (scanned PDF)
- official — CGDA — Clarification on eligibility for SAS Part-I (CBT), 14.08.2019: two years counted to the 1st of the month of the exam (PDF)
- official — CGDA — Notice AN/VIII/8201/2/RRs AAO/2024/Vol-I, 15.01.2026: comments invited on proposed AAO Recruitment Rules, following the SAO Recruitment Rules of SRO 34 dated 24.06.2024 (a draft, not in force) (PDF)
- official — CGDA — SAS Part-I (CBT) 2023 registration circular, 17.04.2023: cut-off date, four-exam window, withdrawal, bilingual papers, negative marking (PDF)
- official — CGDA — SAS Part-I (CBT) 2023: extension for registration, 04.05.2023: portal reopened 04.05.2023 to 08.05.2023, office approval up to 10.05.2023 (PDF)
- official — CGDA — SAS Part-I (CBT) 2023 FAQs, 20.04.2023: language chosen per paper, Hindi phonetic keyboard, transferred candidates (PDF)
- official — CGDA — SAS Rules 2019 (MoD(Fin) file 26(1)/C/2017, 20.02.2019): the CBT scheme used for the 2023 sittings (PDF)
- official — CGDA — UO AN/VIII/8201/2/RR/Misc, 23.12.2019: approved Recruitment Rules with authorised posts (Annexure A) and the Gazette texts, including AAO RR SRO 34 of 2015 and amendment SRO 28 of 2018 (PDF)
- official — CGDA — SAS Examination page: circulars, rules, previous papers, model answers (live page)
- official — CAG — SAS Examination page for the IA&AD (for comparison only)
- official — CAG Exam Wing Circular No. 08 of 2026, 04.06.2026: vacancy-linked registration for fresh candidates (for comparison only) (PDF)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
