IN my last column a few weeks ago, I wrote about the “aspirants”, dealing on the over 14,000 examinees who trooped to the various testing venues throughout the Philippines to take the professional licensure examination for Certified Public Accountants (CPA). This time, I write about the outcome of that exercise. After four weekends of solving accounting, auditing, taxation and other related subjects, the verdict is in. There were 4,511 of the 14,816 examinees who passed the CPA Board Examinations. As in the past years, only a select few managed to pass the grade. For this examination, only 30 percent of the examinees passed. The Board of Accountancy (BOA) has been administering the CPA Board Examinations since 1923 and, since then, after 94 years, over 183,000 have become CPAs.
Starting today, most of these successful individuals will be taking their oath as professional CPAs in appropriate ceremonies at the Philippine International Convention Center. This event heralds their entry to the hallowed ranks of the accountancy profession. Thereafter, similar oath-taking events will be held in 10 other cities throughout the county. These entrants to the accountancy profession will be the toast in all these events.
After their oath, the entrants will then be joining the community of accounting professionals at a time when so much disruption, innovation and developments are occurring. These are exciting as well as trying times as the accountancy ecosystem focuses on adapting to the requirements of the digital economy and globalization.
Increasing levels of high-impact regulatory measures are being put in place, which will require accountants to be in the forefront of knowing what are these and complying with all of these requirements set by the various government regulators.
These entrants should pursue a lifelong professional development by continuously learning and keeping updated on the many changes in their profession and community.
Of course, the new CPAs should ever be conscious of and compliant with the high exacting demand to maintain the highest level of governance, integrity and ethics in their daily routine.
To all of the new fellow CPAs, I know that all of you are feeling exhilarated on your recent achievement.
You are raring to prove your worth and to conquer the accountancy world. Continue to be driven and motivated.
In addition to doing well in your choice of career, actively participate in the many activities of your profession in line with the Expanding Horizons initiatives of the BOA. Follow the many accountancy developments by occasionally visiting the BOA Facebook page and web site (https://boa.com and www.facebook.com/professional regulatory board of accountancy). Participate in the “Let your voice be heard” project by responding to the various online surveys posted by BOA.
Finally, always be mindful of what you must do to be competent and ethical individuals of the accountancy profession and responsible citizens of the world.
Congratulations, and welcome to the ranks of the professional accountants.
Joel L. Tan-Torres is the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy. He is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He is a partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co., CPAs. He was the former Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue from 2009 to 2010.
This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.