The FAR CPA exam pass rate sits at 42.12% for 2025, the lowest of any core section on the exam.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates In plain terms, most people who sit for Financial Accounting and Reporting on any given attempt do not pass. That has been true for several years running, and the numbers help explain why so many candidates plan their study schedules around FAR first.
FAR Pass Rates From 2020 Through 2025
FAR has been trending downward for most of the decade. The section hit nearly 50% in 2020, its recent high point. It slid to roughly 44.5% in 2021, about 45% in 2022, and around 42–43% in 2023.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates
2024 is where things got ugly. When the CPA Evolution exam launched that January, the FAR cumulative pass rate fell to 39.59%, dipping below 40% for the first time in years. Q4 2024 came in at 36.80%. That kind of drop usually signals candidates adjusting to new content and structure rather than a permanent jump in difficulty, and the 2025 recovery to 42.12% supports that read. Even so, the current rate remains well below the 2020 high.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates
Within a single year, quarterly rates move too. In 2025, Q2 came in at 43.52% and Q4 dropped to 40.20%. The Q4 dip tends to reflect candidates rushing to beat credit expiration deadlines.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates
How FAR Compares to the Other CPA Sections
FAR is the toughest of the three core sections by a wide margin. In 2025, Auditing and Attestation (AUD) posted a 48.21% pass rate, about six points above FAR. Regulation (REG) came in at 63.12%, roughly 21 points higher.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates Candidates mapping out a study plan often underestimate that gap.
Among the discipline sections, Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR) posted a 41.94% pass rate in 2025, nearly identical to FAR. That matters because BAR absorbed some of the advanced accounting topics FAR used to cover. Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP) and Information Systems and Controls (ISC) both cleared 67% for reference.1AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates If you plan to sit for FAR and BAR, expect two of the hardest sections back to back.
Why FAR Is So Hard to Pass
Breadth of material is the main reason. FAR covers four content areas, each demanding a different kind of thinking:
- Financial Reporting Frameworks (25–35%): conceptual foundations, financial statement preparation for for-profit businesses and nonprofits, public company reporting, and employee benefit plan statements.
- Select Financial Statement Accounts (30–40%): the largest chunk, covering receivables, inventory, revenue recognition, income taxes, and long-term debt.
- Select Transactions (20–30%): business combinations, leases, derivatives, foreign currency, and differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
- State and Local Government Accounting (5–15%): government-wide financial statements, fund accounting, and the format of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
That last area sinks a disproportionate number of candidates. Most accounting programs spend the bulk of their coursework on corporate financial reporting, so candidates arrive at FAR with minimal exposure to governmental concepts. You can nail every inventory question and still get lost in fund balance classifications.
The format compounds the problem. FAR is four hours, with 50 multiple-choice questions and seven task-based simulations, each category worth half your score. The simulations are where most of the damage happens. They pull data from multiple exhibits, require you to work through realistic scenarios, and eat time quickly. Candidates who lean on memorization for multiple-choice can still get buried by simulations that test whether you actually understand the concepts well enough to apply them.
What CPA Evolution Changed
The CPA Evolution model took effect in January 2024, reorganizing the exam into three core sections (FAR, AUD, REG) and three discipline electives (BAR, ISC, TCP). Some material previously tested on FAR, including portions of state and local government accounting, moved to BAR.2National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam Transition FAQs The stated goal was to focus FAR on foundational financial accounting knowledge and push advanced topics to the discipline tracks.
On paper that should have made FAR easier. In practice, the 2024 pass rate hit its lowest point in years. Some of that reflects transition friction: review materials needed updating, candidates were uncertain about what the new exam would emphasize, and early sitters absorbed the brunt of that uncertainty. The 2025 rebound to 42.12% suggests the adjustment period is easing, but FAR’s core difficulty has not fundamentally changed. The material still spans an enormous range of accounting standards, and the exam still asks you to toggle between commercial and governmental accounting within the same four-hour window.
What Passing FAR Realistically Takes
Most CPA review providers recommend 120 to 150 hours of study specifically for FAR, more than any other section. At a pace of 10 to 12 hours per week, that works out to roughly 10 to 15 weeks. Your timeline depends on how recently you finished your accounting coursework and how much governmental accounting exposure you had in school.
A few patterns show up in who passes on the first try. Candidates who sat within a year or two of finishing their degree tend to fare better, because technical accounting knowledge fades faster than audit or tax concepts. Candidates who spent real time practicing task-based simulations, not just drilling multiple-choice questions, also do better. Waiting several years after graduation before attempting FAR is a common way to end up in the failing majority.
Retakes get expensive. NASBA’s recommended fee for each section is $262.64, covering Prometric and AICPA charges. Application fees and state-specific costs push a single attempt over $300 in most jurisdictions. Failing FAR twice means more than $600 in exam fees alone, not counting extended access to your review course.
The 30-Month Credit Window and Why Order Matters
Once you pass FAR, you have a rolling 30-month window to pass the other three sections before your FAR credit expires.3National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record That’s an expansion from the old 18-month rule, adopted in 2023, and it gives working candidates meaningful breathing room.
The pass rate is the reason exam order becomes a real decision. Many candidates take FAR first precisely because it’s the hardest, which means the 30-month clock starts with the worst section already handled. Others build confidence with an easier section first. Neither approach is wrong, but if you save FAR for last and fail it twice, earlier credits can expire before you get through. If you do fail, you can retake as soon as your score for the previous attempt is released; there is no mandatory waiting period beyond that.