CPA Books and Study Guide

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Blog Author :

WallStreetMojo Team

Edited by :

Ashish Kumar Srivastav

Reviewed by :

Dheeraj Vaidya, CFA, FRM

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Top 10 CPA Books & Study Guide [Updated 2023]

CPA Books and Study Guide are the different books available having the information about fundamentals and the other related concepts required for clearing the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam. Below is the list of such books on the CPA and Study guide that you must read in 2023 -

  1. CPA Exam For Dummies
  2. How to Pass The CPA Exam: The IPassTheCPAExam.com Guide for International Candidates
  3. McGraw-Hill Education 2,000 Review Questions for the CPA Exam
  4. CPA Exam Secrets Study Guide: CPA Test Review for the Certified Public Accountant Exam
  5. Wiley CPAexcel Exam Review 2021 Study Guide: Complete Set (Wiley CPA Exam Review)
  6. The Vest-Pocket CPA: Second Edition (“Vest-Pocket” Series)
  7. The Complete CPA Reference
  8. You Can Pass the CPA Exam: Get Motivated: Knowledge and Confidence-Building Techniques
  9. How to Prepare for the Certified Public Accountant Exam
  10. How to Pass the CPA Exam: On the First Try (The Career CPA)

Let us discuss each of the CPA study guide books in detail along with its key takeaways and reviews.

CPA Study Guide Books

#1 - CPA Exam For Dummies

by Kenneth Boyd

If you would like to read any guide on CPA, start with this one.

Book Review

Like all Dummies books, this is pretty easy to read, and you can finish chapters with ease. If you would like to pass CPA exam, you should grab this book. It will help you brush off the knowledge and teach you the required fundamentals you need to know to pass the exam. Though it shouldn’t be the only publication you study before your exam, it can be a great introduction before you read anything else. And if you’re in confusion about whether you should pursue CPA or not, this will help you do the soul search.

Key Takeaways

  • In this edition, you will get over 4000 CPA exam questions and the required answers. These questions and answers will help you prepare for the CPA exam.
  • You will also be able to solve 164 CPA exam simulations, which will make you feel that you’re actually giving the CPA exam.
  • Other than that, you will also be able to find section like “CPA Exam 101” where you will learn the structure of the exam and how the answers are graded.

#2 - Wiley CPAexcel Exam Review 2021 Study Guide: Complete Set (Wiley CPA Exam Review)

by Wiley

These sets of books are the only requirement for cracking CPA exam.

Book Review

If you are looking for a set of textbooks and couldn’t find anywhere, your search ends here. These four books will cover everything you need to know for cracking the Certified Public Accountant exam in one go. From fundamental concepts to questions, from simulations to bite-sized lessons, you will get everything in these books.

The only pitfall is that they don’t come with a CD-ROM. So if you want to experience how CPA exam happens through computer tests, you can ask for two weeks free access to Wiley’s online website or can use the coupons/discounts Wiley sends to their newsletter subscribers. However, these four books are the ultimate resources for CPA preparation.

Key Takeaways

  • You will get over 3400+ pages of material, and these can be used as textbooks.
  • You will also learn everything about each subject (AUD, BEC, FAR, & REG) through these books.
  • You will also receive 2000+ multiple choice questions, 170+ simulations, and 600+ bite sized lesson in these books.

#3 - McGraw-Hill Education 2,000 Review Questions for the CPA Exam

by Denis M. Stefano and Darrel Surett

The name proves what it’s all about. Let’s have a look at the review and best takeaways.

Book Review

It is a comprehensive book on practicing the questions for CPA Exams. According to the readers, the questions are pretty good, but the only issue is with few answers. You may need to refer to some other books for a few answers, but in this price-point, a 500+ pages book is a good bet. However, it shouldn’t be the first book you should read if you’re preparing for the CPA exam.

Once you are thorough with the CPA structure, curriculum, how the marks are given, you can pick this CPA Exam Study Guide for intensive practice. It can act as supplementary material to your overall CPA exam preparation.

Key Takeaways

  • This book is very systematic, and each subject is perfectly arranged in order. All the 2000 questions that you will attempt will be in perfect sequence. Thus, practicing becomes significantly easier.
  • Few answers are wrong (better to say misprinted), but overall every answer is given in detail so that you can find why of everyhow.
  • The questions given in the book have maintained the standard of the CPA exam questions and after practicing these questions, you won’t find any difficulty in solving CPA exam questions.

#4 - CPA Exam Secrets Study Guide: CPA Test Review for the Certified Public Accountant Exam

by CPA Exam Secrets Test Prep Team

This book is for you if you want to clear your concepts about Certified Public Accountant exam.

Book Review

Many readers have mentioned that this is the best CPA guide they have ever read. Looking at the content, it will seem so because, under 284 pages, the entire curriculum of CPA is given here. All you need to do is to study through all the pages whenever you have time for the recapitulation. It will act as a supplementary to the concepts and fundamentals you have already learned for CPA exams. Each section is arranged in a proper manner so that you can browse through the entire section in a go and then can start with the next section.

Key Takeaways

  • This is short compared to the lengthy guides that have been written for the CPA exam. As a result, you can digest the material easily and crack the exam.
  • Every concept in four different subjects is mentioned in detail so that you can get a sound idea about each topic covered under CPA.
  • The language is lucid and doesn’t include any academic jargons. As a result, you can read this book whenever and wherever you want to hone your fundamentals.

#5 - How to Pass The CPA Exam: The IPassTheCPAExam.com Guide for International Candidates

by Wiley

USA is not the only country where people sit for CPA. This guide is perfect for international candidates who would like to pass the exam.

Book Review

From the readers’ perspective, this book will not only serve the international candidates but will also serve candidates in the USA. This edition is very detailed and talks about many aspects of the CPA exam e.g., study plans, checklists, travel scenarios, and how to prepare for each exam, and so on. Imagine having an outline of how you can crack CPA with proper study, plans, and information on every minute detail, and this book is it. It will also save you time browsing the net for hours, and all the information, doubt, questions, queries you have about CPA, you will get all of them solved here.

Key Takeaways

  • This is the cheapest way to pass the CPA exam. And the author is also a CPA, so she has written it from experience.
  • No other book will give you an international perspective better than this book.
  • You will also receive effective and pragmatic resources for the preparation of Certified Public Accountants.
  • You will learn how to pass this exam under a year. The author did and shared her techniques in this book.

#6 - The Vest-Pocket CPA: Second Edition (“Vest-Pocket” Series)

by Nick A. Dauber, Joel G. Siegel and Jae K. Shim

This is an easy-to-digest CPA reference manual for professionals who would like to brush off their accounting skill.

Book Review

On the surface, it would seem that it is a book for leisure, but it’s not. Readers who have purchased and gone through this book have reported that it is one of the best books they have ever bought for a Certified Public Accountant exam. Of course, it can’t be treated as a textbook, but if you want to remember the fundamentals, this book is unparalleled. The only thing that you may call a demerit is it only talks about accounting. But if we focus only on accounting, this is an accounting library by itself. If you are preparing for CPA or already earned a CPA, this book will help you become ready for any circumstance. In a nutshell, it is a small volume of a few years of accounting courses.

Key Takeaways

  • In the complex world of accounting, this book has become a go-to resource for professionals for the last 15 years.
  • This Study guide is a comprehensive resource on what to look for, what to do, what to watch out for, and how to do it in accounting. All of the resources are given in easy to understand Q&A format and talk about topics like ratios, financial measures, procedures, checklists, and solutions.
  • It also includes new risk assessment auditing standards and standards of the PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board).

#7 - The Complete CPA Reference

by Nick A. Dauber, Jae K. Shim and Joel G. Siegel

This book is another masterpiece of these authors who have also written the “vest pocket guide”.

Book Review

This book is very comprehensive, and you will learn everything you need to learn and more. It has over 700 pages and contains checklists, solutions, and fundamental concepts of accounting. If you buy this edition as a reference, you don’t need any other CPA reference book for accounting. Have a textbook and use this book as a supplementary, and you are done with 1/4th of CPA syllabus. It is not only written for CPA preparation, but it’s also useful for professionals who have already cleared CPA. As a would-be CPA, you can use it and take your knowledge in accounting to a different level.

Key Takeaways

  • You will learn a lot from this book. From accounting standards Codification (ASC), GAAP, IFRS, financial accounting, financial planning to financial statement analysis, risk assessment, auditing, and taxation, you will learn everything from this book.
  • Even if it is written for CPA professionals, every would-be CPA should read this before clearing their exam because it will give an idea about what to expect in an accounting environment and how to respond to them.

#8 - You Can Pass the CPA Exam: Get Motivated: Knowledge and Confidence-Building Techniques

by Debra R. Hopkins

Learning is only half of what you need to pass the CPA exam. The other half would be shown in this book.

Book Review

The idea is to clear the exam in one go, in the first attempt. And this publication will show you how. Clearing the CPA exam is not after all the work of a faint-hearted person. You always need to push forward to read mammoth books and try to internalize the materials as much as you can, which is never easy. This study guide will show you how to prepare well, how to feel confident about your ability to clear the exam, and how to bring in the lost motivation. The supplementary audio given with it is invaluable to the students. It has turned out to be a great resource, and one should listen to it again and again to optimize the benefit.

Key Takeaways

  • There are many CPA study guides available in the market which talk about what to prepare for CPA; this book shows you how to prepare for CPA so that you can clear the exam in the first attempt.
  • There are four deliverables you will get from this Wiley masterpiece – a 60-minute audio program on how to stay top of the CPA exam, questions for the CPA exam, a section on how to divide the mammoth material into easy-to-digest pieces, and lastly, strategies to stay motivated during the exam preparation.

#9 - How to Prepare for the Certified Public Accountant Exam (Barron’s How to Prepare for the CPA Exam)

by CPA Nick Dauber

This book is old but has all the golden nuggets you need to pass the CPA exam.

Book Review

This was published in 1998. If you look at the publication year, it’s pretty old, but that doesn’t change the worthiness of the material. When students selected this book in 2014, it has the same relevance. But of course, a new edition of this book will help students more as they wouldn’t need to search relevant multiple-choice questions all over the place.

The CPA exam mechanism has changed a lot since when it was published. But the techniques and materials are still valid today. Moreover, under $12, it is really a no-brainer. Buy it and learn the material, and don’t forget to compare the materials with any recent book mentioned above. This can surely be a great resource for your CPA preparation.

Key Takeaways

  • Read this book as a fundamental resource to learn all the four subjects, and you would know why this book is still relevant in present scenarios.
  • It will not only teach you every subject, but it will also give ideas about how to prepare for the exam, how to organize study habits, how to apply for the CPA exam, how to deal with computational questions, and so on and so forth.
  • And you are getting a 500+ pages CPA guide under $12. What more can you get?

Pick up three CPA study guides from the above list. The first one should be a textbook, another would be a reference manual, and another should be a book on how to prepare for the CPA exam. And you will be good to go.

#10 - How to Pass the CPA Exam: On the First Try (The Career CPA)

by Kary R. Shumway

This is a short guide, and it will help you pass the CPA exam in one try.

Book Review

It is a strategy book on how to pass CPA. The author passed the exam and shared his experience in this book. You may wonder what a 42 page CPA study guide can teach someone about the CPA exam. But we shouldn’t go by the size of the book; rather, we need to look at the content and see whether it’s useful or not. If we look at the review of the readers, we will see that many students have mentioned how the techniques outlined in this book have helped them ace the exam in one try. You can read this book in one afternoon and apply the strategies and tools immediately. The author passed the exam a while ago, but the ideas and strategies he applied to pass the CPA exam are still very relevant.

Key Takeaways

  • It’s said that the best ideas are often found in a small package. For this book, we can say the same thing. This book is pretty easy to read and very short. So you would understand the return on investment immediately.
  • The strategies, techniques, and tactics in this book will help you in your exam. And you will get more value from this book than you will pay for.

Pick up three books from the above list. The first one should be a textbook, another would be a reference manual, and another should be a book on how to prepare for the Certified Public Accountant exam. And you will be good to go.