Introduction

The Accountancy Program in DLSP started in the year 2013 with two degree programs, Bachelor of
Science in Accountancy and Bachelor of Science in Accountancy. It was established for the purpose of
providing the program to students who used to excel in their studies but cannot afford to study the
program in the private colleges in San Pablo City. In 2015, the Department changed its name from
Department of Accountancy to Department of Accountancy and Entrepreneurship with BS
Entrepreneurship added to the curricular offerings.

Background of the Study

The CPA Licensure Examination is one of the professional board examinations administered by the
Professional regulation Commission (PRC) thru its Board of Accountancy (BOA). It is conducted twice
every year in the month of May and October. It is marked by its difficulty among other board
examinations which can be seen on its relatively low passing rates in the past few years up to present.

Before one can take the CPA Board Exam, he/she must first earn a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy
Degree on a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) accredited College or University.

The Philippine Accountancy Law (RA 9298, Section 16), clearly states that to be qualified as having
passed the licensure examination for accountants, a candidate must obtain a general average of seventy-
five percent (75%), with no grades lower than sixty-five percent (65%) in any given subject. In the event
a candidate obtains the rating of seventy-five percent (75%) and above in at least a majority of subjects as
provided, he/she shall receive a conditional credit for the subjects passed. Provided, that a candidate shall
take an examination in the remaining subjects within two years from the preceding examination.

The pioneer batch of DLSP-BSA graduates first took the CPA Licensure Examination on October 2017.
Unfortunately, none of the pioneers passed giving DLSP a 0% passing rate. It was in May 2018 when 4
DLSP-BSA alumni took the examination, 2 of them are for their first time and 2 on their second time.
One of them, namely Mr. Jay Edward Motas on his second take passed the exam and became the first
CPA from DLSP. Motas gave DLSP a 25% overall performance passing rate, still a relatively low passing
rate along with the national passing rate on May 2018 which is 28.92%.

In October 2018, the 12 from the second batch of graduates along with 1 repeater took the exam. But
again their performance has not been satisfactory giving DLSP a 0% passing rate again.

The Commission on Higher Education on its CHED Memorandum 03-s2007 warned that schools offering
Bachelor of Science in Accountancy that have poor performance of their graduates in ten CPA Board
examinations within a period of five years could lead to the gradual phase-out and eventual closure of the
school‘s accountancy program. With this memorandum, accountancy schools had to closely monitor the
overall passing performance of their BSA graduates and that the overall rating should not fall below the
national passing rating, else the school shall not be allowed to operate the program.

The performance of the graduates in any licensure examination is a measure of the quality of education
that the school provides. It is also a gauge of the kind of instructor and systems of teaching that prevail in
the school. Moreover, the performance of the graduates reveals how well equipped they are to face the
real world of professional industry.
The results of the study will be a basis of innovations or program modifications in the form of
improvements in methods of faculty and instructional materials, student activities and possible
engagements to improve the performance of BSA graduates in the accounting licensure examination. It
could also be beneficial to other board programs in the institution as a benchmark to provide continuous
improvement based on the results.

This research is centered to identify the most influential factor affecting the poor performance of DLSP
BSA graduates in the CPA Licensure Examination over the three attempts starting October 2017 to
October 2018. This study follows the ------model. The inputs are from the insights of the graduates who
actually took the examination taken through a survey. The data gathered were encoded and tallied using
Likertz Scale and interpreted and analyzed through----

Sample Abstract

Performance of students in the Bachelor of Science in Accountancy Program is best tested with the
actual results in the Philippine CPA Licensure Examination. A closer look at its past performance
would create a basis of enhancement on how to improve a program’s current passing rate and would
serve as reflection of how effective the teaching-learning process is. The study aimed to evaluate the
performance Bachelor of Science of Accountancy Program at Lyceum of the Philippines – Laguna.
The evaluation covered the CPA Licensure examinations from October 2006 to October 2013. The
study determined the number of graduates who became licensed accountants, the number of times
they took the exam before they became licensed and the board subjects in which the graduates
performed weak based on date of exams and batch or year of graduation. A comparison between
the list of students provided by school with that of the list provided by Philippine Professional
Regulation Commission was done to evaluate the individual student’s board exam mean rating
according to date of examinations and year of graduation. The means of board rating of first takers
who passed the exam were ranked to identify the subjects which graduates found difficult. The data
provided 100 graduates of the Bachelor of Science of Accountancy Program, with 81 takers and 46
passers. Frequency of first takers and repeaters, frequency of students who never passed and board
exam mean rating based on date of exams and year of graduation were evaluated. Based on
findings, the researcher recommended corrective measures on how to improve the accountancy
program.