What is tested on the FAR CPA Exam?

The AICPA blueprint splits FAR into 3 content areas: Financial Reporting at 30 to 40% of the section, Select Balance Sheet Accounts at 30 to 40% of the section, Select Transactions at 25 to 35% of the section. Below them sit 24 groups and 56 named topics.

Which area of FAR carries the most weight?

Financial Reporting and Select Balance Sheet Accounts are jointly the heaviest areas of FAR, each at 30 to 40% of the section.

How many topics are in the FAR blueprint?

The FAR blueprint lists 3 areas and 24 groups, naming 56 topics beneath them. 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. Every one of the 56 FAR topics is tagged with the levels it may be tested at, so a topic marked only Remembering will not carry an analysis task.

Which accounting standards does the FAR CPA Exam test?

FAR is tested against 60 pieces of authoritative literature, among them ASC 205, ASC 210, ASC 220, ASC 230, ASC 235, ASC 275, ASC 505, ASC 958, ASC 270, ASC 280. The remaining 50 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 FAR Area I, Financial Reporting?

FAR Area I, Financial Reporting, is 30 to 40% of the section and covers 6 groups: General-purpose financial statements: for-profit entities, General-purpose financial statements: not-for-profit entities, Public-company & periodic reporting, Ratios & performance metrics, Special-purpose frameworks, State & local government concepts. General-purpose financial statements for for-profit and not-for-profit entities, disclosures, ratios, special-purpose frameworks, and state & local government concepts. The blueprint names 13 topics within them.

What is tested in FAR Area II, Select Balance Sheet Accounts?

FAR Area II, Select Balance Sheet Accounts, is 30 to 40% of the section and covers 9 groups: Cash & cash equivalents, Trade receivables, Inventory, Property, plant & equipment, Investments, Intangible assets & goodwill, Payables & accrued liabilities, Long-term debt & financial liabilities, Equity. Recognition, measurement, and disclosure of individual balance-sheet accounts under the FASB ASC. The blueprint names 19 topics within them.

What is tested in FAR Area III, Select Transactions?

FAR Area III, Select Transactions, is 25 to 35% of the section and covers 9 groups: Accounting changes & error corrections, Contingencies & commitments, Revenue recognition, Accounting for income taxes, Fair value measurement, Leases, Business combinations & consolidation, Stock compensation, Subsequent events. Accounting and reporting for select transactions and events under the FASB ASC. The blueprint names 24 topics within them.

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.

FAR pass rate, format and score weighting

See also

• CPA Exam pass rates by section
• What score you need to pass
• When scores are released
• When your credit expires
• Which section is hardest
• Which discipline to choose
• What order to take the sections
• When the 30 month window starts
• Which standards the exam tests
• CPA requirements by state