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    Accounting

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    14 views5 pages

    Getting It Right Crafting The

    Uploaded by

    Jeanette Agustin Gonzales-Eikawa
    Accounting

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 5
    PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Getting it right: Crafting the CPA Exam Test developers aim to assess important CPA knowledge and skills — and only that. By Ken Tysiac f you could assign a flavor to the questions on the Uniform CPA Examination, it would undoubt- ely be pure vanilla ‘Tales of adventure, romance, and violence can be found at the bookstore or in the movie theater, PA Exam, which is careflly designed to avoid topies that could unnecessarily distract CPA candidates from the actual purpose of the exam. “We try to give the candidates the opportunity to provide clear evidence of their mastery of accounting-related knowledge, skill, and abilities (KSAs), and we try to exclude factors that have nothing to do with those KSAs,” suid Jessica Lucas, an associate manager for the AICPA Examina- tions team. “For example, we're not trying to assess their knowledge of unusual vocabulary words tunless those words are commonly used in the field of accounting or any of its specialized fields. So a word like epine, which is part of the everyday vocabulary of auditors, can and does appear on the exam; but a word ike Afandisbment does not. We dont test advanced reading skills either. Ques- tions are designed to assess essential content only, with no embellishment. We never try to trick the candidates in any way. Each sentence is designed to be as straightforward as possible and to have one and only one meaning in context. The meaning has to be clear to all readers.” ‘The CPA Exam is one of the most respected professional licensure examinations in the world, ‘What's not so well known is that the rigor as- sociated with exam development procedures is as intense as the review process that many candidates, undertake in their efforts to earn a passing score. Each potential question undergoes scrutiny during multiple rounds of review by specialists evaluating it from different points of view. Ifthe question survives those reviews, the next step is @ pretest phase to perform a statistical analysis of actual test takers’ responses to the question. (Pretest items don't count toward a candidate's score.) If the ques- tion fails to meet statistical standards, itis rejected or revised As laws, regulations, and other types of guidance change, the exam also needs to change Tt takes about eight months from the time the Examinations team identifies a need for more questions to the point when they are ready to be pretested on the exam; in certain cases, the time elapsed can be as short as four months. In general, each question is designed to be a successful act of communication. Linguistic philosopher Paul Grice observed that successful, cooperative communications typically follow four basic rules: Be rruthiul Be clear Be relevant. Be appropriately informative “The text of the CPA Exam obeys the rules and conventions of international standard English so that the questions will be easy for English speak- crs around the world to understand. Likewise, staff members use their knowledge of logic and Tinguistics to make sure that the questions assess only accounting content, not advanced skills in logic or linguistics (see the sidebar “Questions That Didrit Make the Cut”). “We design the text of each question to be easy to process. We avoid needlessty complicated ‘wordings and logical structures,” said Timothy Habick, Ph.D, test development manager for the AICPA Examinations team. "Now some people might wonder how logic could be an issue relevant to the CPA Exam in the first place,and that About the author Ken Tysiacis the JofA's editorial director.To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact him at Kenneth Tysiac@ aicpa:cima.com or 919-402-2112. December 2018 | 33 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT is the point. We purposely craft the text so that candidates will not need to use logic to understand the intended meaning of any sentence in context. ‘Our goal is to ereate clear, coherent, and coopera- tive communications. This tends to make the text of our questions somewhat unremarkable, but that is our intention. “Candidates are supposed to focus on the essen tial accounting content, not on our use of language. For the same reason, we tend to avoid using n: for individuals and companies that could attract. the candidates’ attention. So whenever possible, we refer to‘a taxpayer,"an auditor; or's company" without using realistic names. Proper names can contain allusions to irrelevant historical events and individuals, which could be distracting, We're hore to assess the candidates’ accounting-related skills, not to entertain them. We try to include only Questions that didn’t make the cut Rejected early drafts demonstrate some important considerations in test development. sight into the CPA Exam development process can be gained by reviewing potential questions that were ejected. Here are some excerpts from draft questions offered by writers that illustrate why the questions did not make the cut. ‘Anna, a U.S. citizen, married Eduardo, a citizen of Mexico, in October of the current year. Eduardo is an undocumented alien in the U.S. Eduardo has no U.S. income for the year and was fully supported by Anna. Objection: There is no content-related need to refer to undocumented aliens, and the casting of Eduardo as from Mexico reinforces a stereotype that could be troubling to candidates. In year 1, Jack, Inc. acquired Jil, Inc. Objection: The mention of nursery rhyme characters in atest question could distract candidates who might be cued to recite the thyme (“ack and Jill went up the hil." instead of focusing on solving the question After a devastating fire this year a city approved the sale of the site of its former firehouse at $500,000 below book value. Net cash proceeds from the sale amounted to $40,000. The city council announced that it would build a new firehouse at an alternate location. How should the city report the transaction in its statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balances for the year? Objection: The mention ofa “devastating fire"is unnecessarily distressing. Furthermore, although it’s certainly possible fr a firehouse to catch fire, the thought ofa devastating fire at a firehouse could be puzzling and distracting for candidates. The Examinations team doesn't want the candidates to spend time wondering wiy the firefighters couldnt quickly extinguish the flames in their own firehouse. Inemerging countries, as personal income grows, ‘consumers may buy a pack of gum or a soft drink. This is an ample of which of the following types of spending? Mandatory. Entitlement. Discretionary. (correct answer) >. Staple. one> eg Objection: It could be considered insulting to imply that consumers in emerging economies were unable to buy a pack of gum before their personal income grew. And the term “emerging countries‘is not needed to establish the concept of, discretionary spending, Source: ACPA Test Development Fimess Guidelines, Version 40 (Timothy Habick and Unda Cook, 2018). IN BRIEF The process of creating a question for the CPA Exam In many ways Is as thorough and rigorous as the preparation that many CPA candidates Put into their study for the exam, Each Question is correlated to material fon the exam Blueprints; drafted by 34 | Jourslef ‘external CPA experts; reviewed by Additional experts, including a CPA panel; and given a trial run in front of actual candidates. Questions are carefully constructed to avoid topics and material that would ‘cause an unnecessary emotional response that could distract candidates

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