[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I passed FAR with a 77, and it looks bad but at least it is passing lol. Do firms care at all or they only care that I passed/have a certificate?

[Anonymous]

I'm all for increasing the working experience to 5 years if it were easier to get a job. But from the way it looks, it may take me 5 years just to find a job. So, I seriously doubt I'll be a CPA before I turn 30.

Look, I know increasing the difficulty of the exam is not what you all want to hear (in fact, it's not what I want I want to hear either), but what good is it to pass an exam that everyone else is passing too? Think about winning 1st place in a contest and getting a trophy. What makes a person feel good about winning 1st place is the fact that not everyone can do it. It makes that trophy feel THAT much more special. If everyone in the contest was getting the same trophy whether they're in first or last place, then that trophy is worthless and means nothing. Same goes for the CPA exam.

[porschify]

These are all excellent points, but as with everything in economics it comes down to supply and demand. Mostly everyone has provided reasons to reduce the supply of CPA's (harder exams, exam attempt limits, increased working requirements), but why not increase demand?

1. The IRS just started regulating tax preparers, requiring them to pass a test by Dec 31, 2013. What if they would not have made a new designation available and stated that only a CPA or EA could prepare a tax return?

2. There are many services such as bookkeeping, payroll, forecasting, a/p, a/r, sales tax reporting, working on audits that non CPA's can perform. Why not require anyone that practices accounting to be a CPA? Many other professions require their license as a minimum in order to practice in their related field (nursing, medical, lawyers, engineers, even truck drivers)

I see alot of organizations in my area where the “CFO” or equivalent (especially in NFP and governmental orgs) does not have a CPA. Since the CPA is granted at the state level just like other professional licenses, I think that these positions, and all positions in general should require a CPA at the min.

NINJA EDIT: As we all know “A score of 75 indicates examination performance reflecting a level of knowledge and skills that is sufficient for the protection of the public.”

REG- 81
BEC- 72,76
AUD- 67,88
FAR- 78

Done!

[Herbieherb]

I agree with the more experience suggestion. Nys churns out about 3k cpas a year …the number is like double of what it was from the old pencil and paper conversion. Ny relaxed its exp requirements is also a big reason for the increase, not just the test being ‘easier'…

Hate to sound like a hater but I believe only US citizens should be able to apply…there's no jobs and so much foreign competition…

NEW YORK- DONE

[Anonymous]

“Ny relaxed its exp requirements is also a big reason for the increase, not just the test being ‘easier'…”

That's because they are now requiring 150 college credits in order sit for the exam. That's an extra year of college. So, it sort of balances out.

[Mrs.Beanie]

@CPAman. I know that it is hard finding a job. I was pushed out of my last job because I didn't have my CPA and they decided they needed one on staff. At the time I was working to get the college credits to be allowed to sit for the CPA. The one angle that I have yet to see mentioned on the issue is that all of the bigger firms are seeking out interns that haven't even graduated or tried to sit for the CPA. I sat through on Becker review course at the beginning of the summer and as a 28 year old I felt old and out of place. The majority of students had graduated within the last week from their Undergrad Accounting program and because almost all of them had interned at some Big 4 or large regional firm they were offered jobs to start in the fall before they even graduated. Plus the big 4 pad for Becker. I wish I had been in their shoes. I currently work for a small local CPA firm that only hired me because I applied for their office Manager position and they were impressed with my prior experience and my personality in the interview.

So my end point is it isn't the test scores or the test that is the problem it is how the companies are seeking out their candidates in first place. Leaving people like you an me who didn't take the usual route a little behind. Put yourself out there and just try to get into any CPA firm doing anything you can just to be seen and make a name for yourself because you never know when they may need help in the Auditing or Tax area.

FAR - 80
AUD - 68, 82 -> I'm Done!
REG - 75
BEC - 73, 81

[Anonymous]

“P.S. I better pass REG next week before the AICPA comes to A71, reads and implements these suggestions!!”

No worries, it won’t happen in the near future and here’s why:

The cap idea- Less money for the AICPA and Prometric. Many people out there are willing to take these tests 10, 20, or even 30+ times if that’s what it takes for them to pass it. And they have to pay to take them that many times. By putting a cap, they’re losing out on making some good money.

Making the exam harder- Kricket couldn’t have said it better. More people are willing to take an exam that they have a 50/50 shot of passing. If you only have a 20-30% chance of passing, the exam is going to seem unfair and impossible to pass. So, fewer people will want to take the test and that means, less money for the AICPA and Prometric.

The 48% pass rate and no cap rule is smart. It makes the exam look very hard, but at the same time, it looks fair and not impossible. More people are going to go for it and are more likely to keep forking over dollars to take the tests as many times as it takes to finally pass it.

[Minimorty]

I think too many people are focused on the per exam pass rate of 42% to 50% and not enough on the cumulative pass rate of something like 80%+. As much as people want to complain about this and that, more than 80% of candidates eventually pass the exam. That is staggeringly high.

[Does anyone have a link to the official cumulative pass rate, if one exists?]

[Anonymous]

I agree with Mini that there are too many 21-24 year-olds with CPA.

And I know what their reasons are. It's actually only one. The economy.

Young folks know how hard it is to find a job and try to be as competitive as possible from the very beginning of their professional careers.

It's something we can hardly blame them for. Blame the companies that sent accounting jobs overseas.

Making the exam harder won't stop them.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I blame the economy… There is a direct relationship between the economy and the accounting profession. The worse the economy, the fewer the clients, the less CPAs you need. Despite what you hear from this administration the economy is still is deep in the toilet. They have no idea how to fix it or they would have by now.

Also, everyone saying the exam should be more difficult to pass after you already passed it, then fine I'll agree to that. As long as every who already passed it has to retake the more difficult version like the rest of us… Or come up with a new creditial for elite public accountants that only has a 10% pass rate, 12 month pass window and requires 5 years work experience.

[Anonymous]

Not sure how you can be a CPA at age 21. Most people graduate high school at age 17. Add 5 years for college. That's 22. Assuming it only takes you one year to pass all 4 parts and meet the one-year working experience requirement, then that's 23. So, I honestly don't know how people under 23 are becoming CPAs. Unless of course they're cramming an awful lot of credits per semester in college and are able to meet the 150 credit requirement in 3-4 years, but that's just insane!

[jeff]

A 75 is an A- on the CPA Exam … not a C. 😉

Raise your two middle fingers and tell them you scored an '11' if they ask.

You might get bonus points for a sense of humor.

[moey]

@CPAMan, Under 23 year old CPAs are most likely those that have later birthdays (September-December) so they're generally younger than their class. It's somewhat easy to cram in the units required though within the 4 years in college. Some have done in it 3, but only those that came in with a ton of AP credit (a year's worth). But most students at my school are trying to take the cram it in 4 years route. It's worked for most people so far.

If all goes well, I can become a CPA at like late 22 (I'm a November baby).. We'll see though.

FAR - 90
REG - 75
AUD
BEC

[Anonymous]

Sure it may be possible, but it's not easy. Well, maybe it is since people here are claiming that there are “too many 21-24 year-olds with CPA.” If there are “too many” of them, then maybe accounting is just too easy of a major and a lot of people are breezing through the college courses and the CPA exam.

[moey]

I'd say the education part is easy. I have no clue on the difficulty of the exam so I won't say much other than studying for it hasn't been easy. Firms are contributing to the 21-24 year old CPAs because they hire out of college and offer the bonus for completing the exam within 1-2 years..

IMO it does sound funny for a 21-24 to be a CPA, but to me and my peers at my university, it's just the path that most of us know and take (our school currently doesn't have a masters in accountancy). Honestly, it wasn't until a national conference that I went to that I realized most other people are going for their masters and were older..

FAR - 90
REG - 75
AUD
BEC

[Anonymous]

“I have read that 75% of AICPA members will be at retirement age in the next 15 years.”

Yeahbut I can't wait 15 years to get a job 🙂

And most people lately who are close to retirement, see their low funded 401k's and say “screw this, I'm staying on” and those jobs won't open up.

[Author]

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