b'CPA Exam SuccessCPA Exam VoicesBy: Charles Davis, Timothy Lindquist and Joseph Ugrin (Accounting Today, February 03, 2021) The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy publishes CPA pass rates for varied sizes of schools. NASBAs data is useful, but it only measures single-section pass rates.It does not measure how well students progress toward completing all four parts needed to become a CPA. In seeking a better metric to evaluate how well collegiate accounting programs prepare students to pass all four parts of the CPA exam, we created the CPA Success Index in 2020. We based the index on the number of sections candidates passed on the first attempt in the preceding 12 months. We gross that value up to 18 months using the schools average firsttime pass rate, and then divide it byOn average, students across all universities only passed one the total number of sections, four. section of the CPA Exam on the first try in 2019, which In 2020, we examined most recent available data (2018) forresults in an average CPA success index of .397 (median of the 248 collegiate accounting programs with greater than.375), a far cry from passing all four parts necessary to 60 candidates that NASBA defines as large. We foundbecome a CPA.that candidates in that group passed an average of 1.16To be consistent with NASBAs annual ranking of the top sections per year on the first attempt. Thus, the average40 universities on the single-part pass rate, we list the top candidate from the nations largest accounting programs40 schools for CPA success in the table for all programs completed just over one quarter of the exam on the firstwith greater than 20 candidates and split by program size, try in a years time, a first-time completion rate that is farmedium and large.below the average of 2.67 parts per year necessary to pass the entire exam successfully within 18 months and become a CPA. We ranked the top 10 large accounting programs by success indices and looked closer at their definingMIZZOU Graduate Wins AICPAcharacteristics. We concluded that extra graduateElijah Watt Sells Awardcoursework and formalized CPA review lead to higher CPA success scores.Mizzou has always had a For this testing window, Truman State University, aspecial place in my heart medium-sized program, is ranked number one overall,because I have been going with an index of 1.000. Truman States 37 candidatesto Mizzou football and passed 99 sections during the calendar year, or an averagebasketball games since of 2.67 sections per candidate. When the annual pass ratebefore I could walk. Just is adjusted to reflect the 18-month testing window,about everyone in my Truman States success index is 1.000, indicating that thefamily has gone to school at universitys candidates can be expected to pass all fourMizzou and I was happy to sections of the CPA exam within the 18-month testingcarry on the tradition. It window. A full list of the top 10 is below. was a great coincidence Josh Young Consultant II, Transaction Advisory Armanino42 School of Accountancy'