What is tested on the AUD CPA Exam?
The AICPA blueprint splits AUD into 4 content areas: Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles at 15 to 25% of the section, Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response at 25 to 35% of the section, Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence at 30 to 40% of the section, Forming Conclusions and Reporting at 10 to 20% of the section. Below them sit 27 groups.
| Area | Content | Score weight |
|---|---|---|
| AUD.I | Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles | 15 to 25% |
| AUD.II | Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response | 25 to 35% |
| AUD.III | Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence | 30 to 40% |
| AUD.IV | Forming Conclusions and Reporting | 10 to 20% |
Which area of AUD carries the most weight?
Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence is the heaviest area of AUD at 30 to 40% of the section.
How many topics are in the AUD blueprint?
The AUD blueprint lists 4 areas and 27 groups, without naming individual topics. Each area carries a published score weight range rather than a fixed percentage, so the exact mix varies between sittings.
What skill levels does the CPA Exam test?
The AICPA tests CPA Exam content at 3 skill levels: Remembering, Application, Analysis. The level assigned to a given AUD topic is published in the AICPA blueprint document itself.
Which accounting standards does the AUD CPA Exam test?
AUD is tested against 104 pieces of authoritative literature, among them AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, AU-C 200, GAGAS (Yellow Book), PCAOB AS 1000, PCAOB AS 1220, SEC Regulation S-X, AR-C 90, AU-C 230, AU-C 240, AU-C 320. The remaining 94 are on the CPA Exam standards page, each listed against the blueprint groups that test it. The AICPA blueprint names the topics but not the standards behind them outside FAR, so this mapping is built from PocketCPA's own lesson citations and item sources rather than published by the AICPA.
What is tested in AUD Area I, Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles?
AUD Area I, Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles, is 15 to 25% of the section and covers 7 groups: Ethics, independence and professional responsibilities, Professional skepticism and professional judgment, Nature and scope, Terms of engagement, Requirements for engagement documentation, Communication with management and those charged with governance, Audit and assurance quality.
| Group | Content | Authoritative literature |
|---|---|---|
| AUD.I.A | Ethics, independence and professional responsibilities | AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, AU-C 200, GAGAS (Yellow Book), PCAOB AS 1000, PCAOB AS 1220, SEC Regulation S-X |
| AUD.I.B | Professional skepticism and professional judgment | AR-C 90, AU-C 200, AU-C 230, AU-C 240, AU-C 320, AU-C 500, AU-C 550, AU-C 570, AU-C 580, PCAOB AS 1000, PCAOB AS 1215, PCAOB AS 2105, PCAOB AS 2301, PCAOB AS 2310, PCAOB AS 2401, PCAOB AS 2415, PCAOB AS 2810 |
| AUD.I.C | Nature and scope | AR-C 70, AR-C 80, AR-C 90, AT-C 105, AT-C 205, AT-C 215, AU-C 200, AU-C 210, AU-C 220, AU-C 705, PCAOB AS 1000, PCAOB AS 1101, PCAOB AS 1220 |
| AUD.I.D | Terms of engagement | AU-C 210, PCAOB AS 1301, PCAOB AS 3105 |
| AUD.I.E | Requirements for engagement documentation | AU-C 230, PCAOB AS 1215, PCAOB AS 2901 |
| AUD.I.F | Communication with management and those charged with governance | AU-C 240, AU-C 260, AU-C 265, PCAOB AS 1301, PCAOB AS 1305, PCAOB AS 2201, PCAOB AS 2401 |
| AUD.I.G | Audit and assurance quality | AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, AU-C 220, PCAOB AS 1215, PCAOB AS 1220, SQMS 1, SQMS 2 |
What is tested in AUD Area II, Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response?
AUD Area II, Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response, is 25 to 35% of the section and covers 7 groups: Planning an engagement, Understanding an entity and its environment, Understanding an entity's control environment and business processes, including IT systems, Materiality, Assessing and responding to risks of material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, Planning for and using the work of others, Specific areas of engagement risk.
| Group | Content | Authoritative literature |
|---|---|---|
| AUD.II.A | Planning an engagement | AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, AU-C 210, AU-C 220, AU-C 300, PCAOB AS 1201, PCAOB AS 1301, PCAOB AS 2101, PCAOB AS 2110 |
| AUD.II.B | Understanding an entity and its environment | AR-C 90, AU-C 315, AU-C 330, PCAOB AS 1101, PCAOB AS 1105, PCAOB AS 2110 |
| AUD.II.C | Understanding an entity's control environment and business processes, including IT systems | AU-C 315, AU-C 330, PCAOB AS 2110, PCAOB AS 2201 |
| AUD.II.D | Materiality | AU-C 320, AU-C 450, PCAOB AS 1101, PCAOB AS 2105, PCAOB AS 2110, PCAOB AS 2315, PCAOB AS 2810 |
| AUD.II.E | Assessing and responding to risks of material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error | AR-C 90, AU-C 200, AU-C 240, AU-C 315, AU-C 330, PCAOB AS 1101, PCAOB AS 2110, PCAOB AS 2301, PCAOB AS 2401, PCAOB AS 2810 |
| AUD.II.F | Planning for and using the work of others | AU-C 300, AU-C 330, AU-C 500, AU-C 501, AU-C 600, AU-C 610, AU-C 620, PCAOB AS 1105, PCAOB AS 1201, PCAOB AS 1206, PCAOB AS 1210, PCAOB AS 1215, PCAOB AS 2101, PCAOB AS 2605 |
| AUD.II.G | Specific areas of engagement risk | AU-C 240, AU-C 250, AU-C 501, AU-C 540, AU-C 550, AU-C 570, AU-C 705 |
What is tested in AUD Area III, Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence?
AUD Area III, Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence, is 30 to 40% of the section and covers 8 groups: Use of data and information, Sufficient appropriate evidence, Sampling techniques, Procedures to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence, Specific matters that require special consideration, Misstatements and internal control deficiencies, Written representations, Subsequent events and subsequently discovered facts.
| Group | Content | Authoritative literature |
|---|---|---|
| AUD.III.A | Use of data and information | AU-C 500, AU-C 501, AU-C 520, PCAOB AS 1105, PCAOB AS 2301, PCAOB AS 2315 |
| AUD.III.B | Sufficient appropriate evidence | AU-C 315, AU-C 500, AU-C 501, AU-C 505, AU-C 620, PCAOB AS 1105 |
| AUD.III.C | Sampling techniques | AU-C 530, PCAOB AS 2105, PCAOB AS 2315, PCAOB AS 2810 |
| AUD.III.D | Procedures to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence | AU-C 330, AU-C 500, AU-C 501, AU-C 505, AU-C 510, AU-C 520, PCAOB AS 1105, PCAOB AS 2301, PCAOB AS 2305, PCAOB AS 2310 |
| AUD.III.E | Specific matters that require special consideration | AU-C 402, AU-C 501, AU-C 510, AU-C 540, AU-C 550, AU-C 560, AU-C 570, AU-C 600, PCAOB AS 1105, PCAOB AS 2401, PCAOB AS 2410, PCAOB AS 2415, PCAOB AS 2501, PCAOB AS 2505, PCAOB AS 2510, PCAOB AS 2601, PCAOB AS 2610, PCAOB AS 2810, PCAOB AS 3105 |
| AUD.III.F | Misstatements and internal control deficiencies | AR-C 90, AU-C 265, AU-C 450, AU-C 580, PCAOB AS 1305, PCAOB AS 2105, PCAOB AS 2201, PCAOB AS 2810, PCAOB AS 3105 |
| AUD.III.G | Written representations | AR-C 90, AU-C 580, AU-C 705, PCAOB AS 2805 |
| AUD.III.H | Subsequent events and subsequently discovered facts | AU-C 560, AU-C 585, PCAOB AS 2201, PCAOB AS 2505, PCAOB AS 2801, PCAOB AS 2805, PCAOB AS 2901, PCAOB AS 2905, PCAOB AS 3105, PCAOB AS 3110, PCAOB AS 4101, PCAOB AS 4105 |
What is tested in AUD Area IV, Forming Conclusions and Reporting?
AUD Area IV, Forming Conclusions and Reporting, is 10 to 20% of the section and covers 5 groups: Reporting on audit engagements, Reporting on attestation engagements, Accounting and review service engagements, Reporting on compliance, Other reporting considerations.
| Group | Content | Authoritative literature |
|---|---|---|
| AUD.IV.A | Reporting on audit engagements | AU-C 570, AU-C 700, AU-C 701, AU-C 705, AU-C 706, AU-C 708, AU-C 710, AU-C 720, PCAOB AS 2415, PCAOB AS 2710, PCAOB AS 3101, PCAOB AS 3105 |
| AUD.IV.B | Reporting on attestation engagements | AR-C 90, AT-C 105, AT-C 205, AT-C 210, AT-C 215, AT-C 305, AT-C 320, PCAOB AS 2201, PCAOB AS 2601 |
| AUD.IV.C | Accounting and review service engagements | AR-C 60, AR-C 70, AR-C 80, AR-C 90, AT-C 105, AU-C 265, AU-C 930, PCAOB AS 4105 |
| AUD.IV.D | Reporting on compliance | AT-C 315, AU-C 250, AU-C 705, AU-C 806, AU-C 935, GAGAS (Yellow Book), PCAOB AS 2201, PCAOB AS 3305, PCAOB AS 6110 |
| AUD.IV.E | Other reporting considerations | AU-C 705, AU-C 720, AU-C 725, AU-C 730, AU-C 800, AU-C 805, AU-C 810, AU-C 920, PCAOB AS 2701, PCAOB AS 2705, PCAOB AS 2710, PCAOB AS 3305, PCAOB AS 6101 |
Areas, weights, groups and topics are the AICPA published blueprint. Pass rates are the AICPA published candidate pass rates for 2026 through Q2, read from AICPA & CIMA on 2026-08-17. The AICPA publishes them quarterly.
AUD pass rate, format and score weighting