Material Tested on the CPA Exam, by Section

Posted on 20th Feb 2010 @ 10:25 PM

As you prepare for the exam, it’s important that you understand the breakdown of the material covered in each section. A good review course will naturally guide you through that, but you will probably need to tweak your schedule slightly based on your background, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, in college I was not able to take a Government and Non-profit Accounting course, due to scheduling conflicts. Since this is approximately 20% of the FAR section, I knew I had some extra work to do in that area, and made my study schedule accordingly.

Here is the breakdown, by section, of areas tested on the exam:

Financial Accounting and Reporting

Concepts and standards for financial statements	17-23%
Typical items in financial statements	27-33%
Specific types of transactions and events	27-33%
Accounting and reporting for governmental entities	8-12%
Accounting and reporting for nongovernmental and not for profit organizations	8-12%

Auditing

Planning the engagement	22-28%
Internal controls	12-18%
Obtain and document information	32-38%
Review engagement and evaluate information	8-12%
Prepare communication	12-18%

Regulation

Ethics and professional responsibility	15-20%
Business law	20-25%
Federal tax procedures and accounting issues	8-12%
Federal taxation of property transactions	8-12%
Federal taxation—individuals	12-18%
Federal taxation—entities	12-18%

Business Environment and Concepts

Business structure	17-23%
Economic concepts	8-12%
Financial management	17-23%
Information technology	22-28%
Planning and measurement	22-28%

For a more in-depth breakdown and detailed descriptions of each area, you can visit the following AICPA page:

http://www.cpa-exam.org/download/CPA_Exam_CSOs_revised_10_05.pdf

Andrew

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