Understanding the Future of CPA Licensure

The CPA profession is always moving forward, adopting new technologies, new skills, and new best practices. The job requirements of most CPAs today are completely different from those of a CPA even 20 years ago. As the profession evolves, so must the steps to licensure.

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) are in the process of updating and restructuring the CPA Exam to align with the skillsets needed of newly licensed CPAs (nlCPAs). They recently agreed to move forward with the CPA Evolution initiative and timeline and are working to have the new exam ready to roll out to CPA candidates by January 2024. Since the CPA Evolution initiative is aimed at evolving CPA licensure to reflect the skills and knowledge CPAs increasingly need in a technology-driven marketplace, as an accounting professor, you’ll want to be able to break down the new CPA Exam to your students. The following is a quick breakdown of the future CPA licensure model to help you guide your students.

Core Skills

At the heart of the CPA Evolution is a core mastery of accounting, auditing, tax, and technology. These core skills maintain the same standard principles that CPAs of the past have mastered but place a new emphasis on the technological requirements of the modern CPA profession.

To be clear, the new licensure model requires the same mastery of accounting, auditing, and tax that have been staples of the CPA Exam. There is simply an added requirement that a modern CPA be versed in the modern technologies of the industry.

Disciplines

The CPA Evolution requires that every candidate choose one discipline in which to specialize. The disciplines are currently expected to be: Business Analysis and Reporting, Tax Compliance and Planning, and Information Systems and Controls.

The disciplines allow students to prove a deeper level of understanding of a more specific aspect of accounting without confining them to a career in only that specific area. Regardless of the discipline chosen, the result is the same full CPA Licensure.

Structure

The new exam will consist of three core sections and three discipline sections. To earn their licensure, candidates will have to pass all three core sections as well as one discipline section. The exam is expected to remain in the four sections, 16-hour format.

Why Change?

Today’s CPAs are required to perform more advanced tasks and contribute to increasingly complex projects earlier on in their accounting careers. The CPA Exam must remain relevant as a measure of the knowledge and skills CPAs must have in order to practice their profession as efficiently and effectively as possible.

As the CPA licensure model evolves, UWorld Roger CPA remains committed to developing the highest quality and most technologically advanced CPA prep course, built to instill confidence in future CPAs as they enter into the ever-changing accounting profession.