As far as the CPA exam is concerned, it’s one thing you really shouldn’t joke about. And, in NASBA’s defense, it’s not like they actually meant to punk a bunch of eager CPA exam candidates this past April Fools’ Day, it just so happened that way.
Set the scene. It’s March 31 and you’re printing out your Notice to Schedule ahead of your exam tomorrow. You go onto the NASBA website and see this:
Huh. Well that’s weird. OK, refresh. Still there. Hmm. Alright, maybe it’s just temporarily down and will come back soon, no biggie.
As the night wears on and you continue to check NASBA’s site, you grow increasingly concerned when you still can’t get to your NTS. Panic sets in. Who can you call? No one, their office is closed. All that’s left to do is shoot a tweet out into the abyss and hope everything is resolved in the morning.
Is anyone having issues accessing its NTS for printing? It says something about an “internal error” and my test is scheduled for tomorrow 8am.
— Amir Yulian (@AmYulian) March 31, 2019
@NASBA I am currently trying to download my NTS for a test tomorrow morning and I keep receiving an error message when I click to download the NTS stating “Not Found 404” or “Internal Server Error 500”. Will the system be back up and running by tomorrow morning?
— Liz Lindell (@lizzielindell) March 31, 2019
@NASBA Please fix your server. People with tests tomorrow cant print their NTS due to an internal server error. Super frustrating. pic.twitter.com/NhPJpXsPfm
— Rachel (@rk40282146) April 1, 2019
Welp, spoiler alert: it stayed down for a few “lucky” candidates who were unable to take their scheduled exam due to being unable to print out their NTS.
@NASBA currently receiving a 404 not found error when trying to access my NTS. Exam is schedule for 30 mins from now. Help?
— Matt (@jmattjohns) April 1, 2019
A NASBA spokesperson told us the issue affected less than 20 candidates. “We were able to work with each candidate to reschedule their Exam section,” he said.
That’s all well and good but damn, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. But hey, well-played as far as pranks go I guess, totally beats the ole fake desktop trick.
