Candidate Performance On The Business Environment And Concepts Section Of The CPA Exam

Abstract

This paper examines how differences in curricular design of undergraduate accounting programs influence pass rates on the Business Environment and Concepts Section of the CPA Exam. The association of the pass rate of a school's accounting graduates to the design of the schools accounting program and to other school characteristics was examined with linear regression models. Characteristics considered were semester hours in courses covered by the CPA exam section, entrance exam scores of the schools' freshmen, whether the schools were AACSB accredited and whether the schools were public or private institutions. The number of cost and managerial accounting semester hours was consistently found to be a significant determinant of success on the new section of the CPA exam.