Is it really difficult to take the CPA exam? Why are CPAs the most lacking now?

Why is the CPA exam pass rate so low?

The answer is actually very simple.

Most of the people who attend the exams are there for fun... When they sign up, they flock to them. When they take the exam, it all depends on their mood that day. When the results come out, they are confused and they can't pass anyway...

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Although there are a large number of applicants for the exam every year, very few people go to take the on-site exam. Some candidates reported that in the 50-seat examination room, only single digits of candidates came to take the exam. This shows that the exam attendance rate for the exam is high. It is precisely because of this low pass rate that the passing rate of the entire exam has been lowered. Therefore, some candidates just took advantage of the "heat" when registering for the exam and drank a bottle of "special" soy sauce.

So, what is the reason for the low passing rate of the exam? 01. Self-study is too difficult and preparation for the exam is insufficient

Some people think that it is okay to rely on self-study to prepare for the HKFE exam. Of course, accounting majors and "veteran accounting professionals" in the workplace do have the capital to self-study, but there is zero Self-study for basic candidates and inter-professional candidates is "challenging the limits".

For candidates who have no accounting foundation, self-study is not easy. Without any foundation, the content of the textbook is obscure and difficult to understand, and if you do not understand it thoroughly, you will naturally not be able to pass the exam.

Candidates with zero foundation will have many questions that cannot be answered in time when preparing for the exam. As a result, more and more questions will be left, and the planned study plans will be shelved, and the learning progress will be very slow. affected. However, it's different when you sign up for a registration course. You have teachers to supervise course updates and guidance from professional Q&A teachers. If you encounter any difficult questions, just go to the Q&A board and ask questions. There is no need to be embarrassed at all, just ask whatever you want, don’t worry about asking too naive questions, the teacher will answer them for you~ 02. Poor self-control, which affects your learning progress

The problem with self-control is Big problem! The exam is held once a year, and individual subject scores are retained on a rolling cycle of 5 years. The exam cycle is long. If you don’t have strong self-control, the probability of failure is really high. Therefore, it is very necessary to have someone to supervise you. If you have poor self-control and cannot control yourself, it is recommended that you enroll in a tutoring class!

No shortage, it’s a mess

It’s difficult to apply for the exam because the annual pass rate is very low. How low is it? Probably around ten or twenty every year.

It would be far-fetched to say that this pass rate is very simple. However, to say that it is simply insurmountable would be an exaggeration.

First of all, many of the people who apply for the reference exam every year are "running companions". Some are because they are too busy at work and really don't have time to review. Some are because of various reasons and they don't take the time to review. Some are because they gave up halfway through the review and just couldn't persevere. In short, it’s not about vinegar, it’s about soy sauce. Therefore, the final pass rate must take these factors into consideration.

Secondly, there are some registrations without strategies. I was eager for success at the beginning and applied for 5-6 doors. Of course, in the end, I would not be able to pass some of them. After all, geniuses are in the minority. Otherwise, why would someone who passed 6 subjects in one year be called a master? Not everyone has the perseverance to eat one meal a day and read until 4 o'clock.

Furthermore, among those who take the exam seriously at the end, prepare strategies, and review well, the passing rate may be much higher. Regardless of whether you major in accounting or not, if you have learned thoroughly and answered the questions well, the probability of passing naturally will be greatly increased. In addition, the current examination facilities are not very good. There is teacher-guided education, and the explanations are vivid and wonderful. It is difficult not to understand. There are also some schools that provide companion teaching, learning with you every day, and it is not easy to give up. Therefore, if everything is done well, the probability of passing is still not small.

So why is it said that missing notes will happen?

Rare things are more valuable.

Whether you are a practicing or non-practising employer, whether you are engaged in auditing or accounting work, you are looking for talents with professional knowledge and abilities everywhere. If you pass the exam and have relevant work experience, it will naturally become more popular.

Therefore, although the passing rate is low, opportunities are always reserved for those who have plans, dedication, and perseverance. Once you've done everything, it's not that difficult.

As someone who has been paying attention to CPA for a long time, I would like to say that the exam itself is not difficult, the difficulty lies in other places.

1. Why is it said that the exam itself is not difficult?

I am not a top academic, nor am I a financial major or a financial worker. I passed the practice certificate in seven days. , and then took the CPA exam naked, with a score of more than thirty. If you read the book carefully and do the questions, it is not difficult to make up the gap of more than 20 years. And judging from the questions you are exposed to in the exam, some of them do not require you to memorize them by heart, but you need to know some knowledge points roughly and you can slowly reason them out.

2. The real difficulty lies in quantity and time

In the past, if you were willing to work hard and be lucky, you could pass the five subjects in one year. Nowadays, there are six subjects in the professional stage. After completing the examination, you can take the comprehensive examination. It takes at least two years. Generally, it is very good if you can successfully pass the examination in three to four years. After such a long time, it is easy for people to give up halfway.

For those who are already working in the workplace, the subject of the course involves too many knowledge points, the content is too complicated, the book is so thick, and there are corresponding tutorials, it takes a lot of time to study, basically It takes an average of two or three hours of dedicated study every day, which is the real difficulty.

3. It is easy to add icing on the cake, but difficult to provide help in times of need

CPA is one of the most valuable certificates in China. Not to mention how rare CPAs are, but it is very important for financial work. It is definitely helpful, including improving personal business knowledge and is very meaningful for professional managers who want to take the management route.

But to say that this certificate can turn things around is not necessarily true. There are people around me who have passed the exam several years ago, but they are still the same. Just because you have this certificate, others will not think that you have the ability to be a certified public accountant. It also needs to be linked to professional experience.

1. According to the development plan for the CPA industry, the gap in the number of registered accountants is still relatively large

The "Development Plan for the CPA Industry (2016-2020)" issued by the China Institute of Certified Public Accountants , which states: Strive to reach nearly 300,000 members by 2020, of which 140,000 are expected to be certified public accountants.

As of March 31, 2020, the AICPA has 164,152 non-practising members, 108,449 certified public accountants (practising members), and a total of 272,601 individual members.

Judging from the number of people who have passed the CPA exam, there is still a gap of nearly 30,000 people from the development plan goal, and there is still a relatively large gap.

2. The Certified Public Accountant is the most difficult certificate in the accounting industry

The Certified Public Accountant is the "golden collar" of the accounting profession, and the corresponding qualification examination is also the most difficult. The main performance is as follows:

1. From the perspective of pass rate

According to the pass rate of each subject in the professional stage examination from 2013 to 2018, although the overall pass rate basically shows an upward trend, the highest average annual pass rate is 25.34 , the lowest is Accounting 18.11, the passing rate for a single subject is pretty good, but because there are 6 subjects in the professional stage, the probability of passing all is very low, 0.015 (18.11*24.66*23.65*25.73*22.15*25.34), it can be seen that passing The rate is still not high.

2. From the perspective of knowledge points

At present, the CPA examination is divided into 6 professional courses and 1 comprehensive course, namely "6 1". The examination involves many subjects and knowledge. Miscellaneous, specifically including:

(1) Professional stage: accounting, auditing, financial cost management, economic law, tax law, enterprise risk management, involving accounting, management, law and other disciplines.

(2) Comprehensive stage: System case analysis is conducted based on 6 subjects. At the same time, English test points are added in the comprehensive stage, requiring English answers, which increases the difficulty.

3. Judging from the time required to pass

The CPA exam requires those with a college/bachelor degree or above to apply. For this reason, many people take the exam while working, family, work, and study. It is difficult to balance it well; there is an examination season every year, that is, there is only one examination opportunity every year; each qualified subject is valid for 5 years. If it exceeds 5 years, the results of the subject will be invalid; only by passing the professional stage examination can you advance to the comprehensive stage examination.

These examination rules increase the difficulty of the CPA exam and extend the time to obtain the certificate. Even if you pass the 6-subject professional-level exam in the first year and pass the 1-subject comprehensive-level exam in the second year, it will take the fastest It takes 2 years; at the same time, very few people pass within 3 years; and most people need 4-6 years. For those who have not obtained the certificate, many only passed 1-2 exams and gave up due to various reasons.

As the "golden collar" of the accounting industry, the market gap is still huge. For some high-level accounting talents, priority will be given to obtaining the CPA certificate. Some recruitment requirements are even to obtain the CPA certificate. Certificate; the CPA exam is also the most difficult in the accounting industry, requiring good learning methods and perseverance.

For many practitioners in the accounting industry, the Certified Public Accountant is the top domestic certificate and the best proof of their abilities. However, the difficulty of taking the CPA exam has become a problem that many candidates struggle with. So is it really difficult to take the CPA exam? Why is it so difficult? Next, I will analyze and summarize it for everyone:

1. The CPA industry The demand for talents is huge

As early as 10 years ago, our country proposed the goal of developing 300,000 certified public accountants. As the market economy deepens, the demand for the development of the CPA team will further expand. At present, the talent gap in the industry is still huge.

2. Certified public accountants are highly valued and have high thresholds

Certified public accountants stand at the top of the pyramid, and their status is unquestionable. Compared with the 12 million accounting practitioners, the number of certified public accountants is only 200,000 (approximately 100,000 practicing members). It can be seen that certified public accountants have become a very small group of people who have climbed to the top of the pyramid.

It can be seen from the lower exam passing rate that the threshold for CPAs is indeed very high. The reason for setting the high threshold is that CPAs play an important role in economic activities and have very high requirements for comprehensive quality. Just because it is important, the threshold is high; just because the threshold is high, it has high gold content. It is said that when a certified accountant with a little experience arrives at a company, he or she is basically at the level of financial supervisor or financial director and can immediately enter management.

3. Knowledge changes every year

In recent years, China’s rapid economic development is obvious to everyone, and various economic policy adjustments include the continuous improvement of economic regulations. All are promptly reflected in the CPA exam. Take the subject of economic law as an example. Economic law textbooks are revised a lot every year, and the proportion of revised content is estimated to be around 30%. The newly revised content is where it is easier to ask questions. Therefore, it is important to learn and master new knowledge. It is very important and requires very high requirements for candidates’ basic knowledge, ability to grasp the latest information, comprehensive analysis ability, and digestion of new textbooks.

In addition, the large amount of test content and the short review time are also very headaches for the candidates. From getting the new textbook to taking the exam, it only takes 5 or 6 months.

If some candidates apply for many subjects, it will be difficult to review them a second time during these times.

4. Be careful about the number of subjects you apply for

The professional stage of the CPA examination has a five-year limit. If you fail to pass all six subjects within five consecutive years, the earliest One year's test scores will be invalidated, and so on. Because of this policy, you will gain knowledge by taking exams for a few subjects each year. It is not good to take exams for too many subjects, and it is not good to take exams for too few.

It can be seen that mastering the registration skills has a great impact on whether you can pass the exam. This registration skill is very simple. You should do it according to your own situation. If you register for too many subjects, it is easy to "grab your beard and eyebrows" and read everything. Reviewing everything is not good, but if you only apply for one subject, the average passing rate for each subject in the Hong Kong CPA Examination is only 10 to 20. Who is 100% sure of passing? According to statistics, most candidates take 2 or 3 subjects each year.

5. Be careful when choosing preparation methods

The common preparation methods are self-study and enrollment in classes. There are many CPA exam tutoring classes on the market, but the tutoring effects vary greatly. It is precisely the tutoring effect that has a great impact on whether candidates can pass the exam.

Perhaps there are more factors that affect the passing rate of the CPA exam than the above four. In any case, many outstanding candidates pass the six, five, four, three, etc. subjects of the CPA exam in one go every year. Etc. It can be seen that the difficulty varies from person to person. Those candidates who have worked hard, applied for the right number of subjects, and chosen good study methods are more likely to pass the CPA exam, while those who do not work hard, do not register for classes, and just apply for some random exams It is difficult to say whether the candidates who tried the subject can pass the exam

Certified public accountants are not as difficult as you think. They are the same as first-level construction engineers. The difficulty lies in the relatively low passing rate, but this kind of professional qualification exam There is a very common phenomenon. Most of the people who take the exam are running with them. Those who really pass the exam are those who prepare for the exam seriously and persist to the end. So you should understand what I mean. This kind of exam is The difficulty lies not in the questions themselves, but in the variety of people. Very few people can insist on studying every day and follow the study plan step by step. If you can do it, you can pass the CPA exam.

First of all, most of them are working people who are taking the exam. They have slacked off in preparing for the exam intentionally or unintentionally, and they have not put in enough effort.

Secondly, after the professional stage examination, there is also a comprehensive examination. The time line is too long. Many people may have passed several subjects, but they did not have time to pass them all.

Thirdly, both professionalism and practicality are required, and both theory and practice are required, which is indeed difficult for non-professionals.

To a certain extent, the CPA exam is indeed difficult and requires a lot of time and effort.

1. Lots of knowledge points

There are six subjects for the Certified Public Accountant***, and the textbooks for each subject are hundreds of pages. It is difficult to review and there are many knowledge points.

2. It takes a long time

Precisely because the exam is relatively difficult, most people will not choose to take the six subjects at the same time. Most people will take the exam together with two subjects. According to statistics over the years, the passing rate for each of the six subjects is less than 20%, so many people cannot persist for such a long time and give up midway.

It’s not that CPAs are most in short supply now, but that the number of certified public accountants is far from meeting the industry’s demand. Therefore, certified public accountants are very popular and there are many options to choose from. If you are preparing for the CPA exam, you can prepare early and choose two or three subjects to register for one exam. You can watch some online courses online, and the teacher will help you summarize the key points. To answer questions, you can use the "School Bar Registered Accounting Question Bank APP" to answer questions based on some of the knowledge points you have reviewed to improve learning efficiency.