NIU ranked first on pass rates for Certified Public Accountant exams for the fourth consecutive year, a report from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy stated.

The report was based on pass rates from May 1986 CPAs.

NIU students with a pass rate of 60.4 percent surpassed students from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, who placed second with a pass rate of 59.4 percent, and the University of Illinois, who placed third with a pass rate of 54.7 percent.

NIU accountancy Professor John Simon said the success of NIU’s CPA candidates results from the CPA problems review course offered at NIU.

Only 30 percent of colleges and universities in the nation offer CPA review courses, Simon said. “Many of the programs (in other schools) don’t have the faculty to teach a course like this (NIU),” he said.

Simon and specialists in income tax, business law, auditing and managerial accounting teach the course. Simon said he teaches one-half of the class, and the other four specialists teach the other half.

Because of knowledge offered by the specialists, the NIU review course is the best in the country, Simon said.

“We’ve got faculty teaching in the review course who have been there for years,” he said.

Exams are offered in May and November but most NIU students take the test in May, Simon said. “Our one shot at getting number one is in May,” he said. In May more than 125 NIU students take the exam, Simon said. NIU usually is ranked in the top 5 or 10 percent, he said.

Simon said NIU students also have a tradition to uphold. Students have a feeling they can pass the exam because NIU students have been successful in the past, Simon said. “They work hard like the students from the last few years,” he said.