2008 CPA Exam Results – NASBA Data - Eastern Illinois University

2008 CPA Exam Results – NASBA Data
Prepared by Hank Davis,
Director of Accountancy, School of Business
10‐7‐09
The CPA exam is administered during the first two months of each quarter. Exam
participant may take 1‐4 parts of the exam. Results are reported by the National
Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA ) on an annual basis. A
requirement to take the exam is that each candidate must pass a minimum number
of credit hours in accounting (24 in excess of the principles classes) and a total of
150 semester credit hours.
NASBA recently released the results of exams administered during 2008. The CPA
exam is comprised of four separate tests/sections. These are:
• FARS‐Financial Accounting and Reporting
• AUD‐Auditing and Attestation
• REG‐Regulation
• BEC‐Business Environment and Concepts
Exam results are reported, by institution, for those without graduate degrees and
those with graduate degrees. The data reported are: (1) number individuals from
each institution attempting one or more parts of he exam, (2) number of attempts
on each part and (3) number of successful completions.
CPA passage rates are an important assessment metric of our graduate accounting
program which is the M.B.A with a concentration in Accountancy. This is the
academic path that we encourage students to pursue, if they desire to pass the CPA
exam.
Below are the results for EIU students attempting the exam with a graduate degree.
The results reported are the number of student successes divided by the number of
student attempts. Results for 2008 are shown below.
Institution FAR AUD REG BEC
EIU 75% 88% 67% 56%
Illinois candidates 50% 60% 54% 56%
The following tables compare EIU to other Illinois public institutions offering an
advanced degree. As you can see from the information presented in the following
tables, EIU students meet or exceed the results for Illinois candidates taking the
exam in 2008.
2008 CPA Exam Results for Illinois Public Institutions Page 1

Financial Accounting & Reporting 2008 Results
Eastern
Illinois State
UIUC
Avg of IL Public …
Western IL
Notheastern
Northern Illinois
SIU‐E
Governors State
SIU‐C
U of I‐Springfield
Illinois State
Governors State
Avg of IL Public Institutions
Northern Illinois
U of I‐Springfield
Northeastern
Western IL
25%
2008 CPA Exam Results for Illinois Public Institutions Page 2
33%
31%
39%
50%
50%
50%
49%
59%
62%
75%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Auditing & Attestation 2008 Results
Eastern
SIU‐E
UIUC
SIU‐C
35%
33%
50%
50%
54%
60%
67%
67%
64%
83%
88%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Illinois State
Eastern
U of I‐Springfield
Northern Illinois
Avg of IL Public Institutions
UIUC
SIU‐E
Western IL
Governors State
SIU‐C
Notheastern
Avg of IL Public Institutions
Regulation 2008 Results
0%
2008 CPA Exam Results for Illinois Public Institutions Page 3
33%
31%
40%
51%
50%
56%
54%
60%
67%
89%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Business Environment & Concepts 2008 Results
Illinois State
UIUC
Eastern
Governors State
Northern Illinois
Western IL
SIU‐C
Notheastern
U of I‐Springfield
SIU‐E
33%
40%
38%
47%
50%
56%
56%
56%
55%
60%
88%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%