FAR2
Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints: Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
The Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the Uniform CPA
Examination (the Exam) assesses the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed
CPA must demonstrate in the nancial accounting and reporting frameworks
used by business entities (public and nonpublic), not-for-prot entities and state
and local government entities.
The nancial accounting and reporting frameworks that are eligible for
assessment within the FAR section of the Exam include the standards and
regulations issued by the:
• Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (U.S. SEC)
• American Institute of Certied Public Accountants (AICPA)
• Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
• International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
A listing of standards and regulations promulgated by these bodies, and other
reference materials that are eligible for assessment in the FAR section of the
Exam are included under References at the conclusion of this introduction.
Content organization and tasks
The FAR section blueprint is organized by content AREA, content GROUP and
content TOPIC. Each group or topic includes one or more representative TASKS
that a newly licensed CPA may be expected to complete in practice.
Tasks in the FAR section blueprint are representative. The tasks are not
intended to be (nor should they be viewed as) an all-inclusive list of tasks that
may be tested in the FAR section of the Exam. Additionally, it 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
will be assessed on the Exam. For example, the topic titled “Notes to nancial
statements” in Area I includes two tasks that are intended to encompass the
required disclosures for any topic in the FASB Accounting Standards Codication,
while the group titled “Leases” in Area III includes eight tasks that are limited to
the accounting requirements in Leases Topic of the FASB Accounting Standards
Codication. The number of tasks included in the blueprint for this group and
this topic is not intended to suggest that “Leases” are more signicant to newly
licensed CPAs or will be tested more than the “Notes to nancial statements.”
Similarly, examples provided within the task statements should not be viewed as
all-inclusive.
Content allocation
The following table summarizes the content areas and the allocation of content
tested in the FAR section of the Exam:
Overview of content areas
Area I of the FAR section blueprint covers FASB’s Conceptual Framework, FASB’s
standard-setting process and several different nancial reporting topics. The
nancial reporting topics include the following:
• General-purpose nancial statements applicable to for-prot entities,
not-for-prot entities and employee benet plans under the FASB Accounting
Standards Codication
• Disclosures specic to public companies including earnings per share
and segment reporting under the FASB Accounting Standards Codication
and the interim, annual and periodic ling requirements for U.S. registrants in
accordance with the rules of the U.S. SEC
• Financial statements prepared under special purpose frameworks as described
in AU-C Section 800 of the Codication of Statements on Auditing Standards
Section introduction
Content area Allocation
Area I
Conceptual Framework, Standard-Setting
and Financial Reporting
25–35%
Area II
Select Financial Statement Accounts
30–40%
Area III
Select Transactions
20–30%
Area IV
State and Local Governments
5–15%
Financial Accounting and Reporting