You'll have to check this with the relevent authorities, but generally, theory exams by themselves aren't recognised, only the licence. Therefore, if you hold a CPL with ATPL subjects and you want to convert to another licence (eg, FAA or JAA) then the CPL will be "credited" as such but your subjects will not.
To get any recognition for your ATPL subjects, you'll need to hold the ATPL.
Australia may be different because of the bilateral agreements, check with the CASA website.