Wisconsin and Penn Named National Champions in NASBA CPA Exam Brackets

Winning institutions showcase on and off the court success with impressive pass rates

NASHVILLE, TENN., (APRIL 5, 2016) — College basketball enthusiasts were treated to a buzzer-beater finish last night as Villanova defeated North Carolina in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament finale. Tonight, the women will take to the court to determine their own champion as Connecticut and Syracuse square off. However, it was two entirely different teams, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), that claimed victories in NASBA’s second annual Uniform CPA Exam Bracketology standings.

For the second year, NASBA examined how students from the schools participating in the basketball tournaments perform on the CPA Examination. Starting with the same 64 NCAA tournament teams, NASBA brackets differ by schools advancing solely on their first-time CPA Exam pass rate for the 2015 calendar year.

On the men’s side, the University of Wisconsin is a repeat winner of the Men’s Uniform CPA Exam Bracket. The university’s CPA Exam candidates had a 2014 pass rate of 87.3%, and they were able to defend the title again this year with an 84.5% pass rate. This is an extremely impressive accomplishment for a large program with more than 175 candidates sitting for the CPA Exam each year.

The women’s bracket was captured by a smaller accounting program, which holds an outstanding pass rate record. The Quakers, from the University of Pennsylvania, not only won this year’s Women’s Uniform CPA Exam Bracket, but also recorded the highest CPA Exam pass rate in the nation with 90.6%.

School rankings and first-time pass rates are pulled from NASBA’s 2015 Candidate Performance on the Uniform CPA Examination: University Edition, which is available for purchase at nasbareport.com. Schools must have had a minimum of five candidates sit for the CPA Exam in the 2015 calendar year in order to be included in the Uniform CPA Exam Bracket. NASBA began gathering data on CPA Examination candidates in 1982, and has published reports on performance and selected characteristics since 1985.

NASBA congratulates all participating Division I institutions on their academic and athletic achievement.

> View full list of schools in both men’s and women’s brackets

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Wisconsin and Penn Named National Champions in NASBA CPA Exam Brackets

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