6 minute read
The new CPA Exam sets the profession up for success
By Jessica Salerno-Shumaker, OSCPA senior content manager
The change brought on by the CPA Evolution initiative and the new CPA Exam is one of the most significant indicators of a rapidly changing accounting profession. And while the exam is given slight updates every quarter based on emerging standards, test scores and where the profession is going, in 2024 it will undergo one of the biggest changes in years.
CPA Evolution
The new 2024 CPA Exam has been years in the making, and began with CPA Evolution, a joint effort of NASBA and AICPA to transform the CPA licensure model to recognize the changing skills and competencies accounting requires today and will require in the future.
In 2020 the AICPA Governing Council and the NASBA board of directors voted to support CPA Evolution. The new model offers a core in accounting, auditing, tax and technology that all candidates will be required to complete. Then, candidates will have opportunity to select a discipline to gain deeper knowledge in one of three specific areas:
• Business analysis and reporting
• Tax compliance and planning
• Information systems and controls
Regardless of the chosen discipline, this model leads to full CPA licensure, with rights and privileges consistent with any other CPA. A discipline selected for testing does not mean the CPA is limited to that practice area.
According to Mike Decker, AICPA vice president of CPA examination and pipline, it’s important to remember that the CPA Exam is a licensure exam, not a graduation exam. The emphasis is not on whether someone has passed their required college courses but has the capability to work in this challenging business environment.
Mike Decker, AICPA vice president of CPA examination and pipeline
“We’re assessing newly licensed competency, typically at about the twoyear level,” he said. “Essentially, the exam has to adapt to the profession.”
The exam has a more than 100-year history, he said, and protecting the public interest has always been at the heart of it. That protection necessitates updating testing standards, not unlike other professions.
“When you look at other licensing exams, whether it’s a pharmacist or a nurse or a doctor, they can’t be adaptive to what’s being taught, they have to be adaptive to the current climate,” he said. “What a pharmacist needs to know to dispense drugs today is probably different than 5-10 years ago.”
Digging into disciplines
That shift in the profession has meant firms and businesses are asking for CPAs to do more technology, analytics and critical thinking skills. The disciplines offer candidates the chance to focus on areas they are most passionate about or have more experience in.
Decker said it’s also a reflection of flexibility, because while all candidates need to know what’s in the core, this is an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge in an emerging area.
The AICPA and NASBA conducted a survey of more than 600 university students and recent graduates in 2020 and 90% reported already selecting a focus area or feeling comfortable choosing a focus area.
“I get asked a lot, ‘Which discipline should I take?’” he said. “Regardless of which discipline you pass, you’ll end up with the same CPA license.”
When to sit
One of the most common questions Decker said he receives lately is if candidates should sit for the current exam before the new exam format launches.
“Everybody is different,” he said. “For me, I would sit based on my schedule, education and work experience.”
Every candidate’s situation is different, and Decker said each person will have an order to sitting for the exam that makes the most sense for them. It might make sense for a candidate to sit in 2023, but Decker warned against rushing through the current exam simply to avoid the new one. Instead, he suggested candidates focus on the core and go from there.
“If you’re ready for audit, sit for audit,” he said. “If you’re ready for financial accounting or tax, you should sit as soon as you’re ready.”
For those who end up taking the exam in 2023 and 2024, NASBA and the state boards of accountancy have issued guidance around what to take and when.
The AICPA states: “Candidates who have credit for AUD, FAR or REG on the current CPA Exam will not need to take the corresponding new core section of AUD, FAR or REG on the 2024 CPA Exam. Candidates who have credit for BEC on the current CPA Exam will not need to take any of the three discipline sections.
“If, however, a candidate loses credit for AUD, FAR or REG after Dec. 31, 2023, they then must take the corresponding new Core section of AUD, FAR or REG. A candidate who loses credit for BEC after Dec. 31, 2023, must select one of the three Discipline sections to be tested. It is important to note that none of the sections of the current CPA Exam will be available for testing after December 31, 2023. There is a hard cutover from the current CPA Exam sections to the 2024 CPA Exam sections on the January 2024 launch.”
The 2024 CPA Exam Final Report, which includes the final Blueprints, has been released and is available at www.aicpa.org/resources/article/learn-what-istested-on-the-cpa-exam
Prep tips
Decker urged candidates to look at the available blueprints, which are included in the 2024 CPA Exam Final Report.
“You should look to them to learn how to study and to do your practice questions,” he said. “And if there’s something in the blueprint that you don’t understand, go to your professor, mentor, trusted colleague, test prep provider, and ask for help understanding an area of the blueprint. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the blueprint.”
Since a high percentage of candidates are those who have recently finished school and starting their post-collegiate lives, Decker said it can be a time of intense change for many test-takers. While it may be difficult to carve out time to focus on the exam, it’s well worth the effort in the long run.
“You can get through it,” he said. “We just want to prove that you know your stuff. We’re not here to keep you out, we’re here to get you in.”
Jessica SalernoShumaker is the senior content manager for The Ohio Society of CPAs. She can be reached at jsalerno@ohiocpa.com or 614.321.2231
For more information reference the CPA Evolution Exam Blueprint, product #57400, at my.ohiocpa.com
