Auditing and Attestation
CONTENT AREA ALLOCATION
Area I Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General
Principles 15–25%
Area II Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned
Response 20–30%
Area III Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining
Evidence 30–40%
Area IV Forming Conclusions ...
Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints
The Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) is comprised of four sections, each four The AICPA has adopted a skill framework for the Exam based on the revised Bloom’s
hours long: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Business Environment and Concepts Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Bloom’s Taxonomy classifies a continuum of
(BEC), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) and Regulation (REG). skills that students can be expected to learn and demonstrate.
The table below presents the design of the Exam by section, section time and Approximately 600 representative tasks that are critical to a newly licensed CPA’s
question type. role in protecting the public interest have been identified. The representative tasks
combine both the applicable content knowledge and skills required in the context
Task-Based of the work of a newly licensed CPA. Based on the nature of a task, one of four skill
Section Multiple-Choice Written levels, derived from the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, was assigned to each of the
Section Simulations
Time Question (MCQ) Communication
(TBSs) tasks, as follows:
AUD 4 hours 72 8 —
SKILL LEVELS
BEC 4 hours 62 4 3
The examination or assessment of problems, and use
FAR 4 hours 66 8 — Evaluation
of judgment to draw conclusions.
REG 4 hours 76 8 — The examination and study of the interrelationships
Analysis of seperate areas in order to identify causes and find
evidence to support inferences.
The table below presents the scoring weight of multiple choice questions (MCQs),
task based simulations (TBSs) and written communication for each Exam section. The use or demonstration of knowledge, concepts
Application
or techniques.
SCORE WEIGHTING Remembering and The perception and comprehension of the
Understanding significance of an area utilizing knowledge gained.
Multiple-Choice Task-Based Written
Section
Question (MCQ) Simulations (TBSs) Communication
Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints Continued
The skill levels to be assessed on each section of the Exam are included in the The purpose of the blueprint is to:
table below. ocument the minimum level of knowledge and skills
D
necessary for initial licensure.
Remembering and Assist candidates in preparing for the Exam by outlining
Section Application Analysis Evaluation the knowledge and skills that may be tested.
Understanding
Apprise educators about the knowledge and skills candidates will need
AUD 30–40% 30–40% 15–25% 5–15% to function as newly licensed CPAs.
Guide the development of Exam questions.
BEC 15–25% 50–60%* 20–30% —
FAR 10–20% 50–60% 25–35% —
The tasks in the blueprints are representative and are not intended to be (nor should
they be viewed as) an all-inclusive list of tasks that may be tested on the Exam. It also
REG 25–35% 35–45% 25–35% — should be noted that the number of tasks associated with a particular content group
or topic is not indicative of the extent such content group, topic or related skill level
*Includes written communication will be assessed on the Exam.
Each section of the Exam has a section introduction and a corresponding section
blueprint.
he section introduction outlines the scope of the section, the content
T
organization and tasks, the content allocation, the overview of content areas, the
skill allocation and a listing of the section’s applicable reference literature
The section blueprint outlines the content to be tested, the associated skill level
to be tested and the representative tasks a newly licensed CPA would need to
perform to be considered competent. The blueprints are organized by content
AREA, content GROUP, and content TOPIC. Each topic includes one or more
representative TASKS that a newly licensed CPA may be expected to complete
Revised taxonomy see Anderson, L.W. (Ed.), Krathwohl, D.R. (Ed.), Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J.,
& Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
(Complete Edition). New York: Longman. For original taxonomy see Bloom, B.S. (Ed.), Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., & Krathwohl, D.R.
(1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.
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