CPA Exam Performance

For many accountants, the highest professional distinction one can earn is the designation of Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In addition to meeting stringent educational and ethical requirements, CPAs must also pass a series of four examinations covering: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Business Environment and Concepts (BEC), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Regulation (REG). Performance on these exams is also an important measure of success for accounting programs.

Most Recent CPA Exam Results

Fisher School first-time candidates distinguished themselves by scoring an overall passing rate of 82.8% for all parts of the CPA exam attempted during 2023. This pass rate placed 6th in the nation among 251 large programs (defined as having more than 60 candidates) participating in the CPA exam during 2023. It also placed the Fisher School 11th in the nation among all 793 academic institutions having at least 10 candidates taking part in the CPA exam during 2023.

Rankings comparing 5 years of Fisher student performance relative to the performance by students from peer academic institutions are provided below. The links also provide similar tables comparing Fisher student performance to that of other public academic institutions in Florida.

Note that the distinction of exam candidates with and without advanced degrees is not very clean data. For example, exam candidates are classified based on their status when they apply to take the CPA exam. Most of our master’s students apply to take the exam before they complete the MAcc. Accordingly, their results show up under the “without advanced degree” listings despite the fact that they completed a master’s degree at UF.

Peer Schools CPA Exam Performance

First Time Test Takers With Advanced Degrees
Current Year CandidatesCurrent Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
9 14 1 University of California - Berkeley 85.7% NA NA NA NA
19 40 2 University of Iowa 85.0% 77.6% 78.9% 97.1% 90.0%
97 203 3 University of Texas at Austin 82.3% 84.8% 81.8% 92.7% 83.0%
1082094-tieUniversity of Florida81.3%83.8%86.5%93.8%93.0%
17 32 4-tie University of Wisconsin - Madison 81.3% 100.0% 94.1% 81.6% 75.8%
54 124 6 Indiana University - Bloomington 79.8% 81.5% 75.4% 81.1% 89.0%
37 65 7 The Ohio State University 73.8% 58.2% 74.7% 84.4% 72.5%
28 53 8 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 73.6% 69.2% 96.4% 82.1% 77.1%
26 45 9 Michigan State University 73.3% 73.5% 67.3% 79.6% 64.0%
43 82 10 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 67.1% 67.7% 80.2% 75.7% 74.2%
18 30 11 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 66.7% 63.2% 75.6% 78.8% 75.6%
59 132 12 Pennsylvania State University 65.2% 69.0% 65.7% 74.0% 71.9%
239 418 13 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 59.6% 69.7% 67.3% 64.8% 76.0%
33 58 14 Purdue University 58.6% 52.5% 32.3% 65.5% 63.8%
69,457122,73415-tieAll First Time Test Takers*54.4%58.7%59.8%63.5%58.6%
83 136 15-tie University of Washington 54.4% 71.8% 59.3% 68.7% 56.7%
39 57 17 University of Arizona 49.1% 72.2% 68.8% 74.4% 68.3%

*National averages for those with and without advanced degrees are no longer compiled separately. This average captures all first-time test takers.

First Time Test Takers Without Advanced Degrees
Current Year CandidatesCurrent Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
235 576 1 University of Texas at Austin 83.0% 90.6% 89.6% 91.2% 90.6%
701392University of Florida80.6%75.7%76.9%75.7%69.3%
128 284 3 University of Wisconsin - Madison 79.6% 80.5% 90.0% 88.1% 81.8%
55 135 4 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 74.1% 82.1% 93.4% 86.6% 91.4%
253 526 5-tie Indiana University - Bloomington 72.8% 78.1% 79.1% 82.1% 81.0%
96 184 5-tie University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 72.8% 72.0% 70.8% 82.4% 75.6%
134 271 7 University of Iowa 72.3% 77.9% 81.3% 83.1% 78.7%
416 895 8 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 69.4% 75.9% 73.2% 78.3% 70.2%
127 214 9 University of California - Berkeley 65.4% 71.6% 68.8% 75.0% 63.0%
124 255 10 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 65.1% 71.3% 72.9% 79.8% 68.7%
202 356 11 Michigan State University 62.6% 68.8% 60.6% 74.6% 70.0%
255 462 12 University of Washington 62.1% 66.1% 71.8% 74.3% 69.3%
129 288 13 Purdue University 60.1% 56.9% 61.0% 64.9% 59.6%
136 262 14 University of Arizona 59.9% 65.4% 68.1% 63.9% 68.1%
296 552 15-tie The Ohio State University 58.0% 58.9% 65.7% 71.1% 61.6%
162 295 15-tie Pennsylvania State University 58.0% 53.8% 51.4% 62.6% 56.0%
69,457122,73417All First Time Test Takers*54.4%58.7%59.8%63.5%58.6%

*National averages for those with and without advanced degrees are no longer compiled separately. This average captures all first-time test takers.

First Time Test Takers: Financial Accounting and Reporting
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
651University of Florida78.5%81.9%80.5%85.9%86.5%
72 2 University of Wisconsin - Madison 77.8% 82.9% 82.8% 88.5% 80.3%
177 3 University of Texas at Austin 75.7% 86.4% 88.8% 88.0% 86.5%
134 4 Indiana University - Bloomington 71.6% 75.7% 79.7% 81.4% 80.3%
73 5 University of Iowa 67.1% 70.1% 74.7% 83.8% 70.7%
56 6 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 66.1% 58.3% 79.4% 73.2% 64.9%
70 7 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 65.7% 64.5% 63.5% 84.8% 68.4%
40 8 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 62.5% 75.0% 91.1% 71.4% 82.6%
75 9 Michigan State University 61.3% 54.6% 51.3% 73.2% 62.2%
253 10 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 58.9% 64.0% 67.1% 69.0% 66.3%
42 11 University of California - Berkeley 57.1% 68.6% 59.0% 67.1% 56.8%
142 12-tie Pennsylvania State University 55.6% 55.6% 55.2% 71.9% 63.8%
54 12-tie University of Arizona 55.6% 50.7% 60.5% 50.7% 63.1%
141 14 The Ohio State University 53.9% 52.9% 63.5% 74.9% 56.0%
131 15 University of Washington 48.9% 54.5% 60.6% 63.5% 64.2%
72 16 Purdue University 48.6% 45.8% 57.1% 56.1% 57.4%
24,11317All Test Takers48.1%48.9%50.7%55.7%51.0%
First Time Test Takers: Auditing and Attestation
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
1711University of Texas at Austin79.5%86.8%84.8%93.0%88.0%
812University of Florida76.5%72.3%80.9%82.2%81.8%
87 3 University of Wisconsin - Madison 75.9% 80.9% 85.6% 86.3% 79.7%
73 4 University of Iowa 69.9% 73.6% 71.3% 79.8% 71.7%
74 5 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 68.9% 62.5% 67.1% 80.2% 68.4%
50 6 University of California - Berkeley 66.0% 66.7% 62.5% 75.7% 57.6%
64 7 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 65.6% 72.4% 61.3% 83.3% 79.6%
158 8 Indiana University - Bloomington 62.0% 75.4% 74.8% 76.2% 78.6%
48 9 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 60.4% 72.3% 97.5% 90.0% 84.0%
167 10 The Ohio State University 59.9% 58.2% 61.8% 66.5% 59.6%
296 11 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 59.1% 69.5% 63.1% 72.5% 71.0%
133 12 University of Washington 57.9% 65.3% 65.9% 72.3% 61.2%
105 13 Michigan State University 56.2% 64.6% 48.8% 67.2% 63.0%
148 14 Pennsylvania State University 56.1% 61.2% 49.4% 69.9% 57.8%
83 15 University of Arizona 53.0% 66.1% 58.6% 60.6% 59.8%
87 16 Purdue University 52.9% 58.2% 50.7% 61.0% 50.0%
26,33717All Test Takers52.2%53.4%53.4%58.9%55.6%
First Time Test Takers: Regulation
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
160 1 University of Texas at Austin 81.9% 90.3% 84.1% 86.7% 87.7%
101 2 University of Wisconsin - Madison 81.2% 83.0% 94.5% 85.6% 83.0%
903University of Florida81.1%84.6%82.4%88.2%82.6%
58 4 University of Iowa 79.3% 76.7% 88.2% 81.8% 88.0%
113 5 University of Washington 77.9% 75.2% 79.7% 78.6% 67.7%
41 6 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 75.6% 90.2% 90.2% 83.3% 88.2%
63 7 Purdue University 73.0% 51.1% 61.2% 65.2% 60.5%
123 8 Indiana University - Bloomington 70.7% 72.7% 72.5% 73.9% 76.7%
50 9 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 68.0% 71.4% 69.2% 77.8% 65.9%
85 10 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 67.1% 63.6% 76.2% 74.7% 70.8%
135 11 Pennsylvania State University 66.7% 64.8% 64.0% 72.8% 69.5%
237 12 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 65.8% 71.1% 73.6% 75.1% 66.9%
22,01013All Test Takers64.3%66.3%66.6%68.1%61.5%
84 14 Michigan State University 63.1% 77.4% 74.7% 78.5% 72.2%
44 15 University of California - Berkeley 61.4% 66.7% 70.4% 70.9% 56.4%
138 16 The Ohio State University 60.9% 57.4% 67.6% 78.9% 70.4%
61 17 University of Arizona 57.4% 73.5% 79.7% 72.7% 67.0%
First Time Test Takers: Business Environment and Concepts
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
152 1 University of Wisconsin - Madison 91.4% 92.0% 92.6% 97.2% 90.1%
65 2 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 90.8% 87.5% 94.9% 100.0% 97.9%
285 3 University of Texas at Austin 89.1% 95.5% 97.6% 96.9% 95.6%
1654University of Florida88.5%90.0%94.1%97.6%94.9%
260 5 Indiana University - Bloomington 85.0% 91.8% 90.1% 94.0% 91.4%
122 6 University of Iowa 78.7% 92.4% 90.4% 92.9% 96.1%
103 7 University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 77.7% 85.5% 85.0% 89.5% 93.3%
128 8 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 74.2% 78.6% 89.0% 91.5% 86.6%
544 9 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 74.1% 91.8% 83.2% 88.5% 81.4%
247 10 Pennsylvania State University 73.3% 82.3% 86.8% 89.0% 81.4%
97 11 University of California - Berkeley 71.1% 84.7% 84.6% 89.8% 77.4%
301 12 The Ohio State University 70.4% 80.8% 81.8% 88.3% 83.3%
202 13 Michigan State University 68.3% 82.9% 84.7% 87.5% 88.9%
274 14 University of Washington 63.5% 83.8% 88.1% 85.7% 82.1%
142 15 Purdue University 63.4% 73.9% 71.2% 87.5% 74.5%
125 16 University of Arizona 63.2% 77.6% 77.8% 79.4% 83.0%
50,27417All Test Takers54.3%69.4%71.6%73.9%68.6%

Florida Public Schools CPA Exam Performance

First Time Test Takers With Advanced Degrees
Current Year CandidatesCurrent Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
1082091University of Florida81.3%83.8%86.5%93.8%93.0%
84 156 2 Florida State University 75.6% 75.1% 73.4% 74.8% 80.9%
71 139 3 University of Central Florida 71.9% 64.9% 62.9% 75.6% 77.7%
28 47 4-tie Florida Gulf Coast University 55.3% 70.7% 73.2% 91.2% 64.9%
55 94 4-tie University of West Florida 55.3% 70.3% 55.6% 65.2% 53.2%
51 87 6 University of South Florida 55.2% 59.0% 69.9% 77.8% 72.3%
69,457122,7347All First Time Test Takers*54.4%58.7%59.8%63.5%58.6%
44 59 8 University of North Florida 52.5% 70.2% 72.2% 65.2% 64.5%
138 216 9 Florida Atlantic University 48.6% 64.6% 53.3% 64.5% 59.1%
92 144 10 Florida International University 43.8% 54.0% 53.6% 54.1% 60.6%
NA NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA
First Time Test Takers Without Advanced Degrees
Current Year CandidatesCurrent Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
701391University of Florida80.6%75.7%76.9%75.7%69.3%
136 278 2 Florida State University 74.5% 68.8% 72.4% 74.9% 72.3%
24 35 3 University of West Florida 62.9% 75.6% 67.6% 66.7% 51.1%
175 292 4 University of Central Florida 61.6% 56.0% 65.7% 68.9% 62.3%
69,457122,7345All First Time Test Takers*54.4%58.7%59.8%63.5%58.6%
129 207 6 University of South Florida 53.1% 50.3% 51.5% 58.5% 62.4%
49 76 7 University of North Florida 52.6% 58.1% 77.9% 65.9% 69.1%
92 141 8 Florida International University 48.9% 55.4% 70.1% 65.5% 55.8%
30 47 9 Florida Gulf Coast University 44.7% 66.0% 58.0% 59.3% 51.5%
108 160 10 Florida Atlantic University 38.8% 41.5% 43.5% 56.0% 53.4%
6 9 11 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 11.1% 16.7% 33.3% 44.4% 52.9%
NA NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA
First Time Test Takers: Financial Accounting and Reporting
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
651University of Florida78.5%81.9%80.5%85.9%86.5%
103 2 Florida State University 68.0% 65.0% 57.7% 63.8% 70.2%
96 3 University of Central Florida 53.1% 49.1% 51.5% 65.3% 61.8%
24,1134All Test Takers48.1%48.9%50.7%55.7%51.0%
67 5 University of South Florida 43.3% 46.7% 42.9% 53.8% 64.6%
63 6 Florida International University 39.7% 28.8% 59.5% 47.9% 52.7%
29 7 University of West Florida 37.9% 71.9% 60.0% 54.8% 44.4%
75 8 Florida Atlantic University 36.0% 43.0% 32.8% 44.3% 48.0%
26 9 University of North Florida 34.6% 51.6% 71.8% 54.3% 59.6%
21 10 Florida Gulf Coast University 28.6% 63.0% 44.0% 62.1% 35.1%
7 11 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 14.3% 0.0% 50.0% 25.0% 66.7%
NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA
First Time Test Takers: Auditing and Attestation
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
811University of Florida76.5%72.3%80.9%82.2%81.8%
23 2 University of West Florida 73.9% 74.2% 45.5% 65.6% 54.2%
102 3 Florida State University 70.6% 60.8% 73.7% 70.2% 68.9%
83 4 University of Central Florida 67.5% 46.7% 59.6% 73.8% 62.8%
69 5 University of South Florida 58.0% 48.3% 53.4% 55.1% 66.1%
26,3376All Test Takers52.2%53.4%53.4%58.9%55.6%
27 7 University of North Florida 51.9% 48.3% 64.3% 64.9% 52.4%
22 8 Florida Gulf Coast University 50.0% 73.7% 68.2% 57.7% 45.8%
61 9 Florida International University 45.9% 54.5% 55.0% 62.0% 55.8%
73 10 Florida Atlantic University 45.2% 48.8% 53.8% 56.1% 59.1%
1 11 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 0.0% 0.0% 25.0% 50.0% 42.9%
NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA
First Time Test Takers: Regulation
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
901University of Florida81.1%84.6%82.4%88.2%82.6%
83 2 Florida State University 75.9% 80.6% 74.8% 81.7% 79.6%
79 3 University of Central Florida 69.6% 71.2% 75.8% 73.5% 71.1%
37 4 Florida International University 67.6% 72.1% 68.6% 73.0% 65.9%
18 5 Florida Gulf Coast University 66.7% 57.9% 77.3% 89.5% 75.0%
22,0106All Test Takers64.3%66.3%66.6%68.1%61.5%
22 7 University of West Florida 63.6% 79.3% 61.9% 69.6% 50.0%
46 8 University of South Florida 63.0% 58.6% 70.9% 66.2% 62.7%
20 9 University of North Florida 60.0% 65.6% 86.1% 68.4% 78.6%
74 10 Florida Atlantic University 47.3% 71.3% 62.6% 73.7% 65.5%
3 11 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 33.3% 50.0% 66.7% 100.0% 50.0%
NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA
First Time Test Takers: Business Environment and Concepts
Current Year Exam AttemptsCurrent Year RankingSchool 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019
1651University of Florida88.5%90.0%94.1%97.6%94.9%
151 2 Florida State University 82.1% 80.7% 84.6% 89.2% 81.1%
178 3 University of Central Florida 66.3% 72.6% 77.0% 74.2% 77.9%
56 4 University of West Florida 58.9% 60.9% 81.3% 73.3% 60.0%
63 5 University of North Florida 57.1% 86.2% 81.3% 80.0% 83.3%
50,2746All Test Takers54.3%69.4%71.6%73.9%68.6%
116 7 University of South Florida 53.4% 71.7% 64.8% 83.8% 70.1%
34 8 Florida Gulf Coast University 52.9% 78.3% 72.7% 84.2% 83.3%
158 9 Florida Atlantic University 45.6% 62.5% 55.3% 75.2% 58.3%
130 10 Florida International University 43.1% 69.6% 64.1% 69.2% 63.5%
4 11 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University 25.0% 33.3% 33.3% 66.7% 50.0%
NA NA Florida Polytechnic University NA NA NA NA NA
NA NA New College of Florida NA NA NA NA NA