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This study examines the factors that influence a private institution student’s plan to sit for the CPA exam soon after the undergraduate program versus after a master’s program or never. The author examines the CPA exam factors: exam, cost, support, and career, noted by Coe (2016), and extend CPA exam literature through the examination of exam fees and review course material costs, rather than the composite CPA exam cost. From a survey of 63 accounting seniors, the author finds having 150 credit hours does not increase the likelihood of a plan to sit for the CPA exam soon after the undergraduate program. This result is different from studies that showed 150 credit hours is a barrier to taking the CPA exam. Consistent with studies that used the composite CPA exam cost, the author finds that perception of review course material as expensive negatively affects the likelihood of sitting for the CPA exam soon after the undergraduate program. The perception of exam fees as expensive positively affects the likelihood of sitting for the CPA exam soon after the undergraduate program. This result differs from studies that used the composite CPA exam cost.

Puerto Rico (PR) is among the US jurisdictions with the lowest passing rates on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam (National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), 2016, 2017). No prior studies have addressed this issue. To fill this gap, the authors conducted a survey among candidates to examine the factors perceived as challenges on the exam. The authors also studied the relationship between respondents’ individual, educational, and CPA exam-related characteristics and the likelihood of success on the exam. Results reveal there are three factors perceived by respondents as their main challenges: level of technical difficulty, cost of the exam, and not enough time to study for the exam. Additional analysis indicates that age, major Grade Point Average, weekly study hours, and the time interval between graduation and the first attempt at the exam are significant factors that affect the passing rates on the exam. These findings suggest that a combination of individual, educational, and exam-related factors affect Puerto Rican candidates’ results on the exam. The socioeconomic background of PR may heighten the impact of such factors. Considering that the accounting profession is always adapting to the evolutionary demands of the business environment, these results may contribute to the development of adequate measures in support of Puerto Rican and other minorities with diverse backgrounds.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the academic research related to the certified public accountant (CPA) exam. Our review identifies several research streams in this area, including studies that examine the effects of educational requirements and institutional and candidate characteristics on CPA exam success. In addition, we describe the CPA licensure regulatory landscape and show a general trend of lessening educational requirements among the jurisdictions over the past two decades. In the meantime, the governing bodies of CPA licensure are beginning the CPA Evolution project, a project that entails evolving licensure requirements, including the CPA exam, to meet the demands of a constantly changing business environment. We call on the CPA licensure regulators to align their jurisdictions’ educational requirements to best serve the CPA Evolution project. Lastly, we provide suggestions for future research that would assist accounting regulators, academic administrators, and practitioners during this transformative period.

Leveraging lobbying theory, the authors analyze responses to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) proposal suggesting the removal of state and local governmental accounting from the content tested on the uniform certified public accountant (CPA) examination. Furthermore, the authors compare the responses to a prior exam content review to place the uniqueness of the more recent response in perspective.

The authors examine 181 comment letters obtained from the AICPA website. In addition, the relative concentration of governmental entities across the USA is studied for correlation with the response rate.

Consistent with lobbying theory, the authors find that participating governmental entities overwhelmingly argued for the retention of governmental accounting. In contrast, most other groups of respondents (accounting firms, state societies, etc.) had at least one letter that agrees with the removal of the content.

While the letter writers appear to be successful in retaining the governmental accounting content on the CPA exam, the majority of the detailed content has been placed within a specialized area on the new version of the CPA exam, expected to be deployed in 2024. This means that fewer CPA candidates will be exposed to governmental accounting than under the current regime. It has implications for governmental units seeking qualified candidates to fill their staffing needs especially as fewer universities offer governmental accounting courses.

Recent changes to the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam provide an occasion to widely and broadly reflect about the longer run trajectory of the nature of this exam and about professional licensure. Based on a review of recent changes, we develop a set of general purposes served by the exam. We discuss the relative consistency between these purposes and academic values with the goal of evaluating the alignment of exam objectives with academic values. Concluding that accounting education and admission to accounting practice are not perfectly parallel, the chapter reviews the possibilities for academics to adjust our values or to alter our pedagogical practices. Furthermore, for a variety of reasons, the CPA Examination makes fewer appearances in the accounting education literature than it did in the past. We offer recommendations to reduce the points of schism and propose research relevant to the problem.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is charged with maintaining the relevance of the Uniform CPA exam to ensure that those who pass the exam and become certified have the skills and abilities to keep pace with the ever-changing accounting profession. For students pursuing the CPA designation, passing the Uniform CPA exam, and meeting the 150-hour requirement are key factors. With the launch of the latest version of the Uniform CPA exam in 2017, the question about whether educators should adapt their existing courses to meet the new CPA exam structure and focus is up for debate. This chapter contains a review of the proposed changes to the Uniform CPA exam by the AICPA and various statistics regarding historical pass rates. Further, the chapter includes the results of a survey about whether accounting faculty plan to adjust their courses to reflect the changes to the exam and whether they feel pressure from various stakeholders to improve CPA exam pass rates for their respective institutions.

Recent major changes in the form and content tested on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam have necessitated a re-examination of the relevance of undergraduate accounting coursework to CPA exam performance. Using data on candidates who attended an AACSB-accredited business school in the United States and who took the exam during the period 2005–2013, the authors examine whether the grades that candidates earned in relevant accounting course work affected their performance on related sections of the CPA exam. The authors find that student grades in related courses were positively associated with exam scores for all sections of the exam. This indicates that, despite changes to the exam and accounting education generally, an accounting curriculum can help prepare candidates to pass this critical barrier to entry in the accounting profession. The authors believe the results of this study have important implications for practitioners, academics, and candidates seeking to better understand the determinants of performance on this important professional examination.

This study empirically investigates whether graduate degrees (MBA, MSA and MST) earned by candidates affect their performance on the CPA exam. By examining more than half million first-time exam sittings taken during the period 2005–2013, the authors find that candidates with a graduate degree performed better on each section of the CPA exam than those who only have an undergraduate degree. In addition, the authors find that the type of graduate degree also has an effect on the CPA exam performance. While candidates with an MBA degree generally performed better on the BEC section than those with an MSA or MST degree, those with an MSA degree performed best on the AUD and FAR sections; and those with an MST degree exceled on the REG section. This study contributes to the existing literature on the determinants of CPA exam success. In addition, this investigation provides valuable insights to candidates, academics and regulators. The findings of this chapter should be useful for academic administrators as they revise their accounting curricula to prepare for the new CPA licensure model. Furthermore, the results of this study should benefit accounting regulators in determining education requirements for future CPAs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing career intentions toward becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) by students who are studying at the accounting schools in Japan. This paper focused on students' work experience, prior major/s at their undergraduate level, gender, attitude toward the opportunity cost of becoming a CPA and their perceptions of the CPA profession.

The sample comprised students studying at 13 accounting schools in Japan. A questionnaire was given to these students in order to empirically examine the relationship between these influential factors and their career intention, with particular reference to those who intended to pursue a CPA career. Those studying in these accounting schools generally consist of two type of students; those who want to become a CPA and those who merely want to brush up on their accounting skills and do not wish to sit the CPA entrance exams. A total of 349 effective responses were analysed.

Findings indicate that students who have work experience and major in disciplines other than accounting or business are more reluctant to become a CPA. This is in direct contrast to one of the objectives for the CPA reform scheme in Japan, which is to extend the diversity of CPA candidature.

This paper is the first study undertaken in Japan to successfully provide a new dimension on the factors that influence career intention of students aspiring to become a CPA.

The time period from the mid-1980s through 2002 is described in this series of research as a “pre-SOX” era of rapid deprofessionalization in U.S. pubic accountancy resulting in the loss of professional status. This was a period, however, when all professions were suffering some deprofessionalization. During the pre-SOX period it appears that leadership in public accountancy responded to a nearly perfect storm of changes confronting the profession with a corporate mentality of management by objectives, commercialization, and profit maximization resulting in constant and substantial net deprofessionalization greater than that of other professions. Starting in the late-1970s and continuing through 2001, some critics of public accountancy have asserted that leaders in the profession either lost or forgot what was required for public accountancy to be recognized as a profession. The conclusion stated in this paper is that public accountancy has lost its professional status in or before 2002. The reasons and events leading to this conclusion are presented and discussed. In the United States it appears as though once professional status is lost, regaining the elite status is more difficult. The question is if public accountancy can learn from history going into the substantial changes to be confronted in the post-SOX era of public accountancy and regain or at least make progress toward regaining professional status.