Full Guide to the 2024 CPA Exam Changes
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA · 2019 CPA Exam Scores · 95 FAR · 98 BEC · 91 REG · 90 AUD
The CPA exam is built on a core-plus-discipline model: three exams everyone takes, and a fourth you choose. Here's how that structure works and what each option actually tests.
What are the three core exams?
Every candidate takes the same three core sections:
- Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
- Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
- Taxation and Regulation (REG)
FAR and REG each shed some of their more advanced content when this structure was introduced — that material moved into the discipline exams. FAR, for instance, still tests basic governmental accounting and lessee accounting for leases, but advanced governmental accounting and lessor accounting now live in the BAR discipline exam. AUD's content didn't move anywhere; it stayed intact on the core exam.
What happened to BEC?
BEC used to be a fourth core section everyone had to take. It was retired, with its content redistributed: some went into FAR and AUD, and most of it — along with the advanced FAR topics above — became the foundation of the BAR discipline exam.
What is the fourth, discipline exam?
Beyond the three core exams, every candidate picks one of three discipline exams to complete their license: BAR, ISC, or TCP. You only need to pass one, and which one you choose has no effect on your license — a CPA is a CPA regardless of which discipline they tested in.
Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR)
BAR suits candidates who did well in the advanced FAR topics and in BEC-style business analysis content. Roughly 40-50% of BAR covers business analysis (cost accounting, economics, capital structuring), 35-45% covers technical accounting and reporting (consolidating entries, goodwill impairment, software costs, R&D costs, derivatives, employee benefit plans, lessor accounting), and 10-20% covers state and local government accounting.
Information Systems and Controls (ISC)
ISC is built for candidates who enjoy IT and information systems topics — everything from data infrastructure to cybersecurity. About 35-45% covers information systems and data management, 35-45% covers security, confidentiality, and privacy, and 15-25% covers SOC engagements.
Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP)
TCP is the deep-tax option, covering the advanced topics that got pulled off REG: passive activity limitations, alternative minimum tax, property distributions, and more. About 30-40% covers individual tax compliance and planning, 30-40% covers entity tax compliance, 10-20% covers entity tax planning, and 10-20% covers property transactions.
Which discipline exam should you take?
Start with what you're already good at. If you're indifferent, BAR is usually the safer default — its content overlaps heavily with FAR and old BEC material, so you have a good sense of how it's tested. TCP is the next most predictable, since it builds directly on REG. ISC is the newest and least predictable of the three, since it doesn't extend an existing core exam the way BAR and TCP do.
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More on planning your CPA journey
Choosing between BAR, ISC and TCP? I compare their formats, content and skill levels, and how to match one to you, in which CPA Discipline to take.
Kyle Ashcraft, CPA scored 90 or above on every section of the CPA exam in 2019. He is the founder and sole instructor of Maxwell CPA Review, a complete CPA review course covering all six sections, where he creates every lecture, textbook and study outline himself.