Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Montana

The most challenging part in becoming a CPA is passing the United Certified Public Accountant Examination. This examination aims to standardize the quality of professionalism expected from a CPA. Developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and administered by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the CPA exam is the foremost regulatory tool practiced in all U.S. States and dependencies.

The CPA Exam is known for its brutal length structured into a two-day exam. In 1996, the CPA Exam was divided into four sections namely Business Law and Professional Responsibilities, Auditing, Accounting and Reporting (Taxation, Managerial, Government, and NGO), and Financial Accounting and Reporting for Business Enterprises. Since then the Unified CPA Exam has stuck with the four-section two-day format. However, the CPA Exam shifted to computer-based administration prompting a move to modify these core areas. As it stands, the four main sections of the CPA Exam includes Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, Regulations, and Business Environment and Concept. Seventy percent of the questions on the CPA Exam are multiple choice questions while thirty percent of the questions are practical simulations.

Students in finance and accounting have to deal with critical decisions before committing to taking a CPA Exam. After all, the preparation for this examination is done in a span of months. Getting prepared in the most possible way involves knowing the nature of the examination from the structure and difficulty to the testing method and criteria for a successful examination.

CPA examinees are wary of the simulation part of the CPA Exam. It is supposed to test your accounting knowledge through a variety of task that can be answered in different ways. Simulation exams test the depth of your accounting skills and measure your analytical skills, communication skills, and research.

Usually the final output of simulation exams is memorandums written by the examinees containing the arrived solution to the problem and his decisions based on the data presented to him. Thus, it is very important that one does not only get to the right answer, but also has the discernment to comprehend the numbers and act on it. Your written memo is judged on organization, development and expression. You should have a structure of ideas shown in your paper, presentation of evidence based from your solutions, and perfect usage of English and accounting terms for clarity.

The scoring scale in a CPA exam ranges from 0 to 99. Seventy-five is the passing score as it is the score that reflects examinees with the sufficient accounting skills to "protect the public".

The four major sections of a CPA Exam has corresponding subtopics needed to test the applicant's communication skills, research skills, analysis, judgment, and understanding of the subject. Based on the 2000 Practical Analysis, these skills became the foundation of the major sections of the CPA Exam.

The first section, Auditing and Attestation, includes initializing and planning auditing engagements, considering internal control in both manual and computerized environments, obtaining documents and solid data to form a basis for conclusions, and reviewing the auditing engagement completely and independently. The second section will test you on business structure, economic concepts, financial management, information technology, and planning and measurement.

Candidates are then tested on their knowledge of professional ethics, federal taxation, professional and legal responsibilities, business law, and the skills required to apply these knowledge. One should be aware of every legal responsibilities and implications of a business transaction as well as the accountability expected from a CPA. The regulation section of the exam tests the candidate on the code of professional conduct, proficiency, independence and due care, tax ethics, and more.

The Financial Accounting and Reporting section tests the knowledge of general accounting principles viable for business enterprises, not-for-profit-organizations, and government entities along with the skills needed to apply these tasks.

Kimberly A. Somers, EA

(406) 522-8500
24 S. Willson Ave, Suite 7
Bozeman, MT