Factors Contributing to the Success of

Palawan State University’s CPA

Licensure Examinees

Peterwille T. Chua1 & 2

1
The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
2
Palawan State University, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines

Abstract

Since the inception of the CPA Licensure Examination, it has been one of the more
difficult Licensure Examinations to hurdle. In the Philippines, it has been consistently ranked
within the Top 10 of the Hardest Licensure Examinations. When PSU was able to send BS-
Accountancy graduates to take the licensure exam, it has been difficult for the said CPA
candidates to pass the said examination. Studies in relation to the said topic have been done from
the accreditation of a school’s accountancy program, the students’ habits, GWA/GPA and other
characteristics were made. This study focus on the review period before the licensure
examination of the CPA candidates. This study also identified factors which contribute to the
success of a CPA candidate. Results show that two-thirds reviewed at RESA and their preferred
review session is the afternoon session. His also show that they spend more than 8 hours in the
evening to prepare for the examination. They also understood the concept first before proceeding
with practical application. The candidates also used self-assessment to evaluate themselves for
the examination.

Keywords: BS-Accountancy, CPA, Strategies, Study Habits, Techniques

Introduction
Early evidence of the existence of accounting can be traced 6,000 years ago. Discovery of
rudimentary accounting records from temples in Lower Mesopotamia. In 1340, the double-entry
accounting were discovered in the “Massari Ledgers” of the Commune of Genoa. This was
earlier than Luca Pacioli’s “Summa” which was first published in 1494. Since the Massari
Ledgers have little evidence of their validity, the Franciscan Friar and mathematician is still
universally recognized as the “The Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping”.
Originating in England, the professional accountancy examinations are now standard in
all countries recognizing accountancy as profession. Candidates wanting to enter the profession
must show his or her knowledge and proficiency in numerous accounting areas. The exam
continues to evolve with the changing needs of the profession. In the future, the changing
business and technological environment will demand higher level of skill set from entry level
accountants. In the future, the CPA Examination must be designed to assure the knowledge,
ability, and skill of the candidates taking the exam, so that the public will be protected and
accountancy remain a respected profession. (King, D. L., et al., 2017)
In the early 1900’s, the accounting profession realized the need of quality education and
accounting work experience. The American Association of Public Accountants (AAPA), the
precursor of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) realizing this necessity
developed a uniform CPA exam as an admission requirement to the profession. The giving out of
uniform examinations has been adopted in the Philippines and all over the world before one may
be admitted to the profession, although examinations may vary and additional requirements such
as number of years of related experience may be necessary for admission.
Study reveals that practitioners support (1) setting national uniform requirement for
education and job experience, (2) requiring college-level course(s) in ethics, and (3) requiring
candidates to have courses in specific areas of accounting and non-accounting disciplines.
(Demagalhaes, et al., 2014) Study also suggest that auditors with Professional Accounting
Education background possess higher competency compared to those without. Supervisor,
manager, and partner perceptions are better for those subordinates with PAE background.
Further, findings supported to a certain extent that PAE has a significant role in enhancing
professionalism in auditors. (Utami, et al., 2011)
Consistently, the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Licensure Examination has been
always ranked in the Top Ten Hardest Licensure Examination locally and abroad. In the
Philippines, the BOA conducts the examination twice a year. Data form the Professional
Regulation Commission (PRC) revealed that the highest exam passing percentage is 48% never
hitting the 50% mark.
College accounting curriculums have always stressed public accounting and the CPA
exam. But with the emergence of new certification programs, potential accountants have a wide
choice of professional designations to differentiate themselves. Despite the competition, the CPA
is still the best recognized brand name among accounting students. But the CIA, CFE, and other
certifications are catching up with and in some aspects surpassing the CMA recognition. (Brody,
et al., 2016)
 Since Palawan State University was able to produce accountancy graduates, it has
consistently produced CPA Licensure Examination passers and above the overall performance
above the national passing percentage. There was always a retention policy but there was a time
it was not strictly implemented particularly during the late 90s. The adverse result of which was
evident as the university’s passing rate was lower than the national passing percentage. The
lowest point was in the early 2000s when the university at times had 0% passing rate in the
licensure examination. The Uniformed CPA Examination is an objective measure that can be
employed for evaluation purposes and that accrediting organizations should require disclosure of
each accredited school’s UCPAE passing rate as requirement for accreditation. Further, findings
also indicate that faith-based CCCU member schools performance is significantly higher than
for-profit schools. This is attributable to small class sizes, active learning methods and additional
mentoring by faculty at CCCU member schools. (Hahn, et al., 2015)
Several studies were made to identify techniques and strategies of successful CPA
Licensure exam passers, as well as factors surrounding on how to successfully hurdle the said
examination. This research focused on external factors such as the review school, habits,
techniques and strategies during review.
The objectives of this study are to know (1) the review school the successful CPA
examinees enrolled in and what is their schedule; (2) the time of the day and the number of hours
the successful CPA examinee study; (3) the number hours the successful CPA examinee sleeps;
(4) the techniques and strategies that successful CPA examinee used during the preparation for
the licensure examination; and (5) how did the successful CPA examinee assess his/her readiness
to take the CPA Licensure Examination.

Methodology

Design
The research used descriptive quantitative method of research. It described the factors
contributing to the success of PSU’s CPA Licensure Exam candidates covering the period from
2013 to 2017. It was conducted with graduates of Palawan State University who successfully
passed the CPA Licensure Exam covering the period from May 2013 to October 2017. The
respondents will be the total population which were the successful passers of the CPA Licensure
Exams for the said period.

Population
The participants of this study is the total successful candidates of the CPA Licensure
examination covering the period from May 2013 to October 2017. The questionnaires were
distributed to 108 CPAs who successfully passed the CPA board examination in the said period,
and out of the total population 55 respondents replied covering 51% of the total population.

Data Collection
Survey questionnaires was distributed to the total population. The said questionnaire was
sent thru Google Survey and Facebook to all respondents even those located outside of Puerto
Princesa City and Palawan. The list of respondents was acquired from the records of the
Department of Accountancy of Palawan state University. To summarize the results of the data
gathering, statistical method thru the use of tables and figures will be used.

Statistical Analysis and Variables

Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics embedded in the IBM Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 19. The study used the frequency count
percentages to describe the responses of the respondents. The frequency count was used to find
out the number of responses given to a particular question. Percentages were used to convert the
frequency count into the concept of percent. As for the other data, tables, and figures were used
to show the results of the data gathering.

Results

I. No. of times took the CPA Licensure Exam

The descriptive statistics below show 55 valid responses with no missing entries or
respondents. As illustrated below, a great majority (n = 39, 70.9%) of them took the CPA
Licensure Examination once, (n = 12, 21.8%) took the exam twice, and the remaining (n=4,
7.3%) took the examination thrice.

Table 1

II. Review Center

Table 2 shows the frequency and percentage distribution of the respondents’ preference
as to Review Center. A great majority of the respondents (n = 44, 80%) enrolled in RESA for
their review. The second with most number of respondents (n=8, 14.5%) is CPAR. Other review
schools has the third most respondents (n=2, 3.6%) while PRTC only has 1 respondent (n=1,
3.6%).

Table 2

III. Review Session

As reflected in Table 3 shows the frequency and percentage distribution of respondents’

preferred review session. Great majority of respondents (n = 40, 72.7%) suggests that they
preferred the afternoon session of their respective review school. The next preferred schedule by
respondents (n=9, 16.4%) is the morning session. The remaining respondents preferred to enroll
in the evening (n=4, 7.3%) and the weekend (n=2, 3.6%) sessions, respectively.

Table 3

IV. Preferred study time

As illustrated in Table 4 below which illustrates the respondents’ preferred time to review
and study, it appears that most of the respondents (n=22, 40%) preferred 6 pm to 12 am as the
time to study. The second most number of respondents (n=17, 30.9%) chose 6 am to 12 pm to
review while the remaining respondents (n=8, 14.5%) are equally distributed to 12 am to 6 am,
and 12 pm to 6 pm, respectively.

Table 4

V. Hours spent for Study.

Table V below shows how many hours the respondents spend studying for the CPA
Board Examination. All respondents study for more than 2 hours. Most respondents (n=23,
41.8%) study more than 8 hours, other respondents (n=20, 36.4%) study from 4 to 8 hours while
several respondents (n=12, 21.8%) study from 2 to 4 hours.

Table 5

VI. Hours spent for Rest

Demonstrated in the table below is the average number of hours of rest by each
respondent. Majority of the respondents (n=41, 74.5%) takes about 4 to 8 hours of rest per day
while almost a dozen respondents (n=11, 20%) choose to rest for more than 8 hours. Only few
respondents (n=3, 5.5%) choose to rest for less than 4 hours.
Table 6

VII. Place of Review

Demonstrated in the succeeding table is the preferred place of review by the respondents.
Almost all respondents (n=45, 81.8%) chose to review at home or at their boarding house. Other
respondents (n=7, 12.7 %) study at the review center while other places has the fewest number of
respondents (n=3, 5.5%) chose.
Table 7

VIII. Review Materials used

In Table 8, this table illustrates the type of review material that CPA examinees choose to
use. Considering that they are in review, respondents (n=26, 47.3%) use review center handouts.
Second most preferred by respondents are reviewers (n=16, 29.1%) while personal notes (n=7,
12.7%) come in third and least preferred by respondents are textbooks (n=5, 9.1%).

Table 8

IX. Review Structure

The Table below shows the respondents’ preferred review structure. Most respondents
(n=37, 67.3%) study by understanding the concepts first before they proceed to practice. Several
respondents (n=15, 27.3%) study by doing the same simultaneously. Fewest respondents (n=3,
5.5%) chose to study by answering the problems first before understanding concept.
Table 9

X. Review Strategy

Illustrated below is Table 10 shows the preferred review strategies by the respondents.
Majority of the respondents (n=29, 52.7%) chose self-review as review strategy. Some
respondents (n=15, 27.3%) combined the review strategies while the remaining respondents
(n=11, 20%) chose the pace of the review center as strategy.

Table 10

XI. Review Evaluation

The following table below show how the respondents assessed their readiness for the
CPA Licensure Examination. Majority of the respondents (n=36, 65.5%) use self-evaluation to
assess themselves for the board exam. The second most number of respondents (n=17, 30.9%)
use the pre-board examination to assess their readiness while the remaining respondents (n=2,
3.6%) chose other means to assess themselves.
Table 11

XII. Review Techniques

Review techniques are the methods and means used by the respondents during their
review for the CPA Licensure Examination. The table shown below shows the different
techniques utilized by the respondents to successfully pass the CPA Board Examination.
Respondents were able to use different techniques as shown below. The most utilized techniques
are Reading and Making Notes (n=49, 89.1%) followed closely by Practice Questions (n=48,
87.3%), next is the preparation of Outlines (n=38, 69.1%) and the utilization of Formulas (n=36,
65.5%. To round the preferred review techniques by the respondents, the least preferred is
Highlighting (n=32, 58.2%), Memorization (n=25, 45%), and Mnemonics (n=25, 45%).

Table 12
Discussion
Related researches have been done but studies which focuses mainly with Bachelor of
Science in Accountancy program has been limited. It is common knowledge that BSA graduates
feel incomplete when they do not pass the CPA Licensure Exam. Hence, with this research
identifies several factors, indicators and habits which contribute to the success of an examinee.
The findings are significant to both students and teachers alike. Considering that the study
identifies certain habits that should be developed by a student to successfully pass the licensure
examination and that may also be useful during their student life.
Usually, the larger, more well-known schools has more number of sections passed. The
percentage passing rate per student is a better indicator of a candidate’s success than total
number of sections passed. Further, several non-accredited institutions have the highest passing
rates. (Heslop, G., et al., 2014) Achieving and maintaining requirement for separate AACSB
accounting accreditation is a challenge for administrators and faculty of accounting programs.
The decision for an accounting program to seek accreditation is a challenge for administrators.
But study shows that CPA candidates from AACSB accredited business schools achieved higher
overall passing rates and higher average scores for 2012 and 2011 compared to non-accredited
schools. These suggest that the former attracts better quality and better preparing the students for
the CPA exam. (Bunker, et al., 2014)
As for demographic profile and status, the examinees are mostly female, young, scholar,
from families with low monthly income, with good GWA, and coming from prestigious review
schools. Student and family factors greatly affect their performance while school factors have
average influence. Student scholarship, GWA, and attendance to prestigious review schools are
positive factors in passing the CPA board while the examinees profile as to age, gender, and
family’s monthly income shows no significant relationship. (Herrero, 2015)
Demographic profile of college students has drastically changed in recent years.
Economic conditions, and other relevant factors has increased non-traditional students. Majors
such as accounting has presented as a challenge to non-traditional learners but enrollment still
increase due to the promise of job placement and above-average salary. However, these students
test on exams, and professional exam, like the CPA exam is a difficult hurdle for these learners
supported by the declining passing rate with the increase in age. Thus, to increase the formers
chances, it becomes necessary for programs to adjust methods of content delivery and
preparation. (Franklin, et al., 2016)
We found that beyond general intelligence, and important predictors such as personality
type, working in public accounting, and preferring the audit discipline over tax. It is also likely
that Fiery Red personality type may not successfully pass the CPA Exam compared to Cool Blue
personality type. Incentives and penalties offered by accounting firms also contribute to passing
the exam. But knowing one’s personality type can be of advantage to a candidate considering
that he/she may use it to maximize his/her strengths to pass the CPA examination. (Burton 2014)
Findings suggest that a student’s successful board exam can be predicted by the GPA and
pre-review grade. It also suggests that since pre-review and GPA can predict the outcome of the
CPA Board exam, pre-review course can be integrated in the curriculum. (Tamayo, et al.,
2014)Study also shows that CPA exam passing rates of women are generally lower than male. In
addition, passing rates decrease with age but it is more pronounced in females. (Franklin, et al.,
2017) Based in literature review, the current structure of the CPA Exam with more objective type
questions favor males’ information processing tendencies, while simulations support females’
information processing tendencies. (Myers, 2018) Study also support that a young male
candidate from an accredited college or university having to take one exam section had higher
probability for success than any other candidate. (Trinkle, 2016) A study also found that graduate
degree candidates have higher pass rates compared to candidates who earned undergraduate
degree. (Menk, et al., 2017)
But the measure of success usually lies in the student. It was found that majority of
accounting students perceived their intrinsic goals as measure of success than extrinsic goals. It
was also found that accounting students, and who would later become professional accountants,
were not sufficiently aware of the importance of thinking/judgment skills. Thus, accounting
education should integrate more unstructured and problem based learning materials to the
accounting curriculum. Further, accounting students rely on their own abilities and blame
themselves for their failure. Hence, accounting schools should facilitate initial orientation and
provide avenues to develop self-management and methods on how to prepare for their lessons.
These will help students in building confidence in the way they approach their studies.
(Sugahara, et al., 2014) There is significant relationship between intrinsic motivation and
students’ academic performance. In addition, extrinsic motivation shows positive outcome where
students are eager to get reward or achievement. Besides that, self-efficacy also has significant
relationship with academic performance. High confidence levels assist students to perform better
in their academic performance. Further, learning styles are proven to exert significant
relationship with students’ academic performance. This indicates that study techniques play an
important part in the learning process to ensure better results. However, gender and prior
academic performance have no significant relationship to present academic performance.
(Remali, et al., 2013)
Study also shows students of Accountancy program view the program as stepping stone
for them to achieve the desires they want to attain. Hence, they have favorable attitude toward it
despite its difficulty. The CPA license is the achievement and students persist toward that goal
thru studying hard while in college, coupled with positive attitude and behavior towards
accounting. The positive attitude toward accounting with effective study habits might lead to
higher grades, graduate, and later pass the board examination. Freshmen should also have
passion, because no matter how effective other factors is, what will make them successful in the
field of accounting is their love for the said field. Further, students are weak in Practical
Accounting and this can be attributed to lack of hands-on experience on the real life aspect of
accounting. But generally, good academic performance, positive attitude and effective study
habits give an assurance of passing the CPA board exam. (Ballado-Tan, 2014)
Further, the results of this study revealed that 70% of the respondents took the CPA
Licensure Exam once and the rest are repeaters. The preferred review school is RESA with
CPAR as the next most enrolled in review school by the respondents. The ideal review session is
the afternoon session which garnered 72.7% of the respondents followed by morning session
with 16.4%. The preferred review time of the respondents is somewhat distributed with 38.2%
studying around 6 pm to 12 am, 32.7% studying around 6 am to 12 pm, and 14.5% for those
studying around 12 am to 6 am, and 12 pm to 6 pm. As for number of hours spent in studying,
41.8% of the respondents study more than 8 hours, 36.4% of the respondents study between 4 to
8 hours, and 21.8% of the respondents study between 2 to 4 hours. It is also found that the
respondents prefer to study at home (85.5%) while others study at the review center (12.7%).
With regards to the study structure, 65.5% of the respondents understood the concepts
first before going to practical questions while 27.3% of the respondents study simultaneously
both concepts and practical questions. Most preferred review materials are Review Center
Handouts (46.3%) and Reviewers (31.5%). Majority (49.1%) of the respondents do self-review
while the rest is with review school (21.8%) and combination review (29.1%). The studying
techniques are arranged from most preferred to least preferred in the following: Reading and
Making Notes (89.1%); Practice Questions (87.3%); Outlines (69.1%); Formulas (65.5%);
Highlighting (58.2%); and, Memorization (45.5%) and Mnemonics (45.5%).
Lastly, the respondents on assessing their readiness for the CPA Licensure Exam, 63.6%
self-evaluate themselves and 32.7% of respondents evaluate themselves thru the Pre-Board
Examination results.

Conclusion
The present study aims to find factors that contribute to the success of Palawan State
University’s CPA candidates. The study identified the preferred review center and session the
former enrolled in. In addition, other factors such as hours of studying and resting, as well as the
time of the day the respondents prefer to do the aforementioned. Lastly, strategy and techniques
were also identified and how many times it took for the candidate to pass the CPA Licensure
Examination. Data gathered thru Google Survey was analyzed using SPSS Version 19.
The findings showed that more than two-thirds of the successful examinees took the
exam only once and were enrolled in the afternoon session of RESA Review School. As for
studying, they prefer to self-review at home and spends more than 8 hours in the evening
studying. Successful examinees also understood the concept first before applying the same in
practical application and the preferred review techniques were reading, making notes and
answering practical questions. To assess their readiness for the licensure examination, they
conduct self-evaluation. As for determining if they have enough rest, the respondents may have
under 8 hours but the difference is not that big if compared to normal hours of sleep.

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