The Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (PRBOA) has approved the biggest revision to the CPA Licensure Examination (CPALE) in years. The changes take effect in October 2029 — if you're taking the CPA board exam in 2026, 2027, or 2028, nothing here changes for you. Your exam still follows the current six subjects and Tables of Specifications, so review with confidence and ignore the noise about a "new exam" until you actually fall under the 2029 coverage.
That said, if you're an underclassman, a faculty member, or a school administrator planning ahead, here is exactly what is coming and where it comes from.
The instrument is PRBOA Resolution No. 20, Series of 2026, signed in the City of Manila on June 11, 2026. It adopts, issues, and promulgates the revised Tables of Specifications (TOS) and syllabi for the CPALE, marked as Annex "A" of the resolution. By its own terms, the revised TOS applies in Calendar Year 2029 onwards, including the 2029 Special Professional Licensure Examination, and the resolution takes effect fifteen (15) days after its complete publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation. The six revised syllabi are each labeled "Effective October 2029," while the resolution's operative clause covers all of Calendar Year 2029 — so if you are sitting any 2029 CPALE (including a possible May 2029 sitting or the 2029 Special PLE), plan on the revised syllabi applying to you. We will update this guide if the Board issues a separate advisory pinning down the first covered sitting.
It supersedes the previous structure set by Board Resolution No. 30 (s. 2022), which is the framework that the October 2022 through 2028 cycles follow.
The Big Picture: Old Six to New Six
The CPALE keeps its six-subject, 450-item shape — but the lineup is reorganized. Two financial accounting subjects merge into one, a brand-new technology subject takes the freed slot, and several subjects are renamed and broadened.
| Current (Res. 30, s. 2022) | New (effective Oct 2029) | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Auditing (70) | Auditing & Attestation (70) | Restructured: Theory of Assurance/Non-Assurance (50%) + Auditing Practice (50%); quality management, governance, business-process lens |
| MAS / Management Services (70) | Business Analysis & Reporting / BAR (70) | Renamed and expanded: adds economics, business research, data analytics, EPS, and integrated + sustainability reporting |
| FAR (70) + AFAR (70) | Financial Accounting & Reporting (70) | Two subjects merged into one — Theory 20% / FAR 50% / AFAR 30%; adds sustainability reporting and PFRS for Cooperatives |
| — | Information Systems & Controls / ISC (70) | Brand-new subject: IT controls, auditing IT, SOC reports, SQL/CAATTs, data management, and cybersecurity |
| RFBT (100) | Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions (100) | Expanded: Government Procurement Law, AMLA, Data Privacy Act, E-Commerce Act, Labor Standards, SSS |
| Taxation (70) | Tax Planning & Compliance (70) | Renamed; adds an explicit tax-planning layer (Tax-Free Exchange, optional VAT registration, BMBE, CREATE) |
Still six subjects, still 450 MCQs total (70 + 70 + 70 + 70 + 100 + 70).
Why the CPALE Is Changing
According to the resolution itself, the revision came out of a 2025 consultative process. The Board met with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Panel in Accountancy and relevant stakeholders to review and align the LECPA-TOS with CHED Policies, Standards, and Guidelines, the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF), and the industries' needs. The Board then initiated the review and revision of the TOS based on stakeholder feedback and PRC-prescribed standards. In short: the stated reasons are curriculum alignment and stakeholder consultation, not an attempt to copy any foreign model.
That said, Filipino candidates who have looked at the US system will notice a strong resemblance to the US CPA Evolution model — most obviously in the names "Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR)" and "Information Systems and Controls (ISC)," and in the new emphasis on Service Organization Controls (SOC), data analytics, and ESG/sustainability reporting. This is a parallel worth understanding for context, not the Board's stated rationale. If you are weighing the two credentials, see our comparison of the Philippine CPA versus the US CPA.
Auditing and Attestation
Auditing keeps its 70 items; Auditing Practice is explicitly weighted at 50% in the published TOS, with the Theory of Assurance and Non-Assurance Services making up the other half. The theory part covers assurance and non-assurance services, professional ethics, quality management, and governance responsibilities, with a risk-based audit lens. The practice part is built around real business processes — order to cash, purchase to pay, plan to inventory, hire to retire, record to report — and asks candidates to assess risk, gather evidence, formulate adjusting entries, and prepare audit reports. The system of quality management and engagement quality reviews is now an explicit topic.
Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR)
This is the rebranded and substantially broadened successor to MAS. It keeps the management accounting and financial management core (cost-volume-profit analysis, standard costing, budgeting, capital budgeting, working capital, cost of capital) but layers on several new domains: economic concepts (micro and macroeconomics), accounting and business research, data analytics (including ETL, data visualization, and data ethics), cost accounting, earnings per share, and emerging non-financial reporting frameworks — integrated reporting and sustainability reporting. The syllabus describes 70 multiple-choice questions over three hours and notes that items may include case problems requiring both computation and theoretical analysis. The Annex A syllabus does not publish a fixed percentage for each BAR topic area, so treat the weighting qualitatively rather than assuming fixed splits.
Financial Accounting and Reporting
The single biggest structural change: the current FAR and AFAR subjects are integrated into one 70-item subject. The syllabus is explicit that this subject "is an integration of two (2) subjects currently included in the licensure examination." Its weighting is published as Theory — 20%, FAR — 50%, and AFAR — 30%. Part 1 (Financial Accounting) covers the conceptual framework, cash and financial assets, non-financial assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity; Part 2 (Advanced) covers special revenue recognition, joint arrangements, home office and branch accounting, business combinations, consolidation, foreign currency, and funds accounting. Notably, the new syllabus folds in sustainability reporting (referencing Philippine Sustainability Reporting Standards and an entity's ESG disclosures) and adds PFRS for Cooperatives alongside PFRS for SMEs and Small Entities.
Information Systems and Controls (ISC)
This is the genuinely new subject — 70 items over three hours — and it has no direct predecessor in the current CPALE. It covers four areas: information systems and data management; IT objectives and controls; auditing IT as part of the financial statement audit; and Service Organization Controls (SOC). The published Table of Specifications gives the heaviest weight to IT Objectives and Controls (about 38.6%), followed by Auditing IT as Part of the Audit of Financial Statements (about 27.1%) and Service Organization Controls (about 12.9%), with the remainder going to information systems and data management. Concretely, candidates are expected to handle standard SQL queries, Computer-Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques (CAATTs), relational database concepts and normalization, IT general controls (ITGC) and application controls (ITAC), encryption and data-loss prevention, and the structure and use of SOC reports. This is the domain most students and faculty will find unfamiliar. For a plain-language walkthrough of each area and the unfamiliar jargon (SOC reports, ITGC, CAATTs, SQL) decoded, see our complete guide to Information Systems and Controls.
Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions
RFBT keeps its 100 items but is broadened well beyond traditional commercial law. Alongside obligations and contracts, sales, credit transactions, partnerships, and the heavily weighted corporation law, the revised syllabus explicitly lists Government Procurement Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), the Data Privacy Act, the Electronic Commerce Act, Labor Standards, and the Social Security Law, plus Secrecy of Bank Deposits, Insurance, and Cooperatives. Of the confirmed percentages, the Law on Business Organizations carries the largest share, with the Law on Other Business Transactions (which houses AMLA, Data Privacy, e-commerce, labor, and SSS) accounting for a substantial block. The clear direction is more regulatory and compliance content reflecting how accountants actually interact with government and data-handling obligations.
Tax Planning and Compliance
Taxation is renamed to Tax Planning and Compliance, keeping its 70 items and its NIRC-as-amended foundation (income tax, business taxes, transfer taxes, DST, excise tax, local taxation, and preferential taxation). The new element is an explicit tax-planning layer. The syllabus now names specific planning strategies as testable topics: the Tax-Free Exchange under Section 40(C)(2) of the NIRC, optional VAT registration versus percentage tax under Section 116, Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs) under Section 7 of RA 9178, and corporate incentives under the CREATE Act (RA 11534). The exam will continue to provide graduated, excise, DST, local business, and real property tax rates when computations are required.
What's Genuinely New vs. Renamed, Merged, or Expanded
To keep the change in proportion, here is how each piece actually maps:
- Genuinely new: Information Systems and Controls (ISC) is an entirely new subject. Within BAR, the analytics, sustainability/integrated-reporting, economics, and business-research slices are new content that had no real home in the old MAS.
- Merged: FAR and AFAR are combined into a single Financial Accounting and Reporting subject (Theory 20% / FAR 50% / AFAR 30%).
- Renamed / reframed: MAS becomes Business Analysis and Reporting; Taxation becomes Tax Planning and Compliance. Much of the core content carries over, but the framing and emphasis shift.
- Expanded: RFBT keeps its name and item count but absorbs more regulatory and compliance law (procurement, AMLA, data privacy, e-commerce, labor, SSS). Auditing keeps its item count but is restructured into a 50/50 theory-and-practice split.
What to Do Now
For students. First, the reassurance again: if you're taking the CPA board exam in 2026, 2027, or 2028, nothing here changes for you — study the current six-subject structure and don't let 2029 talk distract you. If you are an underclassman who will sit the board in 2029 or later, there's nothing to panic about, but a few habits help: get early, low-stakes exposure to data analytics and SQL, read about IT general controls and SOC reports, and start noticing sustainability/ESG reporting when it appears in your accounting courses. These are the unfamiliar areas; everything else builds on the same accounting, auditing, tax, and law foundations you're already learning.
For schools and faculty. The 2029 revision is a curriculum-readiness question more than an exam-day one. The hardest domains to staff and teach are ISC (IT controls, auditing IT, SOC, SQL/CAATTs) and the new analytical and sustainability portions of BAR — these may require faculty development, new electives, or partnerships well before the first 2029 cohort. The merged FAR/AFAR subject also rewards integrated teaching rather than treating advanced topics as a separate silo. Mapping your program's courses to the Annex A syllabi now gives you three full cycles to adjust.
For the structure that still applies to every current candidate, see our complete current CPALE coverage guide. When the 2029 syllabi and our aligned study materials are ready, you can be the first to know using the form below.
Sources
- PRBOA Resolution No. 20, Series of 2026 — the resolution adopting, issuing, and promulgating the revised Tables of Specifications for the 2029 LECPA.
- Annex "A" — Revised Syllabi and Tables of Specifications — the full per-subject syllabi and TOS effective the October 2029 examination.
- PRC Professional Regulatory Boards — the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy and its official issuances.