CPA has released the exam blueprints for the new CPA Professional Program, in its Exam Guide, issued August 27, 2026. For the first time, there’s enough detail to really think about these exams: what each one will be like, and how to prepare for it. If you’re planning to start the new program, here’s what you need to know.
This post goes through each exam at a high level. For each one we cover three things: the structure, the content, and the study focus, including which exams give you reference materials and which don’t. At the end are our key takeaways.
CPA calls Core, Leadership and Professional Readiness “Professional Final Exams” 1, 2 and 3. We use the exam names throughout. Here are the program and exam details:
At a glance
| Exam | Format | Time | Reference materials available during the exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge Assessment (optional) | 150 objective-format questions, two timed parts | 5 hours | None – closed book exam |
| Foundational Development | 50 objective-format questions and 4 to 8 testlets | 5 hours | Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act |
| CPA Core, Common | Two to three cases, each 60 to 120 minutes | 3 hours | Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act |
| CPA Core, Licensure | Part A: the Common cases. Part B: one 2-hour case | 5 hours | Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act |
| CPA Leadership | One comprehensive case | 5 hours | Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act |
| CPA Professional Readiness | One 2-hour judgment case and one 1-hour ethics case | 3 hours | Handbooks, Income Tax Act, Excise Tax Act |
Source: Exam Guide.
The Knowledge Assessment
CPA calls the Knowledge Assessment an optional entrance exam. It’s for candidates who don’t have the required accounting and business courses to enter the program but do meet the eligibility requirements to write the Knowledge Assessment. CPA Western School of Business’s Knowledge Assessment page has more information, including the cost and planned offerings.
The covered content is as follows:
| Part | Topic | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| A | Assurance, data analytics, ethics and governance, finance, non-financial reporting, strategy, tax | 10 to 15% each |
| A | Foundational competencies, such as economics and law | 10 to 15% |
| B | Financial reporting | 50% |
| B | Management decision-making | 50% |
CPA’s full name for that last area is “Management Decision-Making and Information (Data) Systems/Technology”. It covers budgets and forecasts, variance analysis, costing methods, cost-volume-profit and break-even analysis, pricing, performance frameworks and scorecards, responsibility centres, incentives, continuous improvement, and IT and AI in decision-making.
This exam is pure technical knowledge, and it’s broad. There are no reference materials: no Handbook, no Income Tax Act, nothing. It’s the only exam in the program where you can’t look anything up. You also need a pass on financial reporting and on management decision-making separately, and a pass overall.
Foundational Development
This is the first exam most candidates will write.
The exam is five hours long and entirely objective format. There are 50 stand-alone questions, worth 33% of the exam. The other 67% is four to eight testlets. A testlet is a set of questions built on one shared scenario, and each one is designed to take 20 to 60 minutes. Question types include multiple choice, multiple select, fill in the blank and drop-down list.
The covered content is as follows:
| Topic | Weight |
|---|---|
| Management decision-making | 15 to 25% |
| Financial reporting | 10 to 20% |
| Data analytics, ethics and governance, finance, non-financial reporting, strategy | 5 to 15% each |
| Assurance and tax | 5 to 10% each |
Source: Exam Guide.
Foundational Development is extremely technical. You need to know the rules and apply them accurately, across every topic area.
CPA Core: Common and Licensure
CPA Core is where the cases start, and it has two paths. On the Common path, you write the Common exam. On the Licensure path, for candidates considering a public accounting licence, you write the same Common cases as Part A, plus a Part B case, in the same sitting.
The Common exam is two to three cases in three hours, each case between 60 and 120 minutes. The exam doesn’t control your time between cases, so managing it is on you. Licensure adds Part B, one two-hour case. On the Licensure path the sitting is five hours: three for Part A and two for Part B, each timed separately.
The covered content is as follows:
| Topic | Common Part A | Licensure Part B |
|---|---|---|
| Assurance | 20 to 35% | 30 to 50% |
| Financial reporting | 20 to 35% | 20 to 40% |
| Tax | 10 to 25% | 15 to 25% |
| Data analytics | 5 to 15% | Up to 10% |
| Non-financial reporting | 5 to 15% | Up to 10% |
Source: Exam Guide.
Core is extremely technical and case focused. You need solid technical knowledge in assurance, financial reporting and tax, applied in a case. CPA describes these cases as non-complex, with clear requirements.
CPA Leadership
One comprehensive case, five hours long: the longest single case in the program. CPA describes it as moderately complex, with limited direction and less prescriptive requirements. You decide your own approach, which issues matter most, and how to structure your response. CPA also says it’s designed to be time pressured, the only case exam it describes that way.
The covered content is as follows:
| Topic | Weight |
|---|---|
| Strategy, risk management and innovation | 20 to 35% |
| Ethics and governance | 15 to 30% |
| Management decision-making | 15 to 30% |
| Data analytics and finance | 10 to 20% each |
| Assurance, financial reporting, non-financial reporting and tax | Up to 10% each |
Source: Exam Guide.
Leadership is less technical than Core, but it’s still a case. The focus moves to critical thinking and judgment. You’ll need to prioritize, connect your analyses to each other, and land on a recommendation that holds together.
CPA Professional Readiness
Two cases in three hours: a two-hour case focused on professional judgment, and a one-hour case focused on ethical decision-making. You manage the time between them. CPA says these cases are not meant to be time pressured, and you must pass each case to pass the exam.
The covered content is as follows:
| Area | What CPA says |
|---|---|
| Topic weights | None published |
| Technical areas | May provide context but are not the focus |
| Calculations | No complex calculations; detailed analysis is provided where needed |
| Approach | Complex and ambiguous, with multiple acceptable approaches |
| Ethics case | No clear right answer |
Source: Exam Guide.
This is the least technical exam and the most judgment focused. It’s still case writing, but the emphasis is on professional judgment, ethics and the public interest. Technical analysis supports the decision rather than driving it.
Key dates for the first year of exams
| Exam | Module starts | First sitting |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge Assessment | Not a module | March 23, 2027 |
| Foundational Development | May 15, 2027 | September 15, 2027 |
| CPA Core, Licensure | May 29, 2027 | September 16, 2027 |
| CPA Leadership | June 26, 2027 | September 15, 2027 |
| CPA Core, Common | July 10, 2027 | September 16, 2027 |
| CPA Professional Readiness | December 11, 2027 | January 20, 2028 |
Going forward, exams will be offered in January, May and September.
Key takeaways
- Greater emphasis on professional judgment and critical thinking. The Knowledge Assessment and Foundational Development are objective format and highly technical. Core brings in cases, still very technical. By Leadership and Professional Readiness, the technical content steps back, and critical thinking and judgment take over.
- Only the Leadership exam will be publicly disclosed. Of all the exams, CPA lists only Leadership as a disclosed exam; every other exam is non-disclosed, just like the current CPA PEP exams (only the CFE cases are disclosed). That means candidates won’t have a bank of past exams to study from, look for patterns in, and use to predict what’s coming. Past exams have been a huge part of how candidates prepare. With fewer to lean on, critical thinking becomes even more important. You’ll need to really understand the technical content, read each case on its own terms, and work out what’s being asked and what matters.
- We don’t know yet how the exams will be marked. Will there still be NC, RC, C and CD? The Exam Guide doesn’t say. It says each exam has a passing standard set by the Board of Examiners, defines sufficiency as a mark that meets the minimum threshold, and says Professional Readiness cases are marked holistically. We don’t expect the four levels used on Days 2 and 3 of the CFE to carry over as they are. We expect a similar model, but we won’t know the details until CPA releases them.
- Trust the transition. The profession has done this before. Having so few past exams isn’t a disadvantage for the first group of candidates; it’s simply how the exams work going forward. Candidates who write the new program now will be in largely the same position as those who write it years from now.
We’ll keep this post updated as CPA releases more details. As you start your journey in the new CPA Professional Program, reach out to the Gevorg team for support.
CPA resources
- CPA Professional Program Exam Guide, issued August 27, 2026
- CPA Professional Program Module Guide, issued August 25, 2026
- CPA Competency Map 2.0
- Examinations and sample exams, CPA Western School of Business
- Exam schedules, CPA Western School of Business
- Knowledge Assessment, CPA Western School of Business
- Information for CPA PEP candidates, CPA Western School of Business
Links as at October 5, 2026.