BAR CPA Exam: Complete Guide to the Business Analysis and Reporting Discipline

• ➻ by
  Bryan Kesler, CPA

  

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

  Bryan Kesler, CPA is a CPA Practice Advisor Top 20 Under 40, Licensed Certified Public Accountant, and founder of Kesler CPA Review, Community and Mentorship Platform. 

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  Full Bio >> | Contact Bryan

• ✎ Published February 10, 2026
• 🕑 14 min read

 

BAR (Business Analysis and Reporting) is one of three discipline sections introduced under CPA Evolution in January 2024. Every CPA candidate must choose and pass one discipline: BAR, ISC, or TCP.

BAR is the most popular choice, and there's a good reason for that. It builds directly on your FAR knowledge. If you did well on FAR, or you're heading into audit, financial reporting, or general accounting, BAR is the natural extension of what you've already studied.

But "builds on FAR" does not mean "easy." BAR tests higher-order skills. Where FAR asks you to record a transaction, BAR asks you to analyze what that transaction means for the business. Where FAR asks you to calculate a number, BAR asks you to interpret a chart, evaluate a ratio, or assess financial health.

That shift catches more candidates than you'd expect. BAR's pass rate sits around 42%, right alongside FAR at the bottom of the pack. The candidates who fail aren't failing because they're unprepared. They're failing because they prepared for the wrong type of question.

Most of my Kesler CPA Review mentorship candidates choose BAR. The ones who pass all share two things: they took it close to FAR, and they practiced the analytical question format before exam day. This guide will show you exactly how to do both.

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What Is the BAR Discipline?

BAR stands for Business Analysis and Reporting. It tests higher-order skills in financial reporting, data analytics, and financial management. Think of it as "FAR 2.0" with more emphasis on analysis and less on memorization.

BAR was designed for candidates pursuing general accounting, audit, financial reporting, or advisory careers. It covers content formerly tested on FAR and the now-retired BEC section, plus new analytical topics including data analytics and financial management concepts.

The important distinction: BAR is not just "more FAR questions." The question style shifts toward application, analysis, and evaluation. You'll see more scenario-based questions where you need to interpret data, assess financial health, or recommend actions. Candidates who go in expecting more journal entry questions get a rude wake-up call on exam day.

Source: AICPA CPA Exam Blueprints, AICPA Scoring & Pass Rates.

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What Does BAR Test? (AICPA Blueprint Breakdown)

BAR has three content areas according to the AICPA Blueprints. Here's what each covers and how heavily it's weighted. Click each area to expand the full topic list.

Area I: Financial Statement Analysis (30-40%) Area II: Technical Accounting and Reporting (35-45%) Area III: State and Local Government Accounting and Reporting (20-30%)

Source: AICPA CPA Exam Blueprints (2026), UWorld BAR Guide.

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BAR vs ISC vs TCP: Which Discipline Should You Choose?

You have to choose one. Here's how they compare at a glance.

Choose BAR if you're going into general audit, financial reporting, advisory, or any career path where broad accounting knowledge matters more than deep specialization. BAR is also the safest "general purpose" choice if you're unsure of your exact career path.

Choose ISC if your career involves IT audit, SOC reporting, cybersecurity advisory, or technology consulting. Choose TCP if you're going into tax compliance, planning, or advisory.

If your employer has a preference, follow it. Many firms (particularly audit and advisory practices) expect or prefer BAR. Ask before you decide.

You can change your discipline later by retaking the discipline exam, but you can't "add" a second discipline to your CPA credential. Choose based on your 5-year career trajectory, not just what seems easiest to pass.

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BAR Pass Rate and Difficulty

BAR's pass rate has hovered around 42% based on AICPA data aggregated from 2024-2025. That puts it in the same range as FAR and makes it one of the lower-passing sections on the exam. Limited historical data exists since BAR launched in January 2024, but early results are consistent enough to draw conclusions.

Why candidates struggle with BAR comes down to three things.

First, the analytical shift. Candidates coming off FAR expect the same question style and get surprised. BAR asks "what does this data tell us?" not "what journal entry do we record?" That requires a different kind of preparation.

Second, the data analytics component is genuinely new for most candidates. Even though it doesn't require coding, many accounting graduates have never practiced interpreting dashboards or data visualizations in an exam context. The first time you see a scatter plot on a CPA exam and have to explain what it means, you don't want that to be on test day.

Third, government accounting at an advanced level trips up the same candidates it tripped up on FAR, except now they've had months to forget the material. If government was your weak spot on FAR, it's still your weak spot on BAR unless you actively fix it.

Overall difficulty: most candidates find BAR moderate relative to FAR. The content is narrower, and the FAR foundation gives you a running start. But underestimating it leads to failure.

See the latest pass rates for all CPA exam sections »

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How Long to Study for BAR

BAR typically gets the smallest time allocation of all four sections because of its overlap with FAR. But "smallest" doesn't mean "small." Here are the numbers.

The single biggest variable in your BAR study time is how recently you took FAR. If you passed FAR last month, the consolidations, government accounting, and financial statement topics are still fresh. You're building on top of existing knowledge. If FAR was 6 months ago, you're re-learning material that's decayed, which effectively doubles your BAR prep time.

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Best Study Order Within BAR

Study order matters on BAR because the three content areas build on each other differently. Here's the sequence I recommend to my mentorship candidates.

Start with Technical Accounting and Reporting (35-45%). This is the heaviest-weighted area and the most direct extension of FAR. Business combinations, consolidations, derivatives, and foreign currency are all topics you've seen before at a surface level. Now you go deeper. Starting here leverages your FAR knowledge while it's freshest.

Move to Financial Statement Analysis in the middle (30-40%). Data analytics, financial statement analysis, ratio analysis, and financial management concepts. This is the "new" material for most candidates. Give it dedicated time because the question style is different from anything you've seen on FAR. Start interpreting visualizations and data exhibits early. The skill of "reading a chart and drawing conclusions" feels easy in theory but takes practice under timed exam conditions.

Tackle Government Accounting last (20-30%). This is the lowest-weighted area, but it's still testable and it's the area candidates are most likely to skip entirely. If you struggled with government on FAR, don't skip it again. Review fund types, modified accrual vs. full accrual, and budgetary accounting.

Practice simulations throughout. Don't save sims for the last week. BAR sims may involve analyzing a dataset, reading financial statements to identify issues, or evaluating a business scenario with supporting data. Practice at least 25-30 TBS before exam day.

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Study Strategy for BAR

MCQ volume: aim for 1,000-1,500+ MCQs before sitting. That's less than FAR because the content is narrower, but the questions are more analytical and scenario-based. Quality of review matters more than raw volume. Read every explanation, even on questions you get right. BAR questions often have 2-3 "close" answer choices, and understanding why the wrong answers are wrong is where the real learning happens.

Leverage your FAR notes. Don't re-study everything from scratch. Pull out your FAR notes on consolidations, government accounting, and financial statements. Update and deepen them for BAR-level questions. This saves you 15-20 hours of redundant work.

Data analytics preparation. Practice interpreting bar charts, scatter plots, trend lines, and pie charts with financial data. The exam may present a visualization and ask you to draw a conclusion, identify an anomaly, or recommend an action. This is a trainable skill, but only if you actually train it.

Financial management concepts. These may be new to candidates who skipped finance courses. Understand working capital ratios, capital budgeting methods (NPV, IRR, payback period), and cost of capital at a conceptual level. You won't need to do complex calculations, but you need to understand what these metrics mean and when to use them.

Government accounting refresh. Create a comparison table of fund types (governmental, proprietary, fiduciary) with their measurement focus and basis of accounting. This single reference tool can save you 5-10 questions on exam day.

Practice exams: take at least 2 full-length practice exams under timed conditions. Limited data exists on a "BAR Bump" equivalent, so calibrate your readiness based on trending scores and topic-level analytics rather than a single mock score.

For more detailed study techniques, see my 21 CPA Exam Study Tips.

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Best CPA Review Courses for BAR

All major courses have been updated for CPA Evolution and include BAR-specific modules. However, discipline section content quality varies more than core section content because it's newer and still being refined. Here's how each course performs specifically for BAR.

For a full breakdown of every course's features, pricing, and pros/cons, visit our Top CPA Review Courses Comparison page.

Link Disclaimer: Some links are affiliate links or links to my Kesler CPA study supplement, and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a referral fee if you decide to invest in a course listed above. Please only use my links if you feel that I have helped you in your review course decision.

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Testing Windows for BAR

This is where discipline sections differ from core sections, and it catches candidates off guard.

Core sections (FAR, AUD, REG) are available year-round through continuous testing at Prometric centers. Discipline sections (BAR, ISC, TCP) are only available during quarterly testing windows, typically the first month of each quarter: January, April, July, and October.

That means if you finish studying in February, you're waiting until April. If you finish in May, you're waiting until July. Missing a window means waiting 3 months for the next one, and that delay can disrupt your entire exam timeline and put credit expiration at risk.

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Common Mistakes on BAR

1. Waiting too long after FAR. Every month between FAR and BAR costs you study hours re-learning material you already knew. Take BAR next if it's your chosen discipline. Candidates who wait 6+ months effectively double their study time.
2. Treating BAR like "just more FAR questions." The question style shifts toward analysis and application. If you're studying by memorizing journal entries, you're preparing for the wrong exam. BAR rewards understanding over recall.
3. Skipping data analytics practice. This is genuinely new content for most candidates and it feels unfamiliar. Practice interpreting data exhibits until it's comfortable. The first time you see a scatter plot on a CPA exam shouldn't be on test day.
4. Ignoring government accounting (again). If you skipped it on FAR, you'll be tempted to skip it on BAR. It's 20-30% of the exam. That's the difference between passing and failing.
5. Not practicing sims. BAR sims are scenario-based and analytical. They require different preparation than MCQs. Do at least 25-30 full TBS before exam day.
6. Underestimating financial management concepts. NPV, IRR, working capital management. These may be foreign to candidates who haven't taken a finance course since college. Budget dedicated study time for these topics rather than hoping you'll pick them up from MCQ explanations alone.

If you've already failed BAR and need a recovery plan, read my step-by-step guide to retaking a failed CPA exam section.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is BAR harder than FAR? Should I take BAR right after FAR? Can I change my discipline section after I've started studying? What is the BAR pass rate in 2026? Do I need to know coding or programming for BAR's data analytics questions?

 

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Your Next Steps

You now know what BAR covers, how to study for it, and which mistakes to avoid. Here's what to do next:

If you haven't chosen a CPA review course yet, visit our Top CPA Review Courses Comparison to find the right fit for your learning style and budget.

If you want structured guidance and accountability, explore Kesler CPA Review's mentorship program.

For the full picture of how BAR fits into the overall exam, read the complete CPA Exam Structure guide and my 21 study tips and strategies.

If you have questions, email [email protected].