The research
simulation, and
the one-digit miss
On a CPA research simulation the expensive mistake is not failing to find the topic. It is finding the right topic, the right subtopic, and the wrong section — citing 842-20-25 when the question asked for 842-20-30. Recognition answers “does this go on the books at all”; initial measurement answers “at what amount, on day one”. Two questions, two sections, one digit apart, and the cell is marked wrong either way.
Source: AICPA, CPA Exam toolkit — exam structure and scoring · checked 2026-08-15 · simulations and the structure of the exam
How a CPA research simulation reference is built
A Codification reference narrows in three steps, and each step is a separate place to go wrong.
| Part | What it identifies | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Topic | The subject area | 842 Leases, 740 Income Taxes, 330 Inventory, 606 Revenue |
| Subtopic | The party or situation; −10 is always Overall | 842-20 Lessee, 842-30 Lessor |
| Section | The kind of guidance | −25 Recognition, −30 Initial Measurement |
The section numbers are consistent across every topic, which is what makes them worth learning once: −05 Overview and Background, −15 Scope, −20 Glossary, −25 Recognition, −30 Initial Measurement, −35 Subsequent Measurement, −45 Other Presentation Matters, −50 Disclosure.
A worked cell from one of our own simulations
our own practice item Written by us against the public Blueprint. Not an AICPA question and not taken from any review course.
Q. A client is a lessee that has just signed a five-year equipment lease. They want to know at what amount the lease liability goes onto the balance sheet on the commencement date.
Answer: 842-20-30.
Topic 842 is Leases. Subtopic −20 is Lessee, as opposed to −10 Overall or −30 Lessor. Section −30 is Initial Measurement, which is the section that answers “at what amount does this go on the books on day one”.
One coincidence worth memorising, because it catches people who have learned the structure properly: the 30 in 842-30 means the lessor subtopic, while the 30 in 842-20-30 means initial measurement. Same digits, different position, different meaning.
The three ways to go wrong, each with its own first question
842-20-25 — recognition_vs_initial_measurement
“Topic and Subtopic are right; the Section is one step off. −25 answers ‘does it go on the books at all’, while the client is asking ‘at what amount’. Which rows of the section list do those two questions map to?”
842-10-30 — overall_instead_of_lessee
“The Section is right but the Subtopic is too broad. −10 is Overall, which covers lessees and lessors together. Which side is the client on, and what is that side’s subtopic number?”
842-20-35 — subsequent_vs_initial
“−35 covers how the amount changes after it is on the books, each period’s interest and principal. The client is asking about the amount on the commencement date itself — which Section is that?”
Three wrong answers, three different diagnoses. All three cite lease guidance, and only the first is a mistake about lease accounting: it confuses recognition with measurement. The second is a subtopic habit and the third is a reading-speed problem. Handing all three the same explanation — here is the right citation — teaches none of them.
To be precise about what happens next: the exchange is a rate limit, not a gate. Answering well gets you to the full worked explanation in three or four exchanges; answering badly still gets you there. And if you would rather skip it, asking three times gets you the walkthrough.
How to practise this without a subscription to anything
Learn the section list, not the topics. Topic numbers can be looked up inside the exam software. The section numbering is the part that is stable across every topic and the part that decides most cells.
Turn every question into its section first. Before searching, say out loud which of recognition, initial measurement, subsequent measurement, presentation or disclosure the client is actually asking about. Doing that in the wrong order — search first, classify afterwards — is what produces a defensible-looking reference to the wrong section.
Where we stop. Our research cells are graded at the section level and we do not publish paragraph-level citations, because those have not been checked by a licensed CPA. A page that printed paragraph numbers it had not verified would be exactly the kind of confident detail this site exists not to produce.
Common questions
What is a research simulation on the CPA exam?
A task-based simulation in which the answer is a Codification reference rather than a number: you are given a client question and you enter the location of the authoritative guidance. Our own research cells are graded at the section level in the form Topic-Subtopic-Section, with 'ASC' and spacing ignored by the grader.
What does the section number in an ASC reference mean?
It identifies the kind of guidance, and the numbering is consistent across topics: -05 Overview and Background, -15 Scope, -20 Glossary, -25 Recognition, -30 Initial Measurement, -35 Subsequent Measurement, -45 Other Presentation Matters, -50 Disclosure. Recognition answers whether something goes on the books at all; Initial Measurement answers at what amount on day one; Subsequent Measurement answers what happens to that amount afterwards.
What is the most expensive mistake on a research simulation?
Getting the topic and subtopic right and the section wrong. It feels like a near miss and it scores as a miss. The classic case is citing 842-20-25, recognition, where the question asked at what amount a lessee's lease liability goes onto the balance sheet at commencement — which is 842-20-30, initial measurement.
Related
Lessee accounting, the group this cell sits in → · The journal entry simulation → · The document review simulation →
Source: NASBA, “CPA Examination” · checked 2026-08-15 · exam sections and administration