6 Subjects · 4 Compulsory + 2 Electives
The CPA Program is the professional pathway to becoming a Certified Practising Accountant — CPA Australia's globally recognised designation across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and beyond. To earn the post-nominal you must pass six subject exams, complete an accredited degree and three years of mentored experience. Each subject exam is a single high-stakes sitting after a full semester of work, and a fail means re-enrolling and waiting for the next semester — pushing your CPA status, and often a promotion or visa-skilled-assessment, back six months. This page breaks down every subject, the exam format, how it's scored, and how to get it done right.
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How a single CPA Australia subject exam is built — at a glance
195
Each subject ends in a single computer-based exam of 3 hours 15 minutes. There is no on-the-day choice of subject order — you sit one subject per session.
MCQ
Most marks come from multiple-choice questions with four options and one correct answer — often built around a short case study. Exams are open book (Singapore Taxation excepted), so they test applied judgement, not recall.
ERQ
A typed extended-response section carries a meaningful share of the mark, with the exact weighting varying by subject. In SMA and Financial Reporting it also includes numerical worksheet items.
The CPA Program runs in two semesters a year. You enrol in a subject, work through CPA Australia's prescribed materials, and sit a single exam in the scheduling window. There are no mid-semester assessments that count toward your subject result — the whole grade rests on one 195-minute sitting, which is why exam-day execution matters so much.
CPA Australia does not publish a fixed pass mark. Your raw marks across the MCQ and extended-response sections are converted to a scaled score, and the standard is set by what a "minimally competent candidate" should achieve. Results come back as a pass or fail with a scaled score band rather than a percentage, so chasing a specific number is the wrong goal — covering the syllabus reliably is.
Four compulsory subjects plus two electives — pick the combination that fits your career and region
| Subject | Focus |
|---|---|
| Ethics and Governance | Ethical principles, corporate governance mechanisms and accountant responsibilities. |
| Strategic Management Accounting | Management accounting data for decision-making; includes numerical worksheet items. |
| Financial Reporting | Applying accounting standards and interpreting financial statements; worksheet items. |
| Global Strategy and Leadership | The capstone — strategic analysis of complex, uncertain business problems. |
Global Strategy and Leadership must be taken last, after the other three compulsory subjects are passed.
| Subject | Area |
|---|---|
| Advanced Audit and Assurance | Audit |
| Financial Risk Management | Risk |
| Contemporary Business Issues | Strategy |
| Digital Finance | Technology |
| Australia Taxation | Tax |
| Australia Taxation – Advanced | Tax |
| Regional tax variants* | Tax (HK, SG, MY, NZ, Fiji) |
*Regional taxation subjects (Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Fiji) are available to members in those jurisdictions. A tax or audit elective may be compulsory depending on your prior study and location.
The compulsory subjects candidates report as the toughest — bars show relative difficulty by reputation
The integrative capstone, widely reported as the hardest subject. It demands you apply strategy frameworks to an unseen case under time pressure, with heavy extended-response writing — and it must be passed last.
Dense accounting-standards content — consolidations, income tax, financial instruments and impairment — with numerical worksheet items where a single misread of the standard cascades into wrong answers.
Costing, performance measurement and value-chain analysis applied to business decisions, plus worksheet calculations. The challenge is linking numbers to a strategic narrative quickly.
Often the entry subject, but the volume of governance frameworks, codes and ethical decision models to memorise and apply to nuanced cases trips up candidates who underestimate it.
Difficulty ratings above reflect candidate reports and the volume of extended-response writing, not official CPA Australia weightings — every subject carries the same scaled pass standard. The recurring pain point across all of them is finishing the case-heavy paper inside 195 minutes while still writing structured extended responses.
How and where you sit a CPA Australia subject exam — and what's changing in 2026
CPA Australia exams are administered by Pearson VUE. You book a seat at a test centre, where staff verify your government-issued ID, store your belongings and monitor the room. From 2026, CPA Australia is prioritising test-centre exams and reducing its focus on online sittings, so the centre route is the default for most subjects.
Where an online proctored option is offered for your subject and region, you sit it from a private room using Pearson VUE's OnVUE software — a webcam-monitored session with AI and live proctor oversight. You complete a system test, ID check and room scan beforehand. Availability is narrowing under the 2026 changes, so confirm it in My CPA Program when you schedule.
A valid, unexpired government photo ID with your name matching your CPA Australia profile. For OnVUE, the proctor captures photos of you and your ID before the exam unlocks.
For OnVUE: a clear desk, no second monitor, no phone within reach, a stable connection and a 360° webcam scan of the room. The OnVUE app closes other applications and locks down the machine.
Stay in frame and on-camera throughout. Talking aloud, leaving the seat, or losing connection can flag the session. No breaks are guaranteed across the full 195 minutes.
The CPA designation gates real careers across AU and Asia-Pacific
An accredited degree first — then six unforgiving exams
Difficulty: The content is graduate-level and the format is unforgiving — one 195-minute exam decides the whole subject, case-based MCQs reward applied judgement over memorisation, and the extended-response section demands structured writing under the clock. A fail means re-enrolling and losing a semester, which is exactly the pressure point our help is designed to remove.
A CPA Australia subject is a single, time-boxed exam standing between you and your designation — and a fail costs you a full semester and another enrolment fee. Exam Assist pairs you with a vetted CPA Australia specialist and works on a pay-after-you-pass model, so the risk sits with us, not you. No upfront fee, guaranteed results: just an honest plan and a verified pass before you settle.
Tell us which subject (e.g. Financial Reporting or Global Strategy and Leadership), your delivery method (test centre or OnVUE), and your exam window. Takes a couple of minutes over WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.
We review the subject and your timeline and tell you plainly whether it's realistic — before any money is discussed. If it isn't a fit, we say so.
Exam Assist handles the sitting end to end. You're matched with a CPA Australia specialist who maps the work around the case-based MCQs, the extended-response section, and the Pearson VUE environment — discreetly and confidentially.
You only pay once your pass is confirmed on your official CPA Australia result. No verified pass, nothing owed.
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