Anyone who’s taken a standardized exam — SAT, ACT, GRE, MCAT, etc. — knows a little something about showing up to a test anxious and adrenalized, all nerves and last-minute cramming.
But imagine showing up to find the computer-based exam program wasn’t working properly; the computer crashed midway through the test, or you couldn’t even take the test because you were registered for the wrong one.
Those are the troubles many accounting candidates can expect when they take their certified public accounting exams, says Andrew Rosman, associate professor of accounting at the University of Connecticut.
With a national failure rate of 58 percent and a dwindling number of young CPAs entering the profession, Rosman said accounting firms and organizations should more closely scrutinize tests that, by errors and glitches, create yet more barriers to entry for CPA candidates.
The test is difficult and extremely high-pressure, Rosman said. But glitches continue, even through the accounting organization in charge has had years to work out the kinks in the newer, computer-based system.
Too Long
“You’d think that three and a half years into the process, they would have gotten these problems ironed out,” Rosman said.
The Connecticut State Board of Accountancy discussed problem reports from test centers in towns like Glastonbury, Norwalk and Hamden at its last meeting in early September. The board agreed to voice its concerns to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, which administers the test.
It’s important to look at problem reports in context, said Ken Bishop, director of CPA examination operations for NASBA. Centers take care to report every event, no matter how minor, said Bishop.
Those can include whether a computer problem briefly delays the test, or nontechnical distractions such as a loud test-taker in the next chair over. Often, a high number of incident reports just means the test center is being diligent in recording every detail of the test.
To allay the Connecticut board’s fears about test problems, Bishop said a NASBA representative will attend the state’s October meeting to explain details of the problems reports.
That isn’t a new concern for board members, who have been vocal in questioning NASBA’s testing procedures and equipment in the past. And Rosman is far from convinced that testing problems are minor.
Keeping Quiet
NASBA says problems are diligently reported, but Rosman said many accounting students don’t come forward with issues. Accounting students commonly share war stories with each other, he said, but their attitude is often akin to that of airline passengers who get so used to delays and lost luggage that they give up and don’t even bother complaining to airlines anymore.
The most obvious errors are technical problems that cause delays or interruptions during the test. New York’s society of professional accountants and state accountancy board have also written about a number of problems with testing and scoring, pointing in particular to a difficult-to-use computer program that creates needless confusion among test-takers.
Rosman said in a 2006 survey of 82 UConn accounting students, 14 said they’d run into significant problems, such as computer crashes, during the test. But NASBA has a 10-year contract with ProMetric, the test administrator, and has set up no targets or benchmarks to monitor improvement. And the organization covers the entire nation, so it’s not like accounting candidates have a choice in where they take the test.
“What can you do? It’s not like you can go someplace else,” he said.
It’s a long, bureaucratic process for candidates to even get in the door of the accounting tests, and rumors circulating about shaky test procedures only create more frustration among would-be CPAs. Accounting firms are investing in the candidates, but if becoming a CPA is such an enormous hurdle, many students are asking themselves, “Why bother?”
The Connecticut Board of Accountancy has been particularly vocal about addressing ongoing problems, but Rosman said it’s facing an uphill battle.
Connecticut’s board “is probably the most proactive board in the country, but if they raise a concern, they’re ignored because they’re just one out of 55.”
