Lumenary Prep

Uniform CPA Examination, Business Analysis and Reporting (Discipline section)

CPA Exam: Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR)

Business analysis, advanced technical accounting and state and local government reporting.

AI-drafted · awaiting expert reviewWritten for the Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints effective January 1, 2027, which govern BAR from the January 2027 testing window (the BAR content is the same as in the January 1, 2026 blueprints except for one clarified OPEB task). Accounting content reflects the FASB and GASB pronouncements eligible for testing in 2027 under the AICPA's policy on new pronouncements; where a newer standard is issued but not yet testable, the lesson says so. Exam facts verified on aicpa-cima.com and nasba.org on 9 November 2026.

A complete, original course for the CPA Exam's Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR) Discipline section, organized by the AICPA's BAR blueprint and weighted like it. Area I, Business Analysis (40–50%), teaches financial statement and ratio analysis, non-financial and non-GAAP measures, cost accounting and variance analysis, budgeting, forecasting and breakeven analysis, capital structure and the cost of capital, capital budgeting and valuation, enterprise risk management and working capital, and economic and market influences, with every calculation worked in plain tables. Area II, Technical Accounting and Reporting (35–45%), covers goodwill and intangibles, software and R&D, revenue contract analysis, stock compensation, business combinations, consolidations and variable interest entities, foreign currency, derivatives and hedging, lessor and sale-and-leaseback accounting, SEC reporting, XBRL and segments, and employee benefit plan statements, explained in our own words and cited to the FASB Codification and the SEC's rules. Area III, State and Local Governments (10–20%), covers the GASB reporting model as amended by Statement No. 103, fund accounting, typical transactions, and the conversion worksheet and reconciliations. Each lesson has worked journal entries, traps and a self-check, followed by practice questions with full explanations, including task-based-simulation-style exhibits with typed numeric answers. A full-length practice exam mirrors BAR's five testlets: 50 multiple-choice questions and 7 simulation-style cases. Use it alongside the AICPA's free sample test.

About the exam

Syllabus

23 lessons, 238 practice questions and 1 timed practice exam.

Getting Started

  1. How the BAR section and the CPA Exam work

    The CPA Exam's three Core sections and three Disciplines, the BAR section's five testlets (50 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations in four hours), its blueprint weights and skill levels, Discipline testing windows, scoring and score release, and a study plan for this course.

    1. How the BAR section and the CPA Exam workFree sample30 min

Area I: Business Analysis (40–50%)

  1. Current-period and historical analysis

    Blueprint Area I, Group A: comparing results with prior periods and budgets, ratio analysis using the AICPA's published definitions, data attributes and analytics outputs, the effect of transactions on the statements, non-financial and non-GAAP measures and the balanced scorecard, cost behavior and costing methods, and variance analysis including price, volume and mix.

    1. Financial statement and ratio analysisFree sample50 min
    2. Non-financial and non-GAAP measures(included with the course)40 min
    3. Cost behavior and costing methods(included with the course)55 min
    4. Variance analysis(included with the course)55 min

  2. Prospective analysis

    Blueprint Area I, Group B: budgets, forecasts and projections (including breakeven, sensitivity and what-if analysis), capital structure and the cost of capital, valuing and comparing investment alternatives, risk management under the COSO ERM framework and working capital, and economic and market influences on a business.

    1. Budgeting, forecasting and cost-volume-profit analysis(included with the course)55 min
    2. Capital structure and the cost of capital(included with the course)50 min
    3. Capital budgeting and valuation models(included with the course)60 min
    4. Enterprise risk management and working capital(included with the course)50 min
    5. Economic and market influences on a business(included with the course)50 min

Area II: Technical Accounting and Reporting (35–45%)

  1. Intangibles, software, R&D, revenue and stock compensation

    Blueprint Area II, Groups A–E: goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles (measurement and impairment), internally developed software and research and development costs, analysing contracts and data under the five-step revenue model, and share-based payment awards classified as equity or as liabilities.

    1. Goodwill, indefinite-lived intangibles, software and R&D(included with the course)55 min
    2. Revenue recognition: analysing contracts and data(included with the course)55 min
    3. Stock compensation(included with the course)50 min

  2. Business combinations, consolidations and foreign currency

    Blueprint Area II, Groups F–G: the acquisition method (consideration, goodwill, bargain purchases, noncontrolling interests), consolidation procedures and variable interest entities, functional currency, translation and remeasurement, and the presentation of translation adjustments.

    1. Business combinations(included with the course)55 min
    2. Consolidations, variable interest entities and noncontrolling interests(included with the course)55 min
    3. Foreign currency: functional currency, translation and remeasurement(included with the course)50 min

  3. Derivatives, hedging and leases

    Blueprint Area II, Groups H–I: what makes a contract a derivative, embedded derivatives, the criteria for hedge accounting, interest rate swaps in fair value and cash flow hedges, and lease accounting with a focus on lessors, sale-and-leaseback transactions and reading lease agreements.

    1. Derivatives and hedge accounting(included with the course)55 min
    2. Leases: lessors, sale-and-leaseback and reading lease agreements(included with the course)60 min

  4. Public-company reporting and employee benefit plans

    Blueprint Area II, Groups J–K: Regulation S-X and Regulation S-K, periodic reports, XBRL, reportable segments and their disclosures, and the financial statements of defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans.

    1. Public-company reporting: SEC rules, XBRL and segments(included with the course)55 min
    2. Financial statements of employee benefit plans(included with the course)45 min

Area III: State and Local Governments (10–20%)

  1. State and local governments

    Blueprint Area III: the annual comprehensive financial report, fund structure, measurement focus and basis of accounting, government-wide and fund statements, the reporting entity, typical transactions (nonexchange revenue, expenditures, budgets and encumbrances, interfund activity, capital assets, debt, pensions and OPEB, fund balance and net position), and the conversion worksheet and reconciliations.

    1. The governmental reporting model and the ACFR(included with the course)60 min
    2. Governmental transactions: revenues, expenditures, budgets, debt and balances(included with the course)60 min
    3. Deriving government-wide statements and the reconciliations(included with the course)55 min

Practice exams

  • BAR Practice Exam 1 (full length)85 questions · 240 minutesIncluded with the course

Free official resources

Use these alongside the course. They are free, and they are the final word.

  • CPA Exam sample testsThe AICPA's free sample test, a shorter version of each section in the real exam software, including BAR multiple-choice questions and simulations, with the correct answers shown. Take it before test day to learn the interface, the spreadsheet and the research tools. An accessible version is linked from the same page.
  • Uniform CPA Examination BlueprintsThe official content specification. Download the blueprints effective January 1, 2027 (BAR pages BAR1–BAR18), the summary of changes, and the analytics definitions and valuation metrics the Exam uses.
  • When you'll get your CPA Exam scoreThe AICPA's target score release dates for each Core and Discipline testing window, including the adjusted 2027–28 schedule.
  • CPA Exam scoringHow scaled scores, the MCQ/TBS weighting and the Candidate Performance Report work.
  • CPA Exam FAQ (AICPA)Testlets, breaks, tools, pretest questions and other practical questions.
  • CPA Exam Candidate Guide (NASBA)Applying, scheduling, test-day rules, breaks, score release and links to each jurisdiction's examination credit rules.
  • CPA Exam FAQ (NASBA)Scheduling Discipline sections, credit periods by jurisdiction and the 2027 schedule change.
  • FASB Accounting Standards CodificationThe authoritative U.S. GAAP for businesses, free to read in Basic View after registering. Practise finding topics by number: BAR simulations can ask you to research excerpts.
  • GASB standards and guidanceGASB pronouncements, summaries and implementation guidance for state and local governments.
  • Regulation S-X and Regulation S-K (eCFR)The SEC's financial statement rules (17 CFR part 210); Regulation S-K is part 229. Public domain and free to read.

Lumenary Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the AICPA, NASBA or any state board of accountancy. Only a state board of accountancy grants the CPA license. The AICPA's blueprints and standards, and the FASB's, GASB's, PCAOB's and COSO's materials, are copyrighted: this course explains them in its own words and links to the official text. Every source this course cites.