Loyola University Chicago

(from www.illinois-cpa-exam.com)

• Educational Requirements
• Examination Content
• Examination Format & Testing Schedule
• Fee Schedule
• Score Release

The CPA Exam is administered as a computer based test (CBT). The CBT provides examination security and affords flexibility for CPA Examination candidates. The computer-based format also incorporates the assessment of critical skills, such as research and communication, and includes an emphasis on information technology,  general business knowledge and the audit and attest area.

Below is some basic information about the exam content, format and administrative issues. For more comprehensive information, including tutorials, visit:

• The Uniform CPA Exam (AICPA)
• Illinois CPA Exam (Illinois Board of Examiners)

Examination Content

The CBT is divided into the following sections and durations:

• Auditing and Attestation: This section covers knowledge of auditing procedures, generally accepted auditing procedures, generally accepted auditing standards and other standards related to attest engagements, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge in those engagements. (4.5 hours)
  
  
• Financial Accounting and Reporting: This section covers knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles for business enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental entities, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge. (4 hours)
  
• Regulation: This section covers knowledge of federal taxation, ethics, professional and legal responsibilities, and business law, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge. (3 hours)
  
  
• Business Environment and Concepts: This section covers knowledge of the general business environment and business concepts that candidates need to know in order to understand the underlying business reasons for and accounting implications of business transactions, and the skills needed to apply that knowledge. (2.5 hours)

Educational Requirements

To be admitted to take the examination for the first time, an Illinois candidate for the CPA examination must have successfully completed at least 150 semester hours of acceptable credit including a baccalaureate or higher degree. The semester hours accepted by the Illinois Board of Examiners must include an accounting concentration or its equivalent.

A candidate will be deemed to have met the education requirement if, as part of the 150 semester hours, he or she has met any one of the four conditions listed below. With each of the conditions listed below, accounting hours do not include business law, and no more than six semester hours of accounting may be obtained through internships or life-experience credit posted on a college transcript.

An examination candidate must have done one of the following:

1. Earned a graduate degree with a concentration in accounting from a program that is accredited in accounting by an accrediting agency recognized by the Illinois Board of Examiners
   
   
2. Earned a graduate degree from a program that is accredited in business by an accrediting agency recognized by the Illinois Board of Examiners and completed at least 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate level or 15 semester hours at the graduate level or equivalent combination thereof, including courses covering the subjects of financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting
   
   
3. Earned a baccalaureate degree from a program that is accredited in business by an accrediting agency recognized by the Illinois Board of Examiners and completed 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate or graduate level, including courses covering the subjects of financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting; and completed at least 24 semester hours of business courses, or substantially equivalent (other than accounting) courses, at the undergraduate or graduate level
   
   
4. Earned a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited educational institution or other institution recognized by the Illinois Board of Examiners, including at least 24 semester hours of accounting at the undergraduate and/or graduate level with at least one course each in financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting and at least 24 semester hours in business courses or substantially equivalent (other than accounting) courses at the undergraduate or graduate level

The application process in CBT for Illinois candidates includes the following steps:

• Candidate submits an application and fee to the Illinois Board of Examiners to be authorized to take one to four different sections of the CPA exam.
  
  
• The Illinois Board of Examiners issues an Authorization to Test (ATT) to the candidate. This ATT is also sent to NASBA (National Association of State Boards of Accountancy). NASBA maintains a national database of CPA candidates in addition to facilitating scheduling. The Authorization to Test will be valid for 90 days.
  
  
• After receiving the Board’s Authorization to Test, NASBA contacts the candidate requesting additional fees for grading, computer test time, digital photo at the test center and their processing fee.
  
  
• NASBA receives the requested fees from the candidate and issues a Notice to Schedule (NTS) to the candidate and also informs the Board of Examiners. The candidate is instructed to contact the Prometric Testing Center to schedule a day and time for testing. The Notice to Schedule (NTS) is valid for six months. The candidate must schedule and take those sections which were authorized within six months of the NTS issue date.
  
  
• Test data is sent from Prometric to AICPA on a daily basis. AICPA grades the candidate answers and sends advisory grades to NASBA as each part is graded.
  
  
• NASBA updates the National Candidate Database and sends the advisory grades to the state board on a daily basis.
  
  
• Grades will be released to the candidate a short time after receipt in the Board office. The Board of Examiners must approve advisory grades from the AICPA before release to the candidate.
  
  
• The candidate submits subsequent application(s) and fee(s) to the Board office to be re-authorized to take failed or not previously scheduled sections of the examination.

Score Release

Candidates will not receive grades immediately after sitting for a section of the CBT. The CBT examination will contain structured response questions that require transmission of answers to the AICPA for scoring. It is anticipated that a minimum of 2-4 weeks will be required to process grades/scores.

For the first two CBT examination windows additional time will be needed by the AICPA to process scores. A number of examination results must be accumulated and compared prior to score release in order to ensure that the CBT scoring methodology is applied appropriately. The anticipated score release date for exams taken in April-May 2004 is July 15, 2004.

The passing standard for the CBT will be set at a scaled score of 75. Upon the implementation of the CBT, numeric scores will continue to be provided to state boards of accountancy on the current score scale of 0-99, with 75 as a passing score.

The 75 passing score does not represent “percent correct.” A score of 75 simply reflects examination performance that represents the knowledge and skills needed to protect the public. Since CPA candidates receive different test forms, the percentage of questions a candidate needs to answer correctly to earn a score of 75 may differ from one test to another. The equivalence of scores of 75 on different test forms is maintained through a psychometric procedure known as equating.

Candidate anonymity is preserved throughout the grading process, as graders have no access to personal information about a candidate, such as name, gender, education, experience, age, number of previous sittings or other personal characteristics. A candidate’s grade on the exam is based solely on the candidate’s answers to the examination.

Examination Format and Testing Schedule

Each section of the CPA examination includes sets of multiple-choice questions called testlets. In addition, each section except Business Environment & Concepts contains one or more case study components called simulations. Simulations provide a set of facts and require candidates to complete related tasks and access authoritative literature. Simulations will be added to Business Environment & Concepts at a later date.

To assist candidates in preparing for the CBT, a tutorial is available at the following AICPA Website: www.cpa-exam.org/tutorial/html/intro.html.

The CBT will be available approximately 60 days out of each calendar quarter. This 60-day period is called a testing window. There are four testing windows each calendar year.

• Candidates may sit for each section of the Uniform CPA Examination individually, and in any order.
• Candidates will retain credit for any section(s) passed under CBT for eighteen months, without having to attain a minimum score on failed sections and without regard to whether they have taken other sections. Candidates will not be allowed to retake a failed section within the same testing window.
• Candidates must pass all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination within a “rolling” eighteen-month period, which begins on the date that the first section(s) passed is taken.
• In the event all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination are not passed within the rolling eighteen-month period, credit for any section(s) passed outside the eighteen-month period will expire and that section(s) must be retaken.
• After passing the four sections of the CPA Examination, an Exam on Professional Conduct must be taken and passed before a candidate can be certified.

Fee Schedule

Fees for the CBT are collected by both the Illinois Board of Examiners and by NASBA. The Illinois Board of Examiners collects a fee for credential evaluation, a fee for each section of the exam that the candidate wishes to take, and issues the Authorization to Test. NASBA collects a fee on behalf of itself, the AICPA and Prometric, and will issue the Notice to Schedule. Details of these fees are given below. These section fees are for one Authorization to Test (ATT).

Board of Examiners Administrative Fees

For example, if a first-time candidate submits an application to take four sections of the CPA exam, the fee will be $120.00 in addition to the credential evaluation fee. The board will notify NASBA that a candidate is authorized to test for four sections and NASBA will contact the candidate directly for the applicable fees below. Once fees are received, a notice to schedule (NTS) is issued to the candidate. (See page 3 for further details of the process.)

The maximum a first-time candidate with domestic credentials would be charged to write all four parts of the exam would be as follows:

Board of Examiners credentials evaluation fee: $175.00
Board of Examiners administrative fee: $120.00
NASBA, AICPA and Prometric fees: $655.55

TOTAL: $950.55