As all of you should know, any new pronouncements are usually eligible for CPA exam testing 6 months after their effective date. So, for example, if a new rule comes into play on December 15 (which they do often for companies that have a year end of December 31), it can appear on the CPA exam as early as the third testing window of the following year.
Considering how anxious the Board of Examiners was to shove IFRS content into the exam long before the U.S. actually decided to use those standards (which, as of 3:04 PM today, isn't happening unless Satan ice skated to work this morning), this development is interesting:
The International Accounting Standards Board issued IFRS 15, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, on May 28, 2014. IFRS 15 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and earlier application is permitted. Under the CPA Exam Policy on New Pronouncements, IFRS 15 would become eligible for testing on January 1, 2015, in the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA Exam.
Given the scope and significance of IFRS 15, the AICPA Board of Examiners has decided that the standard will not be tested in the FAR section of the CPA Exam prior to January 1, 2016. The BOE will re-evaluate its decision during the second quarter of 2015 to determine whether an additional deferral of IFRS 15 is necessary. All other accounting and auditing pronouncements, including amendments to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification in Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, will continue to follow the Policy on New Pronouncements.
Now, this could mean the BoE is seriously considering a little heel dragging on stuffing more IFRS into the exam. Or it could mean nothing at all. All you need to know is that IFRS 15 will not appear in FAR until at least 2016, if then.
