Understanding the BOA Syllabus: A Complete Breakdown
The topic list for all six CPALE subjects, plus the question formats each one tends to use.
The Board of Accountancy publishes the syllabus for the CPALE. What follows is the topic list for each of the six subjects, along with the question formats they tend to appear in. It is worth reading once before you build a study schedule, and again around week 12 to see what you have quietly skipped.
CPALE (CPA Licensure Examination) Structure
Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) • BOA Administered
1. Financial Accounting & Reporting
2. Advanced Financial Accounting & Reporting
3. Management Advisory Services
4. Auditing
5. Taxation
6. Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions
Philippine Context: The CPALE tests application of Philippine accounting standards (PFRS, PAS), tax laws (NIRC, TRAIN), and regulatory frameworks. You must pass ALL subjects to practice as a licensed CPA in the Philippines.
Subject 1: Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
FAR covers the standards and the financial statements they produce. Most of the other subjects assume you have it:
- Conceptual framework for financial reporting
- Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) and Philippine Accounting Standards (PAS)
- Financial statements preparation and presentation
- Revenue recognition (PFRS 15)
- Leases (PFRS 16), financial instruments (PFRS 9)
- Employee benefits (PAS 19), income taxes (PAS 12)
- Accounting for special transactions
Subject 2: Advanced Financial Accounting and Reporting (AFAR)
AFAR is where the consolidation topics and the industry-specific accounting live:
- Partnership formation, operations, dissolution, and liquidation
- Business combinations and consolidated financial statements (PFRS 3, PFRS 10)
- Joint arrangements (PFRS 11) and investments in associates (PAS 28)
- Foreign currency transactions and translation (PAS 21)
- Government accounting and the Philippine Government Accounting System
- Not-for-profit and fiduciary accounting
- Accounting for special industries (construction, agriculture, extractive)
Subject 3: Management Advisory Services (MAS)
MAS applies accounting to business decisions rather than to reporting:
- Cost accounting: job order, process costing, ABC costing
- Cost-volume-profit analysis and break-even analysis
- Budgeting and standard costing, variance analysis
- Financial management: time value of money, capital budgeting
- Working capital management and financial ratio analysis
- Strategic management: SWOT, Porter's Five Forces, balanced scorecard
- Quantitative methods: linear programming, decision theory, PERT/CPM
Subject 4: Auditing
Auditing splits between the standards themselves and how they play out in an engagement:
- Philippine Standards on Auditing (PSA) and their application
- Audit planning, risk assessment, and materiality
- Internal control evaluation and testing
- Audit evidence, procedures, and documentation
- Audit of specific accounts and transaction cycles
- Audit reports and modified opinions
- Professional ethics and the Code of Ethics for CPAs
- Quality control and assurance engagements
Subject 5: Taxation
Taxation is one of the most computation-heavy subjects on the exam:
- National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) as amended by the TRAIN Law and CREATE Act
- Income taxation: individual, corporate, and special taxpayers
- Value-added tax (VAT) and percentage tax
- Transfer taxes: estate tax and donor's tax
- Documentary stamp tax and excise tax
- Tax remedies, compliance, and procedures
- Local taxation and real property taxation
Subject 6: Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions (RFBT)
RFBT is the law subject:
- Law on obligations and contracts (Civil Code)
- Law on sales, agency, and partnership
- Corporation Code of the Philippines (Revised Corporation Code, RA 11232)
- RA 9298: Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004
- Securities Regulation Code and BSP regulations
- Cooperative Code, insurance, and other special laws
Question Formats
The format shifts depending on the subject:
- Multiple choice: the bulk of most subjects
- Problem-solving: heaviest in FAR, AFAR, MAS, and Taxation
- Theory: heaviest in Auditing and RFBT
- Scenario-based: applying a concept to a described situation
- Pacing: roughly 1 to 2 minutes per question on average
The High-Yield Topics
If you run short on time, these are the areas that come back most often:
- PFRS and PAS application, and financial statement preparation
- Partnership and business combination problems
- Cost-volume-profit analysis and variance analysis
- Audit risk assessment and audit reports
- Income tax computation, individual and corporate
- Obligations and contracts, and the Revised Corporation Code
- Revenue recognition and financial instruments
Key Takeaways
The syllabus is long, and not every line on it carries the same weight. Cover everything at least once, then spend what is left on the high-yield list above. Akawntant's quizzes are organized by topic, so you can work through the syllabus in roughly the order you just read it and find out where the gaps actually are rather than where you assume they are.
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