BOZEMAN - - Undergraduate accounting students at Montana State University-Bozeman topped students from all colleges and universities in the country in overall passing percentage in newly released results of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy's Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam.
MSU-Bozeman students, all undergraduates sitting for the test for the first time, ranked first in the country with a 48.8 percentage pass rate for all sections of the exam. Second was Wake Forest University with 45.2 percent.
"We are very proud to be both number one in the country as well as the only Montana institution listed in these rankings," said Michael Owen, dean of the MSU-Bozeman College of Business.
This is the second time Montana State University-Bozeman has been ranked number one in the nation on a CPA exam since NASBA first published its rankings in 1985. The first time was 1991. MSU also ranked number one in the nation in 1983 in a listing that preceded the NASBA rankings.
In addition, Montana State University-Bozeman has been ranked among the top ten undergraduate schools in the nation for CPA passing percentage 10 of 11 years for which data has been available. MSU officials said that success rate is unequaled by any other undergraduate college or university.
The most recent results are for the May 1995 exam. Last year, MSU was ranked ninth in the country in the same category.
The recently released NASBA undergraduate rankings for the May 1995 CPA exam are:
percentage passing
1. Montana State University 48.8
2. Wake Forest University 45.2
3. University of Pennsylvania 42.3
4. Northeast Missouri State University 40.7
University of Illinois-Urbana 40.7
6. Portland State University 40.0
7. University of California-Los Angeles 39.8
8. University of Northern Iowa 38.5
9. Florida International University 36.4
10. DePaul University 34.7