An Investigation of The Relationship Between AACSB Business School Accreditation and CPA Exam Success Rates

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business-International (AACSB) is widely to world’s foremost accrediting agency of business schools. AACSB promotional literature asserts AACSB accreditation is associated with higher qualify business education and higher quality business school graduates. The assertion of higher quality is somewhat controversial and to date has not been well supported by empirical evidence. The research presented below investigates whether recent business school graduates taking the uniform certified public accountants exam score higher when from AACSB accredited institutions rather than when from non- AACSB accredited institutions. Results indicate that graduates of AACSB accredited business schools do in fact score significantly higher on all parts of the uniform certified public accountants exam than do their counterparts form unaccredited institutions.