The Case to Abolish the CPA Education Requirement: A Study of Accounting, Ethics and Governance

Abstract

The cost of becoming a certified public accountant (CPA) has become prohibitive for many potential CPA candidates. As of this writing, most candidates have to take 150 semester hours of college coursework in order to qualify for the CPA exam. There is an effort to reduce that requirement to 120 semester hours to deal with the decline in accountants and CPAs. However, even if this reduction can be adopted, the cost of becoming a CPA would still be high, and may be prohibitive for many potential candidates, especially those with low income. The author recommends uprooting the present system by abolishing the college education requirement and allowing CPA candidates to obtain the knowledge they need to pass the CPA exam in other, less expensive ways. Two new options are outlined and are compared to the status quo. Both new options were found to be much more cost effective than the status quo. The present cost of obtaining a CPA can exceed $100,000. Abandoning the 150-semester hour requirement and allowing CPA candidates to prepare for the exam in other ways can drop that cost to about $5,000, a savings of 95 percent. The time needed to prepare for the exam can be reduced from 60 months to 18 months. If implemented, the plan outlined in this article could reverse the decline in the CPA population that has occurred in recent years.