Shippensburg University’s John L. Grove College of Business ranked in the top 20 nationally among mid-sized programs last year in the success rate of its graduates taking the certified public accountant exam, according to a recent report.
The report by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) showed that SU ranked 18th out of 265 schools whose graduates passed the national CPA exam on their first try.
In 2013, SU was tied for 37th.
NASBA includes Shippensburg in its medium-sized schools category, which encompasses programs that have between 21 and 60 graduates taking all or some of the four-part exam. No other Pennsylvania school in that category had a higher percentage than the 69.5 percent of SU grads who passed the exam on their first attempt.
“We are very pleased by these results. It’s a real credit to our accounting faculty and our program,” said Dr. John Kooti, dean of the Grove College of Business. “Our curriculum is designed to prepare our students well for the exam. Faculty work with the students to give them the experience necessary to do well, and we have a strong group of alumni who provide additional support to the candidates taking the exam.”
“These results reflect well on both the quality of our students and the quality of the faculty in the department,” agreed Dr. Jay Mackie, chair of the Department of Accounting and Management Information Systems. “We have a very talented group of accounting majors who are pursuing careers in public accounting. Having taught these students, I am very well aware of their quality and motivation to succeed, and seeing these results is a confirmation of that quality.”
Grove College has about 315 accounting majors, Kooti said.
