Title: Pre-college preparedness and institutional factors for student success on the uniform CPA examination in Texas

Authors: B. Brian Lee, Moosa Khan, Rahim Quazi, William V. Vetter

Addresses: College of Business, Prairie View A&M University, P.O. Box 519, MS 2310, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA. ' College of Business, Prairie View A&M University, P.O. Box 519, MS 2310, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA. ' College of Business, Prairie View A&M University, P.O. Box 519, MS 2310, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA. ' College of Business, Prairie View A&M University, P.O. Box 519, MS 2310, Prairie View, TX 77446, USA

Abstract: This study examines determinants of accounting students| successful bid for the uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination in Texas. With a sample of data from 30 public universities in Texas from 2005 to 2007, our analysis suggests that academic deficiency of incoming first-year students explains 49% of the institutional variation in the CPA exam pass rate. In contrast, educational quality (as measured by faculty salary, AACSB accreditation in accounting and accounting programme size) provides a less pronounced contribution to success in the CPA examination (13% of the institutional variation). Thus, the institution-level variation in the CPA exam pass rate among public universities in Texas seems to be predetermined to a great extent by the pre-college preparation of the students they admit.

Keywords: CPA; certified public accountants; uniform examinations; pass rates; admission standards; remedial services; academic deficiency; educational quality; Texas; USA; United States; universities; higher education; accounting students; pre-college preparedness; institutional factors; student success; first-year students; institutional variations; faculty salaries; academics; teaching staff; AACSB accreditation; Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business; degree programmes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2010.036172

International Journal of Services and Standards, 2010 Vol.6 No.2, pp.137 - 149

Published online: 25 Oct 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article