Only 2,075 pass CPA board exams

Credit to Author: JAIME PILAPIL, TMT| Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:20:34 +0000

Only 2,075 out of 14,492 examinees passed the Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination (CPALE) given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in October 2019.

The examinations were held in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Tacloban and Tuguegarao.

The number of board passers in October was a bit higher than the number of successful examinees in May — 1,699 out of 10,319 or a mere 16.46 percent.

The dismal result of the October exams showed that out of 474 colleges and universities offering accountancy in the country, 200 got zero overall performance rating — meaning not one of their students passed the exam.

In May 2016, 2,967 out of 6,925 examinees passed, a high 42.84 percent. In October of the same year, 5,249 out of 14,390 examinees passed or 36.48 percent.

In May 2017, 3,389 of the 9,645 examinees passed or 35.15 percent, while in October of that year, 4,511 of the 14,816 made it.

Meanwhile, in May 2018, 2,843 of the 9,830 examinees passed, and 3,616 of the 14,358 examinees passed in October of the same year.

Observers believe that the poor CPA board exam results show the declining capacity of accounting schools in preparing their students for the board exam.

Based on the 2019 board exam results, the top 3 schools offering accountancy are the University of the Philippines Diliman (84.21 percent), De La Salle University Manila (67.19 percent) and University of Santo Tomas (57.32 percent).

Joel Tan Torres, former chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy and a board topnotcher in 1979, decried the declining number of CPA board exam passers.

“Clearly, there is a declining trend in the passing performance of the CPA board examinees, who took the board examinations,” he said in his newspaper column.

Torres said the results should be a wake up call to all shareholders — accountants, the PRC and schools.

Alfred Jean-Marie Borgonovo, a financial management specialist at the World Bank, said there is a need to redesign the accountancy curriculum.

He said a cursory review and corrective solutions of experts might solve “the ills of Philippine accountancy education.”

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