October 2019 CPA board examination results and 25th PSQ regional championship

By: Dr. Rex Casiple

Two thousand seventy-five (2,075) out of 14,492 examinees nationwide, or 14.32%, passed the Certified Public Accountant Licensure Examination given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Board of Accountancy in ten (10) testing centers nationwide in October 2019.

One (1) successful examinee from the Region garnered the ten (10) highest places in the national level: Khristeen Eve Austria Debolgado of UP Visayas-Iloilo City (Rank #10). One thousand six hundred sixty-two (1,662) out of 10,532 first takers or 15.78% passed. Four hundred thirteen (413) out of 3,960 repeaters or 10.43% passed. The number of first takers surpassed the number of repeaters or 8 out of 10 examinees are first takers.

In the Regional level, 7 schools in Western Visayas out of 25, or 28%, performed high or with a passing percentage higher than that of the national level. The high performing schools with 25 or more examinees are UP-Visayas, University of Saint La Salle (USLS) and Central Philippine University (CPU).

USLS and CPU are the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Autonomous Schools in Western Visayas. The Region produced 94 passers out of 494 takers, or 19.03% passing percentage. This is higher than the national passing percentage.

There were 102 repeaters who took the said examination and 392 first takers. The repeaters’ passing percentage is 16.67%, while the first takers passing percentage is 19.64%. Eight (8) out of 10 examinees from the Region were first takers.

The low performance of the examinees in the Region and in the country, in general, is a sign that the BS Accountancy program offerings nationwide need closer monitoring and supervision.

On the other hand, I would like to congratulate Joseph C. Mag-aso, Jr., a freshman BS Accountancy student of Binalbagan Catholic College, Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, who was hailed champion in the just concluded 25^th Philippine Statistics Quiz (25^th PSQ) Regional Championship conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in cooperation with the Philippine Statistical Association, Inc. Region VI Chapter (PSAI 6) held at UP Visayas, Iloilo City on November 12, 2019.

The other winners were Christian John Paul L. Lijayan of TUP-Visayas, Talisay, Negros Occidental (2^nd Place) and Virnarose Stephanie B. Barsanalina of West Visayas State University, Iloilo City (3^rd Place). Other contestants were PSQ Provincial Elimination top three winners in the region: from Aklan State University, University of Antique, Capiz State University, Philippine College of Business and Accountancy, ISAT University, STI College-Kalibo, and John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University-Molo.

As this year’s Regional Champion, Mr. Mag-aso will represent Region VI in the 25^th PSQ National Finals.

The PSQ is a nationwide search for young statistics whizzes. It is an annual competition in Statistics that primarily aims to assess the competency and skills of students in statistics they acquired from the secondary education curriculum. It likewise hopes to promote, enhance, and instill awareness and appreciation of the importance and value of statistics among the students.

It seeks to generate public awareness on the importance of statistics in all development-planning activities and win overall support for all government statistical activities. The PSQ was launched in 1992 by the former National Statistics Office (NSO) and the PSAI.