KAOptional entrance exam
The Knowledge Assessment, the optional way in

An optional entrance exam for candidates who do not have the accounting and business courses the new program asks for. It is the only exam in the whole program written closed book.

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Format150 objective questions

Length5 hours, two parts

Reference materialsNone — closed book

First sittingMarch 23, 2027

What the exam looks like

CPA calls this an optional entrance exam. It is for candidates who do not have the required accounting and business courses to enter the program but do meet the eligibility requirements to write it.

Format
150 objective-format questions, in two timed parts
Length
5 hours
Reference materials
None. No Handbook, no Income Tax Act, no Excise Tax Act
Publicly disclosed
No
Passing
A pass on financial reporting and on management decision-making separately, and a pass overall
First sitting
March 23, 2027

The content and how it is weighted

The assessment is split into two parts, weighted as follows.

PART Athe breadth
Assurance, data analytics, ethics and governance, finance, non-financial reporting, strategy, tax
10 to 15% each
Foundational competencies, such as economics and law
10 to 15%
lower bound
upper bound
PART Bthe two halves that must be passed separately
Financial reporting
50%
Management decision-making
50%
Management decision-makingCPA’s full name for this 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.

What this exam actually asks of you

What the assessment rewards, and where candidates are most likely to lose it.

Pure technical knowledge, and broad

This is the only exam in the program where you cannot look anything up, so recall matters in a way it does not anywhere else. The content is wide rather than deep, and you need financial reporting and management decision-making strong enough to clear each of them on its own.

CPA PREP is withdrawnUnder the current system, candidates without the prerequisite courses took CPA PREP. That route closes. In the new program the two ways in are 45 credit hours in accounting and business from a recognised Canadian or international post-secondary institution, or a pass on the Knowledge Assessment where it is offered.
Coming 2027
GCPA resources for the Knowledge Assessment

We are building our coaching for the new program against the published blueprints, the same way we built the CFE and PEP courses. Nothing is for sale yet. Join the mailing list and we will email you once, when this one is ready to buy.

Join the mailing list →

One email per course, nothing else. The list closes once every course has launched.

Everything we have published on the new program

The program is new and CPA is still releasing detail, so this is general to the whole transition as well as to this exam.

October 13, 2026CPA Knowledge Assessment explainedWho has to write the optional entrance exam, what is on it, and why it is the only closed-book exam in the program.Read the article →October 6, 2026Analyzing the new CPA Professional Program exam blueprintsEvery exam in the new program: format, length, topic weights, and which ones let you use reference materials.Read the article →October 4, 2025Everything you need to know about the 2027 CPA Professional ProgramThe full breakdown: transition rules, module structure, exam formats and every key date.Read the article →
ON YOUTUBEWatch the walkthroughsFree, no signup. Updated as CPA Canada releases more.
▶CPA Canada 2027 Knowledge Assessment: New Optional Entrance Exam Explained▶CPA Canada 2027: Do You Need To Write The Entrance Exam?▶CPA Optional Entrance Exam: No References and Separate Passing Requirements?
See the whole channel →

Source: the CPA Professional Program Exam Guide, issued August 27, 2026. We update these pages as CPA publishes more. Back to the CPA Professional Program →