Study guides
CPA Program syllabus
High-level subject guides with module maps, study tips, and links into CPA Copilot practice. Official outlines stay on CPA Australia — we link out so you always check the current source of truth.
Compulsory subjects
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EG · compulsory
Ethics and Governance
Ethics and Governance builds the judgment you need as a professional accountant — spotting ethical issues, applying governance frameworks, and linking accountability to everyday decisions. It sits underneath almost every other CPA Program subject.
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FR · compulsory
Financial Reporting
Financial Reporting is about applying accounting standards, reading what the numbers mean for the business, and explaining presentation choices. Expect technical depth plus judgment — especially on revenue, tax, group accounting, instruments, and impairment.
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SMA · compulsory
Strategic Management Accounting
Strategic Management Accounting connects costing, planning, and performance information to strategy. You are assessed on choosing the right analysis for a decision — not only on calculating a variance or a KPI.
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GSL · compulsory
Global Strategy and Leadership
Global Strategy and Leadership is the capstone lens: diagnose external and internal context, choose a coherent strategy, and think through implementation and leadership. Integration with ethics, reporting, and management accounting themes is intentional.
Elective subjects
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AAA · elective
Advanced Audit and Assurance
Advanced Audit and Assurance covers the assurance framework, planning, evidence, conclusions, and other assurance engagements. Success depends on applying standards to risk and materiality — not listing procedures in the abstract.
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FRM · elective
Financial Risk Management
Financial Risk Management focuses on identifying market, liquidity, and financing risks and the tools used to measure and manage them — including derivatives and hedge thinking, plus control of the risk function.
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DF · elective
Digital Finance
Digital Finance covers the ecosystem of digital money and platforms, technology in finance, analytics and visualisation, and the risk, governance, and regulation that sits around them.
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CBI · elective
Contemporary Business Issues
Contemporary Business Issues looks at how accountants respond to shifting business models, people, natural resources, and stakeholder expectations. Breadth is high — pattern recognition across themes beats deep technical silos.