First Continuous Testing CPA Scores Due Out This Week

06Jun

CPA_testing_map_-_blog.width-500 | Green Key Resources

The first group of accountants to take the CPA exam under the new continuous testing policy will begin to get scores Friday. Those who passed, will be celebrating. Those who didn’t will, for the first time, be eligible to retake the test almost immediately.

As of July 1, the rigorous 4-part, 4-hour exam for accountants who want to earn the coveted Certified Public Accountant designation is offered throughout the year. The new “Continuous Testing” approach replaces the previous schedule where candidates could take one or more parts of the exam only once during each of the four annual testing windows.

Now, as soon as a candidate gets their results, they can retake the failed part within a matter of days.

Continuous testing has been under discussion by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and the American Institute of CPAs for a few years. Supported by college accounting departments, state accounting boards and other organizations, candidates have long asked for a more frequent testing process. The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown spurred the accounting organizations to act.

“Continuous testing has been a goal for some time, and it comes in direct response to feedback from CPA exam candidates and their desire to test more frequently throughout the year,” said NASBA Executive Vice President & COO Colleen Conrad, CPA.

“NASBA is proud to work in collaboration with the AICPA, Prometric (the testing administrator) and the 55 U.S. Boards of Accountancy to continue to ensure the security of the exam and to implement a successful transition,” she said in a statement issued the day the continuous testing program began.

The CPA exam is administered nationwide, however CPA licensing is the function of each state and territory. While most states have approved the continuous testing change, each had to implement the transition. According to NASBA’s testing status map, three states had not yet completed the process, but were expected to by the July 1 start. It is not clear they made that deadline. South Carolina will not offer continuous testing until next year.

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WeAreGreenKey-AF-Samantha-Desena-012324 | Green Key Resources

Accounting + Finance, General Interest

Jan 24, 2024

#WeAreGreenKey: Spotlight on Samantha Desena

Accounting + Finance, General Interest

Jan 24, 2024

#WeAreGreenKey: Spotlight on Samantha Desena

Welcome back to #WeAreGreenKey, where we shine a spotlight on our powerhouse agency team.  

We met up with Samantha Desena, Recruiter at Green Key on the Accounting and Finance team. Samantha started her career at Green Key almost 2 years ago, when she transitioned to agency recruiting.

How did you get started in recruiting?

I started off my recruiting career as an internal recruiter within the finance field and I was solely recruiting for one job all the time. I loved interacting with people in that capacity and being able to help them find a new career but after a while I started feeling siloed and the day to day became very mundane. So, I started looking into agency recruiting, and I found out that it’s kind of this whole other world where there are different jobs that you’re working on at once and they could all be completely different. So that’s kind of how I fell into agency recruiting and joined Green Key. When I started here, they were opening the Morristown NJ office, so I jumped on that, and I got in contact with Pat Friel. This is my first agency experience and I love it. It’s ever changing, always interesting, never boring. I feel like every week is a different challenge. I’m really happy I found agency recruiting.

What do you find the most rewarding about your work?

The most rewarding thing about the work I do is interacting with people and just being able to take people where they’re at and help them get on a path to where they want to be. Whether they’re in public accounting or they’re in an industry role and really want to be a controller down the line or really want to get into a fund, we can be the career advisor that shows them what the path will need to look like to get to their end goal.

2024 marks 20 years of Green Key, how would you describe your experience since starting your career with the team?

It’s interesting to be on a team where everybody’s at a different point in their recruiting career and their time with Green Key. We have people who’ve been at Green Key for all of 20 years. We have people who have been at Green Key for 1-3 years and everyone comes from such different backgrounds. We have a ton of people on our team who started as accountants or CPA’s then you have people like me who are two years into the working world and have a communications degree. It is awesome to have the same opportunity regardless of my educational background. It’s a role that comes down to your drive and your personal goals. I think that’s super cool.

Are there any challenges you foresee for candidates in the year ahead and what advice would you give to them to navigate the challenges?

I would just tell them that if they were considering leaving their current job, they should reach out to us before putting in their notice so that way we can help them set up a game plan to find their next opportunity. It is hard to stay in a job that you are unhappy or mistreated in but it is even harder to find the job you really want when unemployed. We see really good candidates struggling with this and it can be discouraging for them. So, hold off and get in contact with a recruiter and talk about what your timeline is and we will help you find something new ASAP.

What are you and your team’s goals for 2024?

Our goals as recruiters are to bring in new business but also to continue building the relationships we have with our clients and candidates. And as a team in NJ, I think a goal we have is to grow our office. When I started, we were about 3 people in NJ and now we are 6! It would be cool for us to grow the office as big as some of our other offices like in Pittsburgh or NYC.

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