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UPSC EPFO (EO/AO and APFC)

Evidence status: 🟢 official. Every number below is taken from UPSC Special Advertisement No. 52/2025 (Enforcement Officer/Accounts Officer and Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, dated 29.07.2025) and Special Advertisement No. 52/2026 (Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, dated 21.08.2026), both fetched and recorded on 2026-09-29, along with the recruitment-advertisement archive, the previous-question-papers page, the online application portal and the UPSC home page. upsc.gov.in rejects the hive's default user-agent with HTTP 403, so these fetches used a browser user-agent. Recruitment is advertised cycle by cycle, so always read the current notice before you apply or pay a fee.

UPSC recruits Enforcement Officers/Accounts Officers (EO/AO) and Assistant Provident Fund Commissioners (APFC) for the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO, Ministry of Labour & Employment) through a recruitment test and an interview.

At a glance
Conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Posts Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) and Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC), EPFO, Ministry of Labour & Employment
Stages Recruitment Test (RT) (objective, pen & paper) → Interview (personality test)
Qualification A bachelor's degree in any subject from a recognised university or institute
Age limit EO/AO: up to 30 years (UR/EWS), 33 (OBC) and 35 (SC/ST); APFC: up to 35 years (UR/EWS), 38 (OBC) and 40 (SC/ST), with PwBD relaxations as per the notice
Selection weightage Recruitment Test and Interview in the ratio 75:25 (RT 300 marks + Interview 100 marks, Special Advt 52/2026)
Recent cycles EO/AO and APFC advertised under Special Advt 52/2025; APFC (80 posts) advertised under Special Advt 52/2026

Official sources

Exam pattern

The selection has two stages.
Stage 1 Recruitment Test (RT), pen & paper, objective (multiple-choice)
Duration 2 hours
Marking All questions carry equal marks; wrong answer deducts one-third of the marks assigned to that question; a blank answer carries no penalty
Medium English and Hindi
Stage 2 Interview (personality test)
Weightage RT 300 marks + Interview 100 marks, in the ratio 75:25

Special Advt 52/2025 runs this as a Combined Recruitment Test (CRT) to shortlist candidates for both the EO/AO and the APFC posts; Special Advt 52/2026 uses the same scheme for APFC alone.

For the interview, the minimum level of suitability out of 100 marks is General/EWS 50, OBC 45 and SC/ST/PwBD 40.

Under Special Advt 52/2026 (APFC), online applications were open from 22.08.2026 to 11.09.2026 (1800 hrs) and the Recruitment Test is scheduled for 20.12.2026.

Syllabus

The official syllabus is identical in both notices, except that 52/2025 says "Labour Laws" where 52/2026 says "Labour Codes". It covers:

  • General English — understanding of the English language and workmanlike use of words
  • Indian Culture, Heritage and Freedom Movements
  • Developmental Issues and Present Trends in Indian Economy
  • Governance and Constitution of India
  • General Science and Basic Knowledge of Computer Applications
  • Elementary Mathematics, Statistics and General Mental Ability
  • Industrial Relations, Labour Laws/Codes and Social Security in India
  • Principles of Accountancy, Auditing and Insurance
  • Current Events of National and International Importance

How to prepare (free, in order)

  1. Specialist subjects first. Principles of Accountancy, Auditing and Insurance, and Industrial Relations, Labour Laws and Social Security in India are the least general and reward committed study; build them from the bare Acts and Ministry of Labour & Employment material.
  2. General studies next. Governance and the Constitution, Indian economy, culture, heritage, the freedom movement and current events overlap with the UPSC CSE Prelims GS modules.
  3. Aptitude and English. Practise Elementary Mathematics, Statistics, mental ability and English comprehension under timed conditions with negative marking, so accuracy holds up.

Free resources