Did you know that the University of Northern Iowa tops the nation in preparing students to pass the CPA Exam? As we discussed in Episode 425 of The Accounting Podcast, the CPA Success Index provides fascinating insights into which accounting programs most effectively prepare students.
The index, established in 2020, measures the percentage of students who pass all four sections of the CPA exam within the crucial 18-month window—which is everyone’s goal, right? You definitely don’t want to have to start over.
The methodology is pretty straightforward: they take NASBA data on sections passed on first attempt in the preceding 12 months, adjust it to an 18-month timeframe using each school’s average first-time pass rate, then divide by total sections attempted.
The top performers might surprise you:
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University of Northern Iowa
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Texas A&M University
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University of Texas at Austin
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University of Virginia
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Brigham Young University
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Washington and Lee University
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Baylor University
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University of Kansas
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Georgetown University
Four schools have consistently remained in this elite group: Texas A&M, UT Austin, Northern Iowa, and Kansas.
What makes these programs stand out? An accounting department that makes the passing the exam the objective. Texas A&M, for example, benefits from their integrated five-year Bachelor’s/Master’s program.
