Why is the CPA Exam so difficult?
There’s no doubt the CPA Exam is hard, but this difficulty is by design. There are two main factors contributing to the CPA Exam’s difficulty:
- The purpose of the CPA Exam
- Changes in the field of accounting
Understanding why this exam is so difficult can help motivate you to get through it.
Purpose of the CPA Exam
The CPA Exam has two primary purposes: to provide reasonable assurance of a candidate’s skills and to retain the value of the CPA certification.
Providing assurance of a candidate’s skills will always be the most important role of the CPA Exam, and accomplishing that task is the main reason the CPA Exam is hard.
This requires the CPA Exam to constantly adjust to new laws, regulations, and industry standards and continually push the difficulty of the exam to meet the expectations of companies and lawmakers.
Every time the AICPA updates the CPA Exam, it has to ensure the content:
- Measure professional competence in
- Auditing
- Business Law
- Taxation
- Accounting
- Test related business skills to assess your knowledge and judgment
- Verify your understanding of professional responsibilities and ethics
In addition, the CPA Exam’s difficulty ensures that it continues to be the gold-standard for accountants. The exam’s difficulty is one of the reasons why the certification is sought after by so many aspiring accountants.
It’s also why CPAs make 10-15% higher salaries than non-certified accountants.
Changes in the field of accounting
The modern economy has changed the expectations and responsibilities of accountants. The ability to interpret and apply laws and regulations has become an expected and crucial part of the accounting profession. As a result, the CPA Exam must continually adapt to include the new and higher standards demanded of accountants.
The AICPA also regularly surveys leaders in the accounting industry to keep pace with the evolving needs of accounting firms serving their clients. These surveys, called Practice Analysis, provide insight on the expectations of newly-licensed CPAs. These changes ensure that the CPA certification remains relevant to all accounting career paths, regardless of how the accounting field changes.
History of the CPA Exam
When the AICPA was formed in 1957, the CPA Exam had already existed for 40 years.
The CPA Exam was originally designed in 1917 as a test for membership to the Institute of Public Accountants (the organization that would eventually become the AICPA). Prior to this test, each state would issue its own exam, a practice that many states continued until 1952 when the CPA Exam became the universal standard.
The exam has changed many times over the years. Originally, the 19.5-hour-long exam was administered in five sittings over two and a half days, only twice per year. It wasn’t until the paper-and-pencil exam was discontinued in 2004 that the exam began to look like it does today.
From the very beginning the CPA Exam needed to be hard because it served as the standard for what an accountant needed to know. In those days, passing the CPA Exam might have been the only signifier accountants had to prove their mastery of accountancy!
CPA Pass rate history
Back in 2006, the CPA Exam pass rates for all four sections showed little variation. However, they began to diverge in 2011 due to the massive change the CPA Exam went through that year, the largest changes since the exam became computerized in 2004.
You can read more information on recent pass rates on our CPA Exam Pass Rates Guide page.
