Comments on: CPA Exam Myths Debunked: My Interview with the AICPA

By: joe

joe — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:04:54 +0000

I agree with Norm on that last response. What a joke…

By: Dalamar

Dalamar — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:24:04 +0000

I fully support the difficulty to pass the CPA exam. I pass Regulation and am working on Financial now.

What is the logical reason for making CPA candidates wait months (I waited 4) to discover their grade? Whom does the AICPA serve? CPAs and future CPAs or itself? The AICPA is a self-perpetuating marketing machine.

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:46:54 +0000

I’m late to this party as well, but the biggest problem I have with this interview also is with the testing window and score reporting. I love that they basically say it’s the candidate’s fault if there are any problems with time constraints for passing all parts, “maybe you should just do it differently, that’s the REAL problem”. I was lucky enough to pass all on the first try, 3 in one window and one at the beginning of the next, but even though I was done at the very beginning of October, I still didn’t know about the last section until Christmas. That’s ridiculous, it should not take that long to grade a test that’s primarily multiple choice. At the very least, I can see the essays taking longer, but it should be fairly easy to determine what questions are thrown out and which aren’t counted and go from there efficiently. Also, I believe the essay questions are at least partially auto-graded are they not? That should make it that much easier to compress the reporting time down. If we have to be efficient to take all the parts in the time frame, there should be a requirement on their part to act in a similar manner.

By: CPA Exam Myths Debunked Featured in Missouri Society of CPAs The Asset Magazine | CPA Exam Blog and Review Forum

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:14:04 +0000

[...] interview with the AICPA titled “CPA Exam Myths Debunked” is featured in the September 2009 issue of “The Asset” magazine, which is [...]

By: Name

Name — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:10:04 +0000

In 18 months that is 8 months of busy season..so for anyone in public accounting that is effectively 10 months…but after the grind of busy season are you ready to stare at books for the next x months?

By: Name

Name — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 19:10:04 +0000

By: time2pass

time2pass — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:48:51 +0000

@goingnuts – I TOTALLY agree with your assessment. This exam and the grading are just arbitrary and crazy!!! For anyone wondering, I am bitter. I've taken three parts and not passed one. I did extremely well in school; however, I did graduate in 2003 and I just started preparing to test and I know I am intelligent enough just by reading the blogs. Some of the pain and suffering of this exam is just unnecessary. I have been working on projects with many lawyers and the efficiency of their exams has not taken any credibility from that profession!

By: goingnuts

goingnuts — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:59:01 +0000

To clarify my “making more money on consulting fees” comment, I was referring to the fact that some engagements made more money off of consulting than auditing. I was not implying that the entire auditing profession was making more money off of consulting than auditing. Thought I'd clarify that before someone pointed that out.

By: goingnuts

goingnuts — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:57:27 +0000

I don't necessarily have a problem with the 18 month window; however, the current slow reporting system could be much improved. The CPA exam has gradually made improvements to its testing methodology. Unfortunately, possibly reflecting the culture of accounting (I have a masters, so I am knocking on my own, I know), we can tend to be very conservative when it comes to making changes to our profession. I am a bit tired of people apologizing for the AICPA.

Have we forgotten these are the same people who didn't bat an eye when auditors were making more money on consulting fees than auditing? They are not perfect.

Now, my wife is a nurse, and her test was an adaptive multiple choice exam. Some of the questions were just completely bizarre, but I guess for any professional you have to know some really obscure details. Anyway, nurses are able to pay a nominal fee that allows them to have their results expedited. Think about it, they just pay the additional cost of getting a quick result. Of course, nursing educators/certification boards appear to try to stay on top of technological changes. Their profession depends on being up-to-date on the latest and greatest.

Why does the AICPA not allow us to pay them to expedite the process? Because they have created an exam that has unnecessary complications. Many other certification exams are able to report results relatively quickly EVEN THOUGH their exams are different almost every time a candidate sits (nurses, for example, would probably never retake the same exam twice due to its changing and adaptive nature). The AICPA still hasn't made BEC adaptive. Are you kidding? It's 2009! Get with the times! The simulations aren't even adaptive! So, depending on your exam, you either get really easy sims and research questions or not (just ask people who have taken and passed the exam).

I realize that time is money, so I would be willing to pay to find out if I passed. They could use any profits from the fees to improve the efficiency of the grading process. They would simply have to remove archaic/unnecessary testing methodologies that are blocking the way to making the exam as efficient and effective as it could be.

Let's stop apologizing for the AICPA and demand that they modernize the testing system. They are getting there, but the changes are happening too slow. Sounds like the accounting industry, after all.

Note: I have only taken one section and may or may not have passed, so I am not bitter b/c I have failed the exam, in case anyone was wondering.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:56:48 +0000

I'm a little late to respond, but I feel like adding my 2 cents about the 18 month window. There is a time limit in which you have to pass all 4 because the accounting material being tested changes. If someone takes FAR in 2000 and then takes AUD in 2009, they do not have current knowledge of accounting because of all the changes in those years. And because they weren't a CPA for those years, they didn't have to do any CPE courses to stay on top of the changes. The CPA designation isn't to prove that you knew something about accounting once, it's to assure the public that you have thorough and current knowledge of accounting, which is also why there are continuing education requirements after you get your license. 18 months is arbitrary; I don't think making it 24 months would make a difference, but to argue that there should be no limit completely defeats the purpose of the exam.