This is the wrong question.
Better questions are:
- Which CPA Subject will best help me in my career?
- Which CPA Subject will I find the most interesting?
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There is no correct answer to which is easiest, because what is easy for one person is not easy for another:
a) Technical subjects like Financial Reporting (FR), Financial Risk Management (FRM) and Taxation (AT and ATA) are easy for some people who like to follow specific rules and checklists, and hard for others who are less disciplined to work through every step.
b) Conceptual subjects like Ethics & Governance (EG), Contemporary Business Issues (CBI) and Global Strategy & Leadership (GSL) are easy for some people who like concepts, ideas and lots of stories and examples. But, some people find these extremely hard and ambiguous, because they prefer clear rules for everything.
As an example, I find EG, SMA, CBI and GSL very easy. I can read them once and grasp them well and remember them clearly. But, FR, FRM and Tax for me are hard work. I can still learn them, but I have to really work at them. So, each person is different.
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Do you want to visit a doctor who chose the easiest subjects?
Do you want to use a lawyer who focused on the easiest subjects?
Do you want to hire an architect who believed that getting a pass was fine, and does not really care about learning the content in detail?
I’m guessing no.
So, imagine someone wanting to hire an accountant. How many job ads do you see that say:
“Looking for an accountant who chose the easiest subjects to get qualified, and just scraped through with a pass”.
If you don’t really like studying accounting subjects, and are not really focused on working in this field for your career, I think a better choice than doing the easy subjects is to find a career path you enjoy – and become excellent at that.
Some other things to keep in mind are
- Try not to use previous semester CPA pass rates as a factor to inform your subject selection.
- Try not to be influenced by the opinions of others on the difficulty levels of subjects as what one person finds difficult, another person might find easy.
- If you have deferred or failed a subject, don’t just assume that you can/should take multiple subjects the following semester to ‘catch-up’. You need to make sure you have the time and discipline to get through both subjects – you don’t want to dig yourself into a deeper hole!
- Length of the study guide (for instance number of modules or number of pages) is not always relevant. Some people find it much easier to master technical, rule based content – while others prefer conceptual and narrative based reading.
Here is a link to the CPA Australia CPA Program discussion on CPA subjects structure and requirements.
Regards,
Courtney
