The 6 months diploma course in accounting at IPA is the quickest of its job-guarantee programmes. It gives you half a year of hands-on training in Tally Prime and BUSY, GST and TDS returns, and PF and ESI on salaries. It is meant for someone who already has a commerce base, from 12th or a B.Com, and wants to be applying for accounts jobs within months rather than next year. IPA – Institute of Professional Accountants runs it at Laxmi Nagar, Delhi, where it has taught accounting courses since 2003. Its eight modules run from business financial accounting and basic computers to Tally Prime, BUSY, GST and TDS returns, and payroll. Graduates usually start as accounts assistants, junior accountants or tax assistants. Income tax returns, audit, Advanced Excel and SAP FICO are left to IPA’s longer diplomas. As a diploma it carries IPA’s 100% job guarantee: interviews until you are placed, subject to your performance and IPA’s criteria. Fees depend on your batch and mode.
Who should take the six-month route
The typical student here is not starting from nothing. You have met debits, credits and final accounts in class, but an interviewer’s practical test still stops you: post these vouchers, reconcile this bank statement, get this month’s GST data ready. The six months are spent turning what you half-know into work you can do at a desk from your first day.
IPA’s published eligibility for this diploma is 12th pass commerce, with or without maths, B.Com graduates, job seekers and small business owners. It does not mention arts or science students; the 12-month ADFA diploma, which does admit them, is the better start if you have never studied commerce.
What fits into six months, and what does not
The syllabus has eight modules: business financial accounting, basic computers, computerised accounting, Tally Prime, BUSY, GST returns, TDS returns, and payroll covering provident fund and ESI. Together they make up the everyday toolkit of an accounts assistant in a trading or service business.
Three things are deliberately absent. There is no filing of income tax returns for individuals, no audit or company law, and no corporate tools such as Advanced Excel or SAP FICO. If the jobs you want ask for any of those, one of the longer programmes below is the better buy.
The 12-month ADFA diploma starts from the same eight core modules and then adds income tax returns (ITR 1 to 4), Zoho Payroll and salary structuring, and MS Office. It also adds auditing and e-commerce banking. That is the real trade: six months for the core toolkit, or twelve for the full compliance cycle.
6 months diploma course duration, batches and fees
The standard course runs for six months. A fast-track option compresses it further if you can come in more often, which suits students with a gap before college or a job offer waiting on skills. Classes run on weekdays and weekends, either at the Laxmi Nagar centre or live online.
6 months diploma course fees at IPA
The six-month fee depends on your batch, classroom or live online, whether you take the fast-track option, and any offer running when you enquire. Ask the counsellor to spell out what the quote covers: study material, practice in Tally Prime and BUSY, the diploma certificate, the job guarantee and how instalments work.
Against another institute’s six-month fee, check the hours, whether GST and TDS filing are taught on the portal, and whether placement help is in the price or extra. Questions are welcome on 9213855555.
6 months diploma course online: live batches across India
The six-month diploma is also taught in live online batches, so you can take it from anywhere in India. The syllabus, the trainers and the diploma certificate are the same as at Laxmi Nagar, and the practical work on Tally Prime, BUSY, GST and TDS returns and payroll follows the same order. Classes are live and instructor-led, so you can stop the trainer and ask about an entry while it is on screen.
- Suits students after 12th or B.Com who live outside Delhi, and people returning to work who need to study from home.
- You join on Zoom at timings that suit you, revise from recorded lectures on IPA’s own LMS, and practise Tally Prime under your instructor’s guidance.
- Online students get placement support, and a free demo class is available before you decide.
Every course available this way is listed on the online accounting course India page.
6 months diploma course after 12th or after B.Com?
Both routes work, for different reasons. After 12th commerce, the diploma lets you start earning while you study for a degree through a weekday or weekend batch. After a B.Com, it fills the gap most graduates feel in interviews: the software and the portals. For a wider view of each route, read our guides to accounting courses after 12th and diploma courses after B.Com.
The work you would do in a first job
People finishing a short accounts diploma usually join as the person who keeps the daily records moving. In a small trading firm or a CA’s office, an ordinary week might include:
- entering the day’s sales bills and purchase invoices in Tally Prime or BUSY;
- matching the bank statement against the books and chasing the entries that do not agree;
- checking the GSTIN and tax rate on each invoice before the month’s data goes to your senior;
- deducting TDS from a landlord’s rent or a consultant’s fee and noting the challan details;
- working out PF and ESI on the monthly salary sheet;
- sending a supplier their ledger statement when they ask you to confirm the balance.
Job titles at this level are usually accounts assistant, junior accountant or tax assistant.
What salary can you expect after a 6-month accounting diploma?
Expect a modest start that grows with responsibility. AmbitionBox’s self-reported data shows junior accountants with under a year’s experience at roughly ₹17,500 to ₹20,000 a month, or ₹2.1 lakh to ₹2.4 lakh a year (updated 24 September 2026). In Delhi, the Labour Department’s order in force from 1 April 2025 sets a legal floor of ₹22,411 a month for a clerical employee who has passed Class 10 and ₹24,356 for a graduate. Check any offer against it. Pay rises fastest once you can file GST and TDS returns without supervision; our accountant salary guide shows how it grows with experience.
Six months, or a neighbouring programme?
The 6-month diploma makes sense when
- you studied commerce and want the shortest guaranteed path into an accounts office;
- payroll matters to you, because PF and ESI are in this syllabus and are not in BAT’s;
- you would rather start earning now and pick up advanced topics later, on the job or through a short course.
A neighbouring programme fits better when
- You never studied accounting, or want the whole compliance cycle. The 12-month ADFA diploma admits non-commerce students and adds ITR filing, payroll software and audit.
- You want to work in a tax practice. The BAT course (8 months) swaps payroll for ITR filing and income tax assessment procedures.
- You are aiming at a larger company. The 15-month diploma adds income tax returns, auditing, Advanced Excel and SAP FICO.
- Tally is all you need. The one- or two-month Tally course is enough, with placement assistance instead of a guarantee.
How a compressed course is taught
A short programme only works if the practice is intense, so most class time goes on entering data rather than listening. Trainers make a point of showing consequences: a wrong tax rate on one bill travels into the GST return, and one missed receipt leaves the bank reconciliation out by exactly that amount.
- Timing: weekday or weekend batches, in the classroom at Laxmi Nagar or online.
- Trainers: Mr. Santosh and Mr. Ravindar, each with more than 20 years of teaching Tally and BUSY, lead the practical work, and IPA’s CA and MBA faculty take the specialised sessions. Meet them on the faculty page.
- Certificate: IPA awards a diploma certificate when you complete the course.
Placement terms for the six-month diploma
Because this is a diploma, it comes with IPA’s 100% job guarantee. Once you finish, IPA keeps setting up interviews until you have a job, as long as you perform well and meet IPA’s criteria. Read the conditions of the guarantee before you pay. IPA puts the share of its diploma students who get placed at over 98%.
To see this diploma beside every other IPA programme, start from IPA’s accounting courses in Delhi. Before your first interviews, the guides to an accounting fresher’s resume and PF and ESI calculation are worth an evening each. Still choosing a direction after school? The after-12th guide linked above compares every route.
