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ABSTRACT
Professional accountancy examinations have been associated with the accounting profession for many years. They arrived with the advent of professional accounting associations. This paper provides a brief summary of the development of professional accounting examinations from their origin in Scotland and the first professional accounting association. In order to regulate entry into the accounting profession, the use of rigorous oral and written examinations were introduced. Professional accounting organizations quickly spread to England and Wales with associated examinations that evaluated the accounting knowledge and abilities of the applicant. Next, accounting associations or societies with their required examinations spread to Europe and the United States. This paper traces the evolution of professional examinations from the mid-1800's to present day. Tremendous changes in the required professional accounting exams have taken place during that period. The story begins with accountancy exams required by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), which was the first recognized professional accounting association originating in 1854. This paper concludes with changes planned in 2017 for the U.S. Certified Public Accountants (CPA) Examination on its 100th anniversary.
Key words: Uniform CPA Exam, Chartered Accountants, first Scottish Society, Uniform CPA Exam in U.s in 1917
INTRODUCTION
The practice of accounting can be traced back nearly 6,000 years. Rudimentary accounting records were first discovered in approximately 4000 B.C. in the form of records of income from temples in lower Mesopotamia (ICAEW, 2015). More advanced accounting records, using the double entry format, were discovered in the "Massari Ledgers" of the Commune of Genoa of 1340. This was significantly earlier than 1494 when Luca Pacioli's "Summa" was first published (Peragallo, 1956). Since little verifiable information remains concerning the Massari Ledgers, Franciscan Friar and mathematician Luca Pacioli continues to be recognized as the "Father of Accounting and Bookkeeping." His 27 page "Summa" was sold to merchants of the period as a reference text. It was also the first known text to contain algebra and the symbols for plus and minus. These symbols became standard notation for mathematicians during the Italian Renaissance period (Sangster, Stoner, McCarthy, 2007).
The practice of accountancy spread rapidly following Pacioli's contributions with accounting texts becoming available in England. According to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), one of the...