The AICPA regularly updates and publishes the CPA Exam Blueprints, a document explaining what is tested on the CPA Exam, along with the skills and tasks for each content topic. The Blueprints also include scoring weights assigned to each content area.
Students utilize Blueprints to refine exam preparation according to exam changes.
Each CPA Exam section has a place on the Blueprints and includes content that has been added, modified or removed from forthcoming exams. The most recent set of Blueprints took effect on July 1, 2021, and includes exam changes to all four sections.
Introduction
Most of the changes to the CPA Exam are within the AUD and BEC sections. They reflect more emphasis on three topics:
- Business processes and the information technology (IT) that enables them, including their associated risks and controls
- Data analytics and the data-driven mindset
- System and Organization Controls for Service Organizations: Internal Control over Financial Reporting (i.e., SOC 1, Type 2 Reports)
In AUD these items are tested from an auditor’s perspective. Conversely, these items are tested in BEC from the management’s perspective.
The FAR and REG sections have had some reductions in content without any additions.
AUD Blueprint changes effective July 1, 2021
Content added
| Topic | Highest skill level required |
|---|---|
| Consideration of technology’s impact on an entity and its environment | Application |
| Obtaining an understanding of the IT systems that are used for financial reporting | Application |
| Effect of key controls (i.e., manual controls, IT general controls, application controls) on the completeness and reliability of data | Analysis |
| Internal control walkthroughs and documenting the flow of transactions (i.e., flowcharts, process diagrams, etc.) to include significant business processes and how they relate to the financial statements | Application |
| Use of audit data analytic (ADA) techniques to identify transactions that may have a higher risk of material misstatement | Analysis |
| Using the work of an IT auditor | Application |
| Determining the sources of sufficient appropriate evidence and identifying procedures to validate the completeness and accuracy of data | Evaluation |
| Using automated tools and ADAs in audit sampling | Application |
| Using automated tools and techniques related to recalculation | Application |
| Analyzing the results of an ADA procedure and understanding the significance of notable or unusual items (no Excel skills necessary) | Analysis |
The following AUD content will no longer be tested:
- Communications with management and those charged with governance regarding all matters other than the timing of an engagement and internal control related matters
- Communication with component auditors (in a group audit) and parties other than management and those charged with governance
- Auditing opening balances
- Auditing investments in derivative instruments
- Reporting on the audit of a single financial statement
- Letters for underwriters (i.e., comfort letters) and filings with the SEC
- Alerts that restrict the use of written communication
The following AUD content has been de-emphasized. The skill level for these topics has been reduced:
| Topic | New skill level required |
|---|---|
| Preconditions for accepting or continuing an engagement | Remembering & understanding |
| Developing a detailed engagement plan | Application |
| Defining and identifying related parties | Application |
| Litigation, claims and assessment | Application |
| An entity’s ability to continue as a going concern | Remembering & understanding |
| Written representations that should be obtained from management or those charged with governance | Remembering & understanding |
| Subsequently discovered facts | Remembering & understanding |
| Reporting on compliance with regulatory or contractual agreements | Remembering & understanding |
BEC Blueprint changes effective July 1, 2021
Content added
| Topic | Highest Skill Level Required |
|---|---|
| Business processes and flows of transactions, including enabling technology, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, identifying and designing transaction-level controls, use of SOC 1 reports from service providers, identifying risks and control gaps, and using data and business intelligence in the context of an entity’s significant business processes | Analysis |
| Understanding the need for SOC 1 reports for outsourced IT functions | Remembering & understanding |
| Extracting and loading data | Remembering & understanding |
| Transforming and working with data and data relationships | Application |
| Data governance and data management | Remembering & understanding |
The following BEC content will no longer be tested:
- Regulatory frameworks for corporate governance other than SOX
The following BEC content has been de-emphasized. The skill level for these topics has been reduced:
| Topic | New skill level required |
|---|---|
| Capital structure (e.g., comparing strategies for financing new business initiatives) | Application |
| Systems development and maintenance (now called Change Management) | Remembering & understanding |
| Continuity and recovery plans (now called Business Resiliency) | Remembering & understanding |
FAR Blueprint changes effective July 1, 2021
No FAR added content in July 2021 Blueprints Changes.
The following FAR content will no longer be tested:
- Going concern requirements
- Compensated absences other than vacation accruals
- Retirement benefits
- Differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP
The following FAR content has been de-emphasized. The skill level for these topics has been reduced:
| Topic | New skill level required |
|---|---|
| Derivatives and hedge accounting | Remembering & understanding |
REG Blueprint changes effective July 1, 2021
No REG added content in July 2021 Blueprints Changes.
The following REG content will no longer be tested:
- Federal securities regulation
- Alternative minimum tax (AMT)
- Obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status
The following REG content has been de-emphasized. The skill level for these topics has been reduced:
| Topic | New skill level required |
|---|---|
| Bankruptcy and insolvency (debtor-creditor relationships) | Remembering & understanding |
| Secured transactions (debtor-creditor relationships) | Remembering & understanding |
| Net operating losses and capital loss limitations (C Corporations) | Analysis |
| Unrelated business income (tax-exempt organizations) | Remembering & understanding |
CPA Exam Review that works
92% of Surgent students pass the CPA Exam
