How colleges inspire students to pass the CPA Exam

At the University of Arkansas’s William Dillard Department of Accounting, it’s not just professional experience and professorial authority that Barry Bryan, CPA, a teaching professor and 2023 AICPA Academic Champion, harnesses to encourage students to take the CPA Exam.

He also taps into his own undergraduate experience and harnesses Razorback pride.

“I have the ability to walk in on the first day of class and tell them, ‘I’m you,’” Bryan said. “I was a freshman at the University of Arkansas, a senior at the University of Arkansas. I interned. I passed the exam. … I know exactly what you’re going through, and I am Razorback proud, and I want you to be a proud Razorback.”

That’s how the red plastic hog hats came to be a CPA thing in Arkansas.

When he returned to his alma mater to teach in 2020, Bryan was casting about for ways to increase the number of students who took the CPA Exam within six months of graduation — before their first busy season for students graduating in the spring and entering public accounting.

One simple idea: Have students and alumni who pass sign a red plastic hog hat. The hat itself dates to Bryan’s undergraduate days. He wore that hat during pregame player introductions as a University of Arkansas band member in the 1980s.

Now, pictures of Bryan, plus the red hat and students who have passed the exam, dominate his LinkedIn feed. The practice even attracted attention from a local business publication.

“When I first started doing it, I thought, ‘You know what, if I can fill one [hat] up by the time I retire, it will have been a great accomplishment,’” he said. “Now I’m on my third.”

Each hat has dozens of student signatures scrawled on it in black ink.

Bryan’s ritual is just one way he and other academics are increasing interest in the CPA Exam. While the pipeline of CPA-credentialed accounting talent is getting stronger, accounting educators are trying new approaches to attract students, motivate them to take the exam, and help them pass.

Peer-pressure panels

At Sam Houston State University, Katie Harris, CPA, assistant professor of accounting, is harnessing peer pressure. She recognizes that a 20-something student’s experience is more compelling, at least sometimes, than a professor’s advice.

“We started maybe three or four semesters ago, bringing in recent graduates who were either halfway through the exam or all the way through the exam, and not yet licensed, to come back on campus to talk to our students about the process,” Harris said. “That sparked a lot of interest because they’re seeing the graduates and thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve seen this person in the hallway not that long ago.’”

One theme that Harris and Bryan both return to is what it’s like to be working after graduation without worrying about the CPA Exam.

At one recent Sam Houston panel, most of the panelists had graduated and were working at public accounting firms. They talked about how it felt to be done with the exam when starting their jobs even while some co-workers were just starting exam prep.

Those alumni panelists, Harris said, told the Sam Houston students, “It makes me feel good that I’ve already passed that hurdle. I’m just waiting on the experience I need for full licensure.”

That’s a point that Bryan makes with his students when encouraging them to sit for the exam before they graduate, or within the first three to six months of graduation.

“It’s truly the sword of Damocles,” he said. “I had an EY partner tell me yesterday that he had to let a couple people go because they hadn’t passed the exam.”

Positive impact on programs

Harris and Bryan were clear that CPA licensure isn’t the sole focus of their accounting programs, and it’s not the right path for every student.

Harris hosted a certifications panel that included not just a CPA representative but also a professional with a CMA designation and an enrolled agent. Bryan tells students stories of his students, including CPA holders, who have gone on to careers outside accounting — from entrepreneurship to the ministry to medical school.

Nonetheless, success on the CPA Exam helps accounting programs attract students.

“Our enrollments have increased dramatically in our master’s program,” Bryan said, “… because of our success with the CPA Exam. And now that firms are paying more — between those good salaries and those bonuses for passing the CPA Exam — the fact that our students are passing the exam, I think that’s really helped with our enrollments.”

Changing standards

Texas has recently changed its requirement to sit for the CPA Exam, going from 150 academic hours to 120 hours. Legislation is pending in Arkansas that would make the same change.

In both cases, that means more students, at both the undergraduate and master’s levels, can start taking the exam earlier. For some undergraduates, Harris said, that helps them understand the potential value of pursuing a Master of Accounting, where the coursework will help prepare them for the exam.

Harris also acknowledged the role that she and other faculty play in helping their students through the complexity of CPA licensing. That includes keeping up with changing processes and helping students navigate license applications and exam prep.

Celebrating success

In the end, one of the most powerful motivations for students to tackle the CPA Exam is support and accountability from their classmates.

“It’s this peer thing,” Harris said. “They’re creating their own network of accountability within themselves because there’s a like-minded group.”

The school then reinforces that culture, such as by making social media announcements when students pass the exam.

When interviewed, Bryan was preparing the next day to have some recent students who had passed the exam sign the hog hat.

“When I walk into that classroom, I guarantee you some of those kids are going to be timid and shy,” he said, noting that some may even express reluctance about having their photo taken in front of their peers for his LinkedIn post.

“And then,” Bryan noted, “they blasted it out on LinkedIn 10 minutes later.”

— Mark Tosczak is a freelance writer based in Gibsonville, N.C. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.