CPA Exam Changes Guide

In 2020, the CPA Exam had few changes. The most notable change was the introduction of the CARES Act to the REG section effective in Q4 of 2020. In 2021, the CPA Exam underwent additional changes, mainly to the AUD and BEC sections, with minor revisions to the remaining two sections, FAR and REG.

Early in 2020, the AICPA announced changes to the CPA Exam Blueprints due to the 2019 Practice Analysis, which focused on the duties of newly-licensed CPAs and their expected skill levels. The AICPA released those new Blueprints with an effective testing date of July 1, 2021.

2021 Changes

Beginning on July 1, 2021, the CPA Exam underwent changes as a result of new CPA Exam Blueprints released in October 2020. Changes are predominately in the AUD and BEC sections, with minor revisions in FAR and REG. Read below to see the specifics for each section.

2021 AUD Changes

The AUD section of the CPA Exam had some of the more significant changes that took effect as of July 1, 2021.

The AUD section of the CPA Exam saw changes to the content area and skill allocation weightings effective July 1, 2021.

• Area II – Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response changed to 25-35% of your exam.
• Area IV – Forming Conclusions and Reporting changed to 10-20%.
• The Analysis skill allocation increased to 20-30% of your exam.
• The Remembering and Understanding skill allocation decreased to 25-35%.

What did all of that mean? You probably saw more content being tested with Task-Based Simulations and less with Multiple-Choice Questions. This does not mean you saw a change in the number of MCQs or TBSs; it just means that more content was being tested at a higher skill level.

Each area of the AUD Blueprint saw changes to the representative task statements as well as some of the content topic areas. Of those changes, the most significant include the following:

• Area II, topic C.2. has been changed to Business processes and the design of internal controls, including IT systems. The representative tasks for this content area were also updated, supporting the need for increased knowledge in the area of overall business processes.
• Area II, topic C.4. – Information Technology (IT) general and application controls has been removed.
• Area II, topic G. – Planning for and using the work of others saw some changes in the representative tasks, with focus on the IT audit function.
• Area III – Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence saw significant changes to the topic areas and the representative task statements. This area has been updated to include more data analytics, an area that has been alluded to for the past year.
• Area IV – Forming Conclusions and Reporting saw minor changes in the topic areas and representative task statements.

You can rest assured that your Gleim study materials will always contain the most up-to-date information in order to prepare you for the CPA Exam. For more detailed information on the AUD Blueprint changes, check out our AUD resource page.

2021 BEC Changes

The BEC section of the CPA Exam also has some of the more significant changes taking place as of July 1, 2021.

The BEC section of the CPA Exam will see changes to the content weightings effective July 1, 2021.

• Area I – Corporate Governance has been renamed Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Controls and Business Processes. Its content weighting has been changed to 20-30%.
• Area II –Economics has an amended content weight of 15-25%.
• Area III – Financial Management has an amended content weight of 10-20%.

There are no changes to the skill allocation weightings.

While there are changes to all areas in the updated BEC Blueprints, the most significant changes take place in Area IV – Information Technology. Changes have been made to support the increased emphasis of data analytics, including new topic areas and new representative task statements. There is an entirely new topic area titled Data management and relationships, which includes several task statements providing guidance on how testing will take place within this content area.

You can rest assured that your Gleim study materials will always contain the most up-to-date information in order to prepare you for the CPA Exam. For more detailed information on the BEC Blueprint changes, see our BEC resource page.

2021 FAR Changes

The FAR section of the CPA Exam saw the elimination of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) framework and the IFRS versus U.S. GAAP content area. There were no changes to the content or skill allocation weightings in this section.

• Area I – Conceptual Framework, Standard-Setting and Financial Reporting, topics B.8. – Discontinued operations and B.9. – Going concern were both deleted.
• Area II – Select Financial Statement Accounts saw some minor revisions within the representative task statements in topic G.
• The title for Area II, topic K., was changed to Stock compensation (share-based payments) (previously Compensation and benefits).
• In Area III – Select Transactions, topic D. – Derivatives and hedge accounting, two representative task statements were removed.

You can rest assured that your Gleim study materials will always contain the most up-to-date information to prepare you for the CPA Exam. For more detailed information on the FAR Blueprint changes, see our FAR resource page.

2021 REG Changes

The REG section of the CPA Exam only had minor revisions to the content areas taking place as of July 1, 2021.

The REG section of the CPA Exam saw the elimination of estate taxation as well as the removal of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from the authoritative references.

• Area II – Business Law includes changes to representative task statements in topic C. – Debtor-creditor relationships and topic D., now titled Federal laws and regulations (previously Government regulation of business).
• In Area III – Federal Taxation of Property Transactions, topic C., all task statements referencing estate taxation have been removed.
• Area IV – Federal Taxation of Individuals, topic H. – Alternative minimum tax has been removed.
• Area V – Federal Taxation of Entities saw the removal of several representative task statements in topics C.2., D.2., E.1., and G. Topic H.2. – Obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status, has been removed entirely.

You can rest assured that your Gleim study materials will always contain the most up-to-date information in order to prepare you for the CPA Exam. For more detailed information on the REG Blueprint changes, see our REG resource page.

On July 1, 2020, the REG section of the CPA Exam was updated to include updates related to the SECURE Act of 2019 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act of 2019, along with updates in BEC related to COSO & COBIT. REG updates related to the CARES Act began on October 1, 2020.

2020 Exam Interface and Administration Changes

As of July 1, 2020, the CPA Exam implemented continuous testing for all jurisdictions except South Carolina. SC is currently in their legislative process to approve continuous testing in that state.

Continuous Testing

Continuous testing means candidates can test anytime—there are no blackout dates on the exam calendar. However, the AICPA has reserved the right to add a blackout period as necessary (typically, this will be the last week of the calendar quarter) to update the exam software and make other important changes.

• Scores will continue to be released approximately four times per quarter. The AICPA will announce score release dates as they become available.
• Candidates who need to retake a section will be able to reapply for an NTS as soon as they receive their score, and the reapplication should take under 72 hours to process.
• Candidates may be able to retake a section within the same quarter depending on when they took their previous exam and when they received their score.

New Pronouncements

Previously, the AICPA updated the exam between windows. Since there are no longer “testing windows,” the AICPA will update the exam based on the calendar quarter.

The timing and frequency of updates remains more or less the same, usually spanning 6 months to a year between announcement and implementation. There is a minimum of 6 months before a new pronouncement can become testable.

• Auditing and accounting pronouncements will become testable the later of the first quarter after the pronouncement’s earliest mandatory effective date or the first calendar quarter beginning 6 months after the pronouncement’s issuance date.
• For Internal Revenue Code and federal tax regulations, changes will be testable the calendar quarter beginning 6 months after the change’s effective date.
• Other federal laws will become testable 1 year after their adoption by the simple majority of the jurisdictions.
• For all other topics, changes are eligible for testing the later of the first quarter after the earliest mandatory effective date (regardless of entity type) or 6 months after the issuance date.