CANDIDATE PERFORMANCE ON THE CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT EXAM: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Stanley Self
Danyell Weaver
Jon Proctor
Melanie Hicks
Kaplan University
ABSTRACT
Literature has examined multiple aspects of candidate performance on the Certified
Public Accountant (CPA exam. This study groups institutions into three categories: Private Not-
for-Profit schools, State Institutions, and Private For-Profit organizations. Institutional
characteristics included in the study will include: national accreditation and regional
accreditation. This study incorporates data found in the 2011 edition of the “Candidate
Performance on the CPA exam” published by the National Association of State Boards of
Accountancy. This study examines the average scores and overall pass rates by candidates
graduating from institutions included in the Reports and Commentary on the CPA exam found in
the “All Testing Events” appendix of the report. Moreover, additional comparison to the first time
events and retake events are included for limitation testing. Finally, this study test the limitation
created by the exclusion of certain data from the report which excludes data for any institution
that had fewer than five candidates who took the CPA exam during the year. The results of this
study indicate that there are significant differences according to the conducted analysis of
Variance (ANOVA).