As Boston College students prepare for the next round of CPA exams in early 2017, they can draw optimism from the numbers.
In 2015, the latest year for which results are available, accounting graduates at only 12 schools nationally had first-time pass rates higher than those at Boston College (see chart below). Only seven schools with 60 or more exam candidates did better. In addition, Carroll School graduates had an overall passing rate of 82.5 percent on their first tries, compared to 55 percent nationally. It was the highest rate ever for CPA candidates from Boston College.
Some of the test takers might even aspire to the dramatic accomplishments of three Master of Science in Accounting grads and one other BC test taker. Last spring, Marcos Carreno, Courtney Fogelman, and Jiaqi Gong—all M.S.A. ’15—received the annual Elijah Watt Sells Award given by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. So did Mark Piorkowski ’15, a graduating senior when he took the exam in 2015. The award goes to those who scored 95.5 percent or better on all four parts of the exam (taken at different times) on their first attempt.
As Sean Hennessey of University Communications pointed out in May of this year when the news was announced:
“To put this feat in perspective, of the 93,742 individuals worldwide who sat for the examination, only 75—including the four from BC—scored 95.5 percent or better. Only the University of Michigan had more (six).”
CPA candidates will begin sitting for the next round of exams in January.