[MikeHoncho]

“On March 6th and 7th, Dr. Gleim and I attended the annual AICPA Review Course Providers meeting in New York. This year some very big future changes were announced, but don’t panic: the AICPA’s goal is to launch the new exam in 2016 at the earliest (but they clarified that it could be as late as 2019)….As far as the big future changes go, everything is open for possible consideration by the AICPA. For example, the new exam, which the AICPA is currently referring to as CBT-3, could be as much as 80% Simulations. The goal is to ensure that candidates understand how to apply accounting principles, rather than simply memorize terms and formulas. Thus, it will be more of a skills based test than a knowledge based test. Since this is a change that won’t be effective until at least 2016, you should continue to focus on multiple-choice answering techniques and sit for your exams before this revision. Remember that even with multiple choice, mere memorization is not the goal, and you will answer more questions correctly by understanding the material in your review and how to apply it. Another big change under consideration is in the number of sections. In the future, there could be as few as three or as many as six or seven exam sections, as well as a capstone section.”

Can you imagine if it’s 80% task based simulations!!!!!!!

Done: 5/22/14

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
- Ernest Hemingway

[Anonymous]

@tomq04 I agree with you that more SIMs doesn't sound like a bad thing. Personally I think that more SIMs will greatly contribute to the exam's ability to do what they want it to do – test your ability to apply accounting principles and rules to the “real world” and therefore your ability to safeguard the public. As it is right now, the exam can be passed by memorizing some information which is readily available in the “real world”. Take REG and tax for example… My ability to be a tax accountant shouldn't be based on whether I can remember right now if 7.5% or 10% is the threshold for medical deductions, because if I was actually doing someone's return and my software didn't calculate it automatically, I could easily Google to find the number. However, understanding what a self-employed individual can deduct (ex: all repair expenses for a vehicle used for work 5 days a week and personal use 2 days a week) is something important! Can it be looked up? Yep…but it's not just a changing number and it requires applying principles of tax law to specific situations. Some of the MCQs currently are more targeted towards application, but not all of them.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the principals, formulas, etc. are easy to find online – my 8 year old brother could find them! But knowing how to properly interpret and apply them is what is key in this era.

Perhaps the era is the biggest reason for these changes. Think of the CPAs who took the exam 50 years ago. Generally speaking, they didn't have a computer program that would do all the basic figuring for them, and they didn't have the internet to have a wealth of information available at all times…so they needed to know that those CPAs could do everything on their own cause that's what they were doing. Things like a search-able Authoritative Literature were added for the SIMs now because honestly, every CPA can have instant access to search-able AL now! This next phase of the changes makes sense, too. We're no longer bean counters; we're now more like lawyers (interpreting the laws) and analysts, so an exam which focuses on those aspects more is consistent with the work that it is evaluating us for.

That being said, if they continue to grade the SIMs the same and the review programs continue to teach the same, then I recognize that this is going to make it a lot harder for people to pass. Like Study Monk said, though, that will decrease supply and effectively increase demand for CPAs. We just need to all make sure that we pass before then! 6.5 windows before 2016. 😉

[RedSoxFan77]

How did I miss this post last week? I'm surprised no one mentioned yet how insane it would be to have to sit for 7 exam sections!! Maybe they'd break up REG and have separate exams for b-law and tax, maybe a separate exam for IFRS, and BEC could be broken into like 10 different exams. This is very interesting indeed.

FAR 75
AUD 74, 82
REG 58, 74, 83
BEC 68, 75
Licensed 7.1.14!!!

[Anonymous]

Exactly!! How did I miss this?? Pretty sure the Actuarial Exams have around 8 tests…

[Study Monk]

Hopefully we won't have to spend the rest of our years hearing the youngsters telling us how easy we had it.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[jeff]

The long and short of it:

They might change some things.

It might not be until 2019.

Carry on.

[Anonymous]

@Lilla – I totally agree with you.

I like SIMs better, because I can look up the the guidance like in the real word! Then again, I have experience, so that's probably why I find them easier than over thinking a MCQ.

[golfball7773]

I am guessing if they split it up into 7 exams, they would still charge the same amount per test…..

FAR: 63, 55, 62
REG: 65, 77*
AUD: Fail, 64, 71
BEC: 72, 74, 81

*expired

[Anonymous]

lol @golfball I was actually thinking this morning “If they split it up and charge the same, that will be really lame…” 😛

[Anonymous]

Now I'm curious about the price that was charged for the old format exam (offered twice per year, 5 tests administered over the course of three consecutive days).

[Not a Quitter]

@dmead It was approximately $150

:0

FAR- 85 I'm DONE!
BEC- 75
REG- 60,60,75
AUD- 74,74,83

CPAExcel used for BEC, AUD, REG
Exam Matrix used for FAR plus NINJA Blitz, cpareviewforfree and a little CPAExcel

[Anonymous]

Ah, thanks. I assume 20+ years of inflation isn't considered in that estimate 🙂

Not that it makes much of a difference, anyway. $150 in 1994, the last year for that type of exam, is about $250 today. That's roughly a quarter of the price for completing todays exam!

[law0915]

It must be A LOT of work being a part of the Board of Examiners. This is good though and making sure the exam is recent with the times, making sure it never gets an “oh that exam is stale now!”

REG 77 Feb14
BEC 13*, 79 Aug14
FAR 64**, 76 Nov14
AUD 89 Feb15

*Exited exam after first testlet
**Only studied F1-F6 out of 10 Becker chapters

Licensed Arizona CPA

[Author]

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