Hispanic Ethnicity and Hidden Barriers to CPA Exam Success

Abstract

The performance of Hispanic candidates on the CPA Exam has not been studied to identify predictors of performance. However, speculations have been made in the literature that, understandably, proficiency in the English language is a factor. Our study aims to combine the jurisdiction performance on the CPA Exam from 2015 and 2019 with U.S. Census Bureau estimates of the proportion of Hispanic residents that speak English to identify if there is an association to be found between language and performance. To this end, we explore whether the propensity of a Hispanic population to speak English is associated with improved performance. We begin with a descriptive analysis of Puerto Rico candidates and seven jurisdictions that had relatively high participation on the CPA Exam and the greatest proportion of Hispanics in their population. We found the Puerto Rico pass rate consistently below the other jurisdictions. This result suggests that the greater the proportion of Hispanic people, the lower the overall performance.