Professors Debate Difficulty of Computerized CPA Exam

Professors Debate Difficulty of Computerized CPA Exam

By Stephanie R. Myers

Continued from the Home Page

According to a recent Boston Institute of Finance survey, 100 percent of 140 university accounting professors surveyed said students taking the computerized version of the CPA exam are more likely to “pass and increase their scores.”

The computerized exam is a total of 14 hours, as opposed to the paper version’s 15-1/2 hours, and a new fourth section has been added that focuses on general business knowledge. Also, while the paper test was only administered to eligible accounting students twice a year, the new version allows for more flexibility; it is given in “testing windows” that occur two out of three months throughout the year. Also, the test taker does not need to take all four sections of the new test at the same time.

Though Greg Johnson, exam director for the American Institute of CPAs, which develops the CBT, declined to comment directly on the survey’s finding, he said the exam effectively tests students’ skills and knowledge of accounting that they will be expected to possess when they enter the marketplace.

“We base the content of the exam…on a comprehensive practice analysis, which is consistent with what we have done with the exam in the past,” Johnson said. “We conduct surveys and interviews of CPAs in public accounting and industry who supervise entry-level CPAs and we ask them about the knowledge and skills required of entry-level CPAs. These responses to the practice analysis drive the content on the exam.”

Johnson added that comparing the paper-and-pencil exam and the CBT is very difficult because of the distinct differences in their administration, most notably that the old version had to be completed in one seating, while the new exam can be taken a section at a time.

“What I can tell you is that candidates have more flexibility to schedule the sections that they want to take and that there are different requirements,” Johnson said. “Obviously, those things taken into consideration with other factors will give you different pass rates from before to now.”

Accounting professors who were not included in the survey have weighed in on both sides of the issue regarding the computerized test.

“I think there’s a misconception that the exam itself is easier now than previously. Because there are (testing) windows, because students can take a single section at a time, it gives them more time to prepare,” said Alex Ampadu, accounting professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. “These are smart kids, and given the time to prepare for just one section, they’re going to do better.”

However, Ampadu said, the addition of the fourth section has given students more material to master.

“I think the content overall has been expanded, and they are required to do a lot more than previously,” Ampadu said. “The business section covers everything they’ve done in finance and economics, business concepts and managerial accounting, and I think they have more to study than previously. I like the idea that they expanded the area with the business concepts. It makes the students realize that accounting is not a stand-alone discipline.”

But there is a rationale behind the fact that the new CPA exam might initially give the impression of being easier to pass, Ampadu said.

“The only reason why there may be higher (passing) rates is that they do not have the pressure of taking four sections within two days,” Ampadu said. “Now you can take a whole three months and prepare for just one section.”

The Financial Accounting and Reporting section of the CPA exam requires that test takers prove their ability to use the Financial Accounting Research System (FARS), a database tool. Steven Lilien, a professor at Baruch College in New York, said that the FARS database is a complex system to master.

“The FARS portion of the exam is very user-unfriendly as far as a search system,” Lilien said. “Until we get a better search system, I don’t know how much we’re accomplishing. It doesn’t seem to be as well thought out.”

Mary Ellen Oliverio, professor at Pace University, said that a conclusion regarding the exam’s rates of passing cannot yet be drawn.

“It will take a little while to determine what the outcome of the new exam is,” Oliverio said. “I would agree that the new exam is easier for students to pass, but I would say it’s because they can take it one (section) at a time. I think the factors have not been fully studied.”

It’s also important to keep in mind that professors do not have access to the exam, Oliverio said.

“I’ve talked with students who’ve taken the exam; they like that they can take one at a time over the 18-month period,” Oliverio said. “I don’t think any professors are supposed to have access to that examination. It’s not disclosed. Some of the review books do give you some illustrations, but that’s not enough to make a judgment.”

Oliverio said that eventually, the distributors of the test will be able to shape the level of difficulty.

“It’s a process,” Oliverio said. “I would say that we’re in a period of experimentation and establishing the validity and reliability of this whole process, and I would think it would be another year before we have the evidence that will give us some sense of the kind of knowledge and the skills and how they’re measured.”

Generally, Ampadu said, the changes in the examination have been beneficial.

“It’s a step in the right direction; it can only get better,” Ampadu said. “They push the testing toward the skills that are developed in the academic centers and are needed in the workplace. More emphasis should be placed on analysis, judgment, communication and research skills vis-à-vis memorization.”