Latest Posts
MNCPA to Educators: “We Do Not Need New CPAs Who Have Additional College Credits; We Need More CPAs, Period.”
Minnesota Society of CPAs has sent a message to educators in the state regarding legislation that would introduce an alternative pathway to CPA licensure and the message to these stewards of the next generation of accountants is clear: no one is trying to eliminate MAcc programs. As you should well be aware, MNCPA wants to […]
PSA: Do Not Suggest That We Make the CPA Exam Easier in Order to Solve the Accountant Shortage
Y’all need to calm down, I’m running out of “angry person” stock photos. With the accountant shortage in full swing and the profession’s talking heads, peanut galleries, unwashed masses, and unelected old white guys in charge discussing ways to ease it, it’s inevitable that we’ll start throwing out some WILD ideas. Like this one: Want […]
Why NASBA Can Be a Bully and What CPAs Can Do About It
By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver Going Concern previously reported on bits of an interview with Ken Bishop, President and CEO of NASBA, published in Journal of Accountancy. A cut out in the article includes this quote, “Should any state or […]
Integrating Experience and Education is One Way to Ease the Accountant Shortage at Least a Little
There’s a contentious battle raging over the 150 unit requirement for CPA licensure as we speak and in the meantime we have to figure something out to ease the accountant shortage that has a bit more immediate impact (and doesn’t involve paying people more because clearly the firms are not down with that idea). Wherever […]
The Beef Between the AICPA and Minnesota Over the 150 Hour Rule Heats Up
I’m dating myself here but do you remember the East Coast/West Coast rap beef of the 90s? That’s sort of what’s happening in the profession right now over proposed legislation in Minnesota that offers an alternative to the traditional 150 units of education required for licensure. Except in the case of 90s rapper beefs, Tupac […]
We Asked Twitter What’s the Second Most Important Issue in the Accounting Profession Right Now, Here’s What They Said
Bored of writing and talking about the dire accountant shortage and the consequences it could have on the entire financial system as we know it, the other day I tweeted a question to find out what else folks think is plaguing accounting. Thanks to everyone who chimed in, I know sometimes Twitter feels like shouting […]
What You Should Know About Changing the 150 Hour Rule Before You Debate For or Against It
All-around awesome person Byron Patrick tweeted a bit of a manifesto on the 150 hour rule today and I want to share it as a movement to lower the CPA licensure requirement of 150 units to ease the CPA shortage is currently underway. Minnesota just introduced a bill to add a 120 units/two years of […]
Minnesota Throws TPTB the Finger and Introduces Legislation to Offer an Alternate Pathway to CPA Licensure
It was only a couple days ago that the Journal of Accountancy published an interview with NASBA CEO and President Ken Bishop in which Bishop sternly warns states against even thinking about lowering the CPA licensure requirement to 120 units, something something mobility blah blah. To save you a click, here’s a relevant snip of […]
The Accountant Shortage Isn’t Bad Enough For NASBA to Entertain Dropping the 150 Hour Requirement
When we talk about why no one wants to be an accountant anymore, a handful of things come up in every thread. Let’s quickly get them down in case an alien who just landed on Earth this morning Googles “accountant shortage,” arrives on this article, and wishes to learn more about the causes. Salaries — […]
Here’s How People Did on the CPA Exam in 2022
The AICPA has released Q4 CPA exam pass rates which means we have a cumulative score for all of 2022 YIPPEE. As we did not discuss pass rates at all last year, let’s take a look at the whole chart and see how CPA exam candidates performed in 2022: Section Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative […]
If This Person Can Pass the CPA Exam, So Can You
I was cleaning out pics on my phone and was reminded of something I saw on Reddit a few weeks back: a screenshot of someone’s many, many, MANY CPA exam attempts over twelve years. Most people would have given up around the tenth attempt but this person persisted. And persisted. And persisted. So if you […]
The 259th Largest Accounting Firm Is Paying For Unlicensed Staff to Pursue a Master’s at the 87th Best Online Business School
Tiny little Southfield, MI firm Clayton & McKervey won’t be making Vault prestige lists any time soon but it is doing something to support its people through the process of getting the necessary 150 units for licensure: offering scholarships. Ranked #259 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 500 with revenue of $16,392,083, Clayton & McKervey […]
It’s Official: 120 Units is All You Need to Sit For the CPA Exam in Illinois
Ed. note: I couldn’t find a good image to go with this post so I’m using this dog. Dogs are always good. According to the AICPA, a traditional four-year undergraduate program is not adequate for obtaining the requisite knowledge and skills to become a CPA. The reasons offered for this center around the increasing complexity […]
Unsubstantiated Rumor of the Day: Only Two Dozen People Sat For the CPA Exam in Delaware?
We have all heard that CPA exam candidate numbers are down, and in fact these numbers have been down for quite a few years. Nothing new there. NASBA announced late last year that they would be suspending publication of detailed exam stats to focus on the CPA Evolution project so we won’t have a “Candidate […]
ICYMI: Indiana Joins Other States Softening Their Requirements to Sit For the CPA Exam
Effective November 2, Indiana CPA exam candidates need just 120 education units to sit for the exam making Indiana one of 47 jurisdictions that allows prospective CPAs to sit before meeting the 150 unit requirement for licensure (150 are still required for the big three letters after your name). At its July 29 meeting, the […]
CPA Exam Candidates Who Tested on October 1 Have Finally Gotten Their Scores
This, friends, is the end of an era. If you don’t know, there was a bit of a mix-up last month and by “mix-up” I mean the AICPA screwed October 1 test takers by changing the dates on the day before which meant instead of getting their scores on the 11th like they thought, they […]
This NASBA Tweet Is Going to Disappoint A LOT of People Today
On Thursdays the official NASBA Twitter account publishes #ThursdayThoughts, usually some kind of tip or trick like last week’s advice on what to do if you are having trouble matching to your NASBA Dashboard’s CPA Portal account (here’s the link for that if you need it). But today’s thought is less a tip and more […]
Newly-Minted CPA Outraged That Their State is Too Cheap to Send a Paper License Certificate
And you wonder why no one wants to be a CPA anymore. A PDF?? Really, Maryland? AND IT ISN’T EVEN AN 8×10! Larry Hogan will want to hear about this.
10/1 CPA Exam Test Takers Are Still Salty About Missing Out on Today’s Score Release (As They Should Be)
Last week, CPA exam candidates got worked up over an “error correction” that meant people who tested on October 1 would not be included in the 10/11 score release as previously stated on the AICPA’s score release timeline. You see, up until September 30th the AICPA’s timeline said that if you sat by 10/1, you […]
Angry CPA Exam Candidates Blew Up Barry Melancon’s Email All Weekend, Here’s Why
Scrolling Reddit this weekend I noticed several posts from r/CPA littered throughout my feed among the food porn, cats, and reality TV gossip, something about some score release debacle with strong hints of outrage. What the hell happened? Whatever it was, they were pissed. Oh my. Apparently up until this weekend the official AICPA score […]
Hear Me Out, Extend the CPA Exam Window to 24 Months
It has now been more than a decade since the AICPA observed — and worried about — a growing gap in the number of accounting graduates and the number of those graduates who pursue the CPA exam. In the time since, that gap has only widened and much effort has been expended to figure out […]
Reddit is Bickering Over the CPA Exam Getting Harder (or Not) Over the Years
There’s a fun little conversation happening on r/accounting right now (it was yesterday actually but I have the rona and time is a meaningless measure when one is contending with brain fog of this level) and we’d be remiss if we didn’t recap it for you. First, the original post: I didn’t realize Barry Melancon […]
Illinois Will Soon Let You Sit for the CPA Exam With 120 Units, Should All States?
“What are they gonna do, stop requiring 150 units? THAT’S CRAZY.” That’s what a stakeholder told me recently when we spoke about the accountant shortage and the growing gap between students getting accounting degrees and recent graduates sitting for the CPA exam. Fewer people are pursuing accounting degrees and the ones that are have been […]
What Would You Like to See Tested on the CPA Exam?
With the completely redesigned CPA exam only 514 days away, there’s been a lot of discussion around the proposed Blueprints and questions about whether or not this content aligns with CPA Evolution’s stated goal of maintaining the relevance of the CPA credential. That is as yet an open-ended discussion but in the meantime, saw this […]
Benevolent Overlords of the CPA Exam Seeking Comment on Proposed 2024 CPA Exam Blueprints
The CPA Evolution project continues to chug along as we inch closer and closer to 2024 and now NASBA and the AICPA are asking informed parties to comment on proposed Blueprints. Finalizing these Blueprints is one of the last steps in the process to launch a redesigned CPA exam that started back in 2020. Comments […]
Tim Gearty Makes a List, Talks About 2024 CPA Exam Changes
Tim Gearty has taken the #3 spot on the NJBIZ 2022 Accounting Power 50. From NJBIZ: Not many CPAs get stopped by fans for selfies, but Timothy Gearty is one of them. As editor-in-chief and national lead instructor for Becker, a global CPA exam-prep leader, Gearty — who’s also the managing partner of Florham Park’s […]
[UPDATED] KPMG Will Pay Audit New Hires to Study for the CPA Exam
Ed. note: update at the bottom, our hopes have been dashed. Second update includes a statement from KPMG As I’m sure you’ve heard by now the profession is having trouble recruiting future CPAs. Accounting student numbers aren’t critically low yet but fewer and fewer graduates are taking the CPA exam, an issue that keeps AICPA […]
Which Big 4 Firm Had the Most Elijah Watt Sells Award Winners in 2021?
For years I would copy paste the entire list of Elijah Watt Sells Award winners on this here website even though I’m sure winners Googling themselves were the only ones reading said list. This year I’m continuing the tradition from last year and skipping past that to get right to the one thing all you […]
If You Are Young, Male, and Taking the CPA Exam We Have Some Good News For You
As any boomer who came of age in a time when slapping your female colleague’s backside was not only allowed but encouraged will tell you, guys are down hard these days. “Red pill” forums engage in endless debate about the plight of the modern man and some of these gents believe equality is a finite […]
PSA: Telling Prometric Proctors To Go F*ck Themselves Will Probably Get You Kicked Out of the CPA Exam
Last week I wrote about the current Prometric mask rule as of May 2022 which in essence says you don’t have to wear a mask at the testing center but you can if you want to. This distinction is important as Prometric has always been a bit of the TSA on steroids when it comes […]
As of May 1 You Are No Longer Required to Wear a Mask at Prometric But You Still Can If You Want To
May 1 marks the two year anniversary of Prometric reopening its testing centers to CPA candidates after shuttering every single American test site in March 2020 due to… you know what I don’t need to type all this out, you know why they were closed. While the nail techs waited anxiously for Prometric to reopen […]
4 Reasons Why the Profession Is Struggling to Convince Students to Become CPAs, #4 Will Not Shock You
I buried the link I’m about to share with you all in Footnotes last Friday; however, since its author intended for it to spur a conversation about the profession’s pipeline problem, I thought it best to highlight it in its own post should any of you feel like discussing it. “In my view, the future […]
State of the Accounting Profession 2022 Via the AICPA Trends Report
As I snarkily mentioned last week, the AICPA has finally released its much-anticipated 2021 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits (or Trends, for short) report [PDF here], a behemoth data dump of accounting industry stats first released in 1971 and released every two years since 2009. We’re […]
NASBA Is (Still) Considering Remote CPA Exam Testing Even With Virus Concerns Waning
There are big changes coming to the CPA exam in the future, but one thing that hasn’t changed much since 2004 is the process of testing at Prometric. When the exam went computerized at the turn of the century, gone were the massive gymnasiums and chicken tables of yore and in came the soul-crushing sterility […]
Taking the CPA Exam In 2023? Here’s What You Need to Know About Rolling Your Scores Over In 2024
I was tempted to start this post with “it’s hard to believe it’s already 2022,” but you know what, time has been pretty nebulous for at least the last two years, if not longer, and it really doesn’t even matter anymore. It’s as if the aliens who run the simulation cranked us up a la […]
Believe It or Not, You Can Master Work-Life Balance While Studying For the CPA Exam
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment prospects for CPAs are expected to increase by 22% between now and 2028. Earning a CPA accreditation signals to accounting firms that you’re dedicated to advancing within the field, and gaining CPA expertise early in your career opens up a range of prospects, including higher income and […]
You Should Be Watching Your CPA Review Course Videos at 2x Speed and Here’s Why
Personally I’ve never been a fan of watching YouTube at 2x speed because I’m already distracted as is. If I’ve got a video up on my phone, chances are I also have the TV on in the background, a cat loudly puking in the other room, and my drunk neighbor stomping around upstairs. Yeah, it […]
Study Plan Ideas to Organize Your 2022 CPA Exam Goals
Last week I introduced you guys (and gals) to the joys of bullet journaling with some suggestions on how to whip up some spreads to organize your 2022 CPA exam goals, and we went over the basics of setting up your first bujo. This week I’m throwing a few study-specific spreads at you in the […]
Take Charge of Your 2022 CPA Exam Study Plan With Bullet Journaling (No, This Is Not Sponsored)
I know it’s a bit out of character for us to promote something usually associated with Pinterest moms and lifestyle influencers but I assure you, no one is paying me to write this post. Well, the owners of Going Concern are but that’s beside the point. I started bullet journaling last year and let me […]
NASBA Will No Longer Publish CPA Exam Performance Data Until the New CPA Exam Debuts in 2024
This just in, NASBA is shelving its annual Candidate Performance on the Uniform CPA Examination book and publication of candidate performance data for the next few years as it invests the bulk of its efforts into the CPA Evolution project: IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to the necessary and important focus on bringing CPA Evolution to fruition, […]
Finish the Year Strong With These Quick Tips For Studying For the CPA Exam During the Holidays
Today is November 24, 2021 (in case you didn’t catch the tiny little publish date in the upper left-hand corner of this post) and with yesterday’s CPA exam score release, that leaves just one more score release for 2021 before we call this year a wrap. Where the year went is beyond me, but that’s […]
Do Professional Examinations Have to Be Hard to Be Valuable?
The other day, a reader sent us this Bloomberg Opinion piece on the CFA exam with a quick note attached: Imagine the original article where “CFA” is replaced with “CPA” The article’s title? Wall Street’s CFA Program Is a Colossal Waste of Time It starts off by informing us that the “notoriously difficult” Chartered Financial […]
The Most Terrifying Halloween Costume You’ll Ever See (If You’re a CPA)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! Featured Photo by Monstera from Pexels
The CPA Credential and the Profession Are in a Race For Relevance, Says ICPAS CEO Todd Shapiro
Interest in the CPA credential has been down significantly since at least 2016, and we have discussed this issue to death so I don’t need to link you to the evidence (but here’s some anyway). The problem here is that talking about it isn’t solving it, thus we will continue talking about it and hope […]
Lawyers Complain the Pandemic Made the Bar Exam Too Hard, Should CPAs Complain Too?
Stumbled across an interesting article yesterday that I thought was worth sharing with you if for no other reason than it’s been a while since we’ve instigated a pissing contest with lawyers over whose professional licensing exam is harder. The article suggests the law profession should just get rid of the bar exam completely due […]
Opinion: The Profession Is Not ‘Diluted,’ It Is Evolving
[Ed. note: The following is a letter we received in response to a reader letter we published in September which lambasted the AICPA for diluting the profession. We are publishing it with permission from its author, who we have chosen to keep anonymous due to the anonymity of the original letter writer. We hope this […]
Opinion: It’s the AICPA’s Own Fault No One Wants to Be a CPA Anymore
[Ed. note: we received the following in response to my newsletter column dated September 14, 2021. In the column, I referenced the 2019 AICPA Trends report, which stated that non-accounting majors made up 31% of all firm new hires at that time. The reader comment is published here with permission from its author who wishes […]
Number of the Day: $2,626
A question we’ve often been asked through the years from aspiring CPA candidates is: Do accounting firms give out bonuses for completing the CPA exam, and if so, how much? The answer is, yes, many public accounting firms do throw some money new CPAs’ way for passing all four parts of the exam, but the […]
NASBA Systems Will Be Down This Weekend So Print Those NTSs, Folks
NASBA announced this morning that its systems will be down this weekend for what we presume to be a little planned maintenance. From their website: CPA Exam Candidates: The Gateway System, CPA Central and other NASBA system will be down for a scheduled outage on Saturday September 11th, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Central). You […]
The NASBA Candidate Portal Went Down Last Week and All Hell Broke Loose For People Who Don’t Print Their NTS In Advance
While the rest of us were binge drinking and yelling at 10-year-olds in “Call of Duty” or eating hours or whatever it is you get up to on a Friday night, it seems some CPA exam candidates learned the hard way that you can’t trust NASBA’s website to be up when you need it most. […]
Things Are (Sort Of) Getting Back to Normal at Prometric Soon
As we trudge ever onward toward month 18 of “two weeks to stop the spread,” it’s time to start thinking about a return to normal at everyone’s favorite place where CPA candidates’ goals and unreasonable expectations get crushed: Prometric. The company recently announced a softening of policies enacted early on in the pandemic, some of […]
The CPA Exam of the Future Includes the Flexibility to Adapt to … the Future?
In a move wholly uncharacteristic of the accounting profession, the benevolent overlords of the CPA exam are thinking ahead. WAY ahead. So far ahead we can’t even imagine what the world might look like by then. Here’s hoping you still have a job and Alexa has figured out how to turn my dining room Christmas […]
The Accounting Profession Is Running Low on CPAs, But There’s an Obvious (and Completely Ignored) Fix For That
Soooo not sure if you heard but there’s a pipeline problem. This website has been around since 2009 and I’ve been loitering out here on the periphery of the accounting profession like a stalker in the bushes since I started in CPA review way back in 2007, so suffice to say we’ve seen some shit […]
Is It Time For Prometric to Ditch the Mask Mandate?
On May 16, 2021 the CDC announced that fully vaccinated individuals could enthusiastically rip the masks from their faces and go forth out into the world maskless like they did prior to all this mess. Social distancing? Gone. Hiding in your apartment? Forget it. From the CDC website: If you are fully vaccinated, you can […]
PSA: You’ve Still Got to Wear a Mask at Prometric
At this same time last year, we were all wondering if the world as we knew it pre-March 2020 would ever return or if we’d be stuck in dystopian purgatory forever. Thankfully we — we as in those of us in the United States — made it through and might even have a normal summer, […]
Here’s Your Open Thread For the Sixth CPA Exam Score Release of 2021
Hey hey, it’s May. Just in case you forgot or are still stuck in an endless, nightmarish loop in which passing days are both rushing by and dragging on forever at the same time. What’s up with that, anyway? It feels like every time I look up, another month has passed me by. Is it […]
Which Big 4 Firm Had the Most 2020 Elijah Watt Sells Winners?
On May 5 the AICPA announced that of the 75,000 brave souls who sat for the CPA exam in 2020, 89 of those managed not only to pass each part on their first try but also scored a cumulative score of at least 95.50 which is necessary to qualify for the esteemed Elijah Watt Sells […]
Here’s Your Open Thread For the Fifth CPA Exam Score Release of 2021
We’re seven and a half months away from Christmas but that didn’t stop the benevolent overlords of the CPA exam from gifting candidates with an early score release this week. Scores were due today according to the AICPA score release schedule. #CPAExam candidates! Waiting for your score(s)? They will be released tonight at 7 p.m. […]
The First Batch of 2021 CPA Exam Pass Rates Are Out and They’re … Not Bad
In 2020, CPA exam candidates somehow managed to outperform 2019 with pass rates slightly higher than the prior year across the board. This feat was made that much more impressive by the fact that for at least a small part of the year they couldn’t even test thanks to the raging coof but thankfully that […]
You Might Want to Read This If You Plan to Take the CPA Exam This Summer
Here we are in the Second Summer of COVID and while vaccination numbers are encouraging, obviously there are still some hiccups to work out as we make the slow but steady slog back to whatever version of “normal” exists now. It’s encouraging, but as with anything we should temper our expectations and do our best […]
FYI CPA Exam Candidates: NASBA Systems Will Be Down (Briefly) This Weekend So Plan Accordingly
Active CPA exam candidates should have gotten an email about this upcoming planned outage however if your inbox looks anything like mine, it’s entirely possible that said email was lost among the Hello Fresh spam and discount codes from brands you bought from once that try and act like they genuinely miss you. So consider […]
Mark Your Calendars: ‘Navigating the CPA Exam’ Webcast on April 20
Consider this your unofficial invitation to “Navigating the CPA Exam,” a joint webcast from NASBA and the AICPA that will help guide CPA exam candidates through the perilous journey on the way to CPA licensure. Are you a candidate currently pursuing the U.S. CPA license? Join NASBA/AICPA for a webcast on April 20, 1 – […]
AICPA Report: Accounting Education Is Lagging Woefully Behind Necessary Real-World Skills
Not sure if y’all heard but we live in the future now. Not the cool Ray Bradbury one with casual weekend trips to exotic Mars destinations and robots to do all the tedious things we’d rather not, but the future no less. And here in this dystopian nightmare glorious future, technical aptitude is in high […]
NASBA Celebrated St. Paddy’s With Another Batch of On-Time CPA Exam Scores
Apparently yesterday was St Patrick’s Day. I don’t know about everyone else but I didn’t even realize it, maybe because we’re all still in a quasi holding pattern of lockdown depending on where we are and getting shitfaced with strangers in kelly green T-shirts wasn’t on the menu. Or it could be that I no […]
What I Learned From Failing the FAR Exam Twice
Before working in my current position as a senior tax associate, I was helping people to make the world a better place in a different way, as a manager for a Montessori preschool. I valued my relationship with the staff and children, but my interest was continuously drawn more into the business side of the […]
The Latest CPA Exam Scores Are Out, But Not Without a Brief Hiccup First
According to the AICPA time table, the second batch of CPA exam scores for the first half of 2021 were due on February 23, which means that candidates were anticipating them starting some time last week. Even with the entire world in turmoil, the benevolent overlords of CPA exam administration have done a spectacular job […]
YSK: NASBA Is Still Exploring the Possibility of Remote CPA Exam Testing
Back in September we talked about the NASBA Summer 2020 State Board Report, in which the benevolent overlords who torture you for fun who oversee the CPA exam discussed the possibility of remote testing. I know it was a loooooong time ago (let’s be real, yesterday is a long time ago when on Corona time) […]
The Not-So-Secret Way to Get an Elijah Watt Sells Award
Since 1923, the Elijah Watt Sells Award has recognized the extraordinary achievements of the top-performing CPA exam candidates each year, a rare and hard-earned reward for above-average scores. The few, the proud, the … wait, wrong slogan. Have you ever wondered just who Elijah Watt Sells even was? Most people probably assume he was some […]
Here’s Your Open Thread For the First CPA Exam Score Release of 2021
So it’s February already even though it feels like just yesterday we were all duking it out over the last roll of toilet paper at Target. Time goes on, as it must, perhaps moreso in these strange times we’re lucky enough to be alive to see. Today has the distinction of being the first CPA […]
Just Abolish the CPA Exam, Says Guy
For at least a year now, we’ve been getting emails from some guy who really, really doesn’t like the CPA exam. And for at least a year now, we’ve pretty much ignored them because, well, abolishing the CPA exam is up there with curing cancer and people learning how to use turn signals, as in […]
Don’t Freak Out But NASBA Systems Will Be Down All Weekend
ATTENTION people taking the CPA exam this weekend: you will not be able to print your NTS the day of your exam, you will not be able to check it with your knees delicately pressed against your steering wheel while racing to Prometric, and you definitely won’t be able to track down the last cybercafe […]
2020 Was Terrible, These 2020 CPA Exam Pass Rates Not So Much
The other week, my state had the highest Rona numbers we’ve seen since this whole thing started nearly a year ago. Of course, everyone is burned out on staying home and hiding so I doubt we’ve seen the worst of it. While the pandemic still rages on, we also have to balance all that “normal” […]
With Today’s CPA Exam Score Release, 2020 Is Officially In the Bag
Rejoice, procrastinators, your remaining 2020 CPA exam scores have been released to the wild today, meaning everyone who took the exam up to December 31 should have them in hand. Unless you’re in California but that’s a whole other topic for another day. On January 12, 2021, NASBA received and processed the following scores from […]
Apparently NASBA Offices Narrowly Avoided the Nashville Bombing
In a letter to stakeholders, NASBA President and CEO Ken Bishop updated us on the situation in Nashville, NASBA’s ongoing work-from-home policy, and how their city is coping with the Rona. They’re fortunate that everyone is safe despite the frightening proximity of the Christmas morning car bomb that injured eight and damaged at least 41 […]
Hey CPA Exam Candidates, Your Last Score Release of 2020 Is Here
You know how every time you go to look up a simple recipe, let’s say sugar cookies, and you find a website that looks good only to open it up and get hit with half a dozen auto-play ads and 15 paragraphs about how the author’s great-grandma smuggled this recipe out of Poland during the […]
There’s Just One CPA Exam Score Release Left For This Dumpster Fire of a Year
Although I tried my darnedest during the last CPA exam score release to unleash a curse on AICPA servers because candidates are overdue for some unforeseen disaster given how smooth things have gone lately, it appears the collective powers of the CPA exam overlords are more powerful than any jinx. That’s right, scores have been […]
Here’s Your CPA Exam Score Release Schedule For the First Half of 2021
For those who get a special thrill out of meticulously planning your future, you’ll be stoked to hear the CPA exam score release schedule for 2021 is out — for the first half of the year, anyway. Considering the current state of the world, it’s nice to have something solid you can kinda sorta rely […]
There Are Just Two CPA Exam Score Releases Remaining For 2020
The end of the year is so close you can almost feel it, eh? Well, if it’s 75-some degrees where you are like it is by me maybe you’re having a hard time imagining it, in which case just check out how many CPA exam score releases are left in 2020. You’ll quickly realize the […]
The CPA Exam Overlords Are Extending Continuous Testing to Candidates In India
It’s been a strange year indeed. As such, NASBA has spent most of 2020 deftly navigating a totally unexpected pandemic while at the same time knowing that even if this year had been smooth sailing, a constriction in the pipeline of future CPAs has made their work more important than ever. It may feel like […]
Headline of the Day: ‘The CPA Exam Should Adopt Remote Testing’
I’m sorry to tell you that’s not an article on the NASBA blog, but rather an opinion piece in The CPA Journal by John “Jack” Castonguay, PhD, CPA. In it, he argues that remote testing benefits candidates as they will have certainty around scheduling their dates, and the profession overall as it ensures a steady […]
Pretty Soon, You Can Take the CPA Exam In Egypt and Jordan
It was way back in August of 2011 when the CPA exam first went international with 1,165 candidates sitting for 2,065 exam sections in Japan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Just a year earlier, more than 10,000 international candidates traveled to the United States to sit for the CPA exam, a 22% […]
Rejoice, CPA Exam Candidates, Your Fourth Score Release For the Second Half of 2020 Is Here
Chugging right along for what will no doubt be considered the worst recorded year in human history, there’s at least a small bit of good news to be gleaned from the dumpster fire that is 2020: CPA exam scores continue to be released on time. #CPAExam candidates! Waiting for your score(s)? They will be released […]
Psst, You Don’t Have to Take the CPA Exam This Year If You Don’t Want To
For more than 11 years I have spent the last three or four months of every year urging CPA exam candidates to schedule their exams lest they miss out on desired dates. Now that I think about it, it’s actually been closer to 13 years, as I started in CPA review way back in 2007. […]
YSK: NASBA Has a Landing Page to Check If Your State Has Granted a Rona Credit Extension
Interesting little thing NASBA tweeted out today that we thought would be worthwhile to share with you all, a master list of jurisdictions that have granted credit extensions. You’ll note it’s pretty much everybody and you don’t have to do anything in order to get one. As you can see from the chart, most states […]
CPA Exam Scores Are Coming Early But There’s a Catch
Good news, y’all. Although the next CPA exam score release was supposed to be September 16 (that’s this Wednesday for those of you who have lost all sense of time these days), NASBA announced today that scores will be released tonight, September 14 at 9 p.m. Central. #CPAExam candidates: The scores for the scheduled September […]
YSK: NASBA Is Considering Letting You Take the CPA Exam at Home If This Rona Thing Gets Bad Again
When the world went to shit way back in March, it seemed like it happened almost immediately. I don’t know about you guys but I remember going to the bar with my boyfriend in February thinking “no biggie, we’ll be back here in a couple weeks” and next thing I knew, three months had gone […]
Let’s Enjoy These CPA Exam Pass Rates From Before the Entire World Went Down the Can
I realized the other day we hadn’t posted about pass rates in a while, and upon looking it up I found my hunch was correct, as the last time they were mentioned was January when we touched on 2019 CPA exam pass rates. Y’all remember January? Oh if only we knew then what was coming […]
Your Second CPA Exam Score Release For August Is Here … Sorta
According to the AICPA’s handy-dandy CPA exam score release schedule, CPA exam candidates are due a score release on August 25. Lately, scores have not only been on time but early; however, we have yet to see anything from NASBA about a Monday night score release so don’t hold your breath on that one. They […]
Continuous Testing Is Here. Here’s Everything You Need to Know You Didn’t Think to Ask
As of July 1, continuous testing is the new way CPA exam candidates plan and sit for the exam. If you’ve been a bit confused about what continuous testing means for your CPA exam journey, it’s understandable. The plan was announced in 2019 and was very quickly pushed toward adoption, with the final steps toward […]
Friendly Reminder: You Can Take the CPA Exam in Any Jurisdiction, Not Just Your Own
Just a week ago, Prometric announced that 90% of its global testing centers were open and ready to welcome candidates of all kinds. The news comes just a few short months after they closed down every location in the U.S. and Canada and delayed reopening several times due to changing conditions surrounding everyone’s favorite global […]
Tonight Marks the Very First CPA Exam Score Release Since the Launch of Continuous Testing
According to the AICPA’s CPA exam score release timeline, candidates who sat for the exam on or before July 23 were due to receive their scores tomorrow, August 7; however, according to a very recent tweet from NASBA, scores are here just a little early. #CPAExam candidates! Waiting for your score(s)? They will be released […]
Looks Like There Will Be a Very Different CPA Exam by 2024
The Journal of Accountancy reported this week that the NASBA Board of Directors voted unanimously to support the proposed CPA Evolution, which would mean a slightly different exam with a stronger focus on technical skills, though core content is expected to remain the same. The AICPA Governing Council endorsed the model in May. We first […]
Apparently Becoming a CPA In Canada Can Literally Kill You
It’s nothing rare for accounting students and aspiring CPAs alike to say “these exams are killing me,” but I’ve got to say this is the first time I’ve seen a legal document stating in no uncertain terms that the exam can in fact kill you. What a wild timeline we live in. Let’s check in […]
FYI: Effective August 1, Prometric Will Start Charging to Reschedule Your CPA Exam Date (Again)
Prometric announced recently it is bringing back the rescheduling fee, which was waived earlier in the year due to that little coronavirus thing. The change is effective as of August 1, 2020. They explained the reasoning for the change in an email to candidates: In response to the large-scale closure of the Prometric test center […]
California Board of Accountancy Has Caught Everyone Up on the Whole Application Delay Situation
Since the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve heard and read complaints from CPA exam candidates that the benevolent overlords of CPA licensure have failed to properly communicate ever-changing procedures, plans, and timelines. Now, although candidates’ position on the matter is understandable, what with the CPA exam being one of the hardest things they’ll […]
Here’s a Nightmare Scenario to Add to Your CPA Exam Anxiety File
Thinking back to posts about missing CPA exam scores we’ve written over the years on this website, I knew there was at least one in the recent past. By “recent past” I thought maybe 2018 or something but nah, try January of this year. I shouldn’t have to explain why six months ago feels like […]
Here’s How Your CPA Exam Score Releases Will Look Once Continuous Testing Launches July 1
Not only is it June, it’s almost summer. I’d ask where the first half of the year went but I already know, it circled down the drain in true 2020 fashion. Whatever happened the first two quarters may not be entirely behind us now but what we do know is that, Rona be damned, TPTB […]
Psst, the AICPA Is Giving Away Money For You to Take the CPA Exam
Before you get too excited over that headline, note this is a scholarship and not an announcement that the AIPCA has hired Jerome Powell to make their own personal money machine go brrr for CPA exam candidates. Alright, with that out of the way, the AICPA announced today that it is launching a new CPA […]
Friendly Reminder: Expect Continued Difficulties Scheduling CPA Exams
At this point, we all know CPAs were determined to be “essential” and therefore allowed to resume CPA exam testing when Prometric re-opened on a limited basis May 1. And we all know that some testing centers are open only for specific med-based testing, meaning future healthcare workers are given priority over other “essential” testing. […]