MSU accounting students earn top marks on CPA test

Bozeman, Mont. (Sept. 23, 2003) -- Montana State University ranked No.1 in the nation for the most graduate students passing the 2002 Uniform CPA Exam. Its accounting students earned an impressive 85 percent pass rate.

The figures were released by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy in its 2003 report: Candidate Performance on the Uniform CPA Examination.

The percentage, which applies to students who took the exam for the first time, is the highest ever achieved by MSU College of Business students, according to the college.

The score more than quadrupled the current national pass-rate average of 19.0 percent, up from 17.2 percent in 2001.

Thirty-two MSU students took the test this year.

"This is the fifth time in 20 years that our students have been first," said Richard Semenik, dean of the College of Business. "We continue to rate above prestigious schools such as Wake Forest, University of Florida and DePaul."

MSU also earned the top spot in 1991, 1995 and 1996, and in a 1983 listing that preceded the NASBA rankings.

Winson-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest University’s Calloway School of Business and Accountancy ranked first in the nation for their performance on the 2001 CPA exam, and held the top rank for three of the previous five years, according to NASBA figures.

In 2001, 75 percent of the Calloway students taking the exam passed all four parts.

NASBA’s 2002 ranking of colleges and universities by percentage passing all subjects taken also include:

Wake Forest University----------------74.1 percent

University of Wisconsin, Madison------72.7 percent

Truman State University, Missouri------70.6 percent

University of Georgia-------------------67.6 percent

--Seth Fineberg

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