Activity Review
North Carolina State
Board of Certified Public
Accountant Examiners
1101 Oberlin Road, Suite 104, PO Box 12827, Ralegh, NC 27605 (919) 733-4222 Issue No. 6-2002
Agreement for Computer-based Exam Signed;
New Test to Debut in 2004
After a year of negoti ati ons, the A meri -
can I nstituteof Certified PublicAccoun-
tants (A I C PA ), the N ati onal A ssoci ati on
of StateBoardsof Accountancy (N A SBA ),
and Prometric havesigned ajointagree-
mentforthedei i very of acompu ter- based
UniformCPA Examination, scheduled
for implementation in early 2004.
A final paper-based version of the
examination will be delivered in No¬
vember 2003.
Barton W. Baldwin, CPA, whoisthe
Chair of N A SBA, and a member of the
NCStateBoardofCPA Examiners, stated,
"This contract is the culmination of
months of intense work by N A SBA, the
board s of accou ntancy , the A I C PA , and
Prometric."
"The participants in the contract
negotiations remained focused on the
issue at hand-ensuring that the com¬
puter- based exam satj sfactori I
у
testscan-
didates' knowledgeand skills"
Under the agreement, which was
signed May 28, 2002, the AICPA will
create and grade the computer-based
exam; N A SBA and its 54member board s
will oversee theoveral I administration
of the exam; and Prometric, a technol -
ogy- based testi ng provi der, will deliver
the exam through its testi ng centers.
Inadditiontotransitioningtoacom-
puter-based format, the revised exam
will incorporatetheassessment of criti¬
cal skills, such as research and commu-
ni cation, and wi 1 1 i ncl ude i ncreased em-
phasi s on i nformati on technol ogy, gen¬
eral business knowledge, as wdl as
broad eni ng thescopeof theexam i n the
audit and attest area.
"The tools used in the accounting
professi on and thescope of servi ces of¬
fered by CPAs have changed signifi¬
cantly inthepastfew years," said Bald¬
win."! believethatthecomputer-based
exam, through itsformat and itscontent,
will better assess a candidate's compe¬
tency to practi ce as a C PA ."
Stated Baldwin, "I amconfidentthat
the computerized exam, together with
the education and experience required
for I icensureasaCPA , wi 1 1 bean i ntegral
part of fulfilling the boards of
accountancy's responsi bi I ity to protect
thepublic."
Thecomputer-based testwi 1 1 afford
moref I exibility to exam cand i dates-al -
lowi ng them to si tfortheexam uptofour
times a year, as opposed to the current
two times per year. The exam will be
avai I abl e u p to si x days a week i n many
testing centers.
I n preparati on for the launch of the
computerized exam, state boards of ac¬
countancy must now devdop policies
for granti ng eq u i val ent cred i t to candi¬
dates who earned conditional status on
thepaper-and-pencil exam.
A I thoug h theA I C PA 's Board of E x-
aminers(BOE) has developed a model
policy for granting credit and
transitioning for the computer-based
exam, thepol i cy is not bi nd i ng on boards
of accountancy. Each board hasthestatu-
tory au thori ty to d etermi nea pol i cy for
itsjurisdiction.
TheA I CPA has confirmed that the
cost of thecomputer-based examwill be
hi gher than the cost of the paper-based
exam, but no f i nal f i gu res are avai I abl e.
For additional information on the
Uniform CPA Exam, please visit the
Board's web site (www.state.nc.us/
cpabd); the AICPA web site
(www.aicpa.org); or the NA5BA web
site(www. nasba.org).
www.state.nc.us/cpabd
Inside this issue...
AlCPA'sStudentWebSite . 4
Board Meetings . 4
Certificates Issued . 5
Disciplinary Actions . 2
Exam Applications . 4
GASB'sStatement N o. 39 . 3
I R5 Posts Scams on Web Site . 6
Statu s of Fed eral T ax Ref u nds . 4
NC'sTop Exam Candidates . 5
Noticeof Address Change . 8
N oti ceof A pparent Vi ol ati on and
Demand to Ceaseand Desist . 4
Reclassifications . 6
Thanks to Proctors . 7
