Certified Public Accountants Examinations

1939 Questions

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Auditing
May 11, 1939:  9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Accounting Theory And Practice I
May 11, 1939: 1:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Commercial Law
May 12, 1939:  9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Accounting Theory And Practice II
May 12, 1939:  1:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

This examination was administered in the Grand Ballroom, 16th floor, LaSalle Hotel, Chicago. Candidates were instructed to "provide themselves with pencils and with pen and ink but should bring no papers or books of any kind to the examination room."⁶   "All stationery and other supplies will be furnished by the Examiner."⁷ Candidates paid $25 registration fee for the 1939 examination.⁸

Commentary - As most CPAs, I proudly displayed my CPA certificate on a wall behind or near my office desk, together with my undergraduate, graduate degrees and other academic honors.¹   It was issued "by authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and on recommendation of the Board of Examiners" indicating that I, too, "passed the examination and fulfilled all other requirements prescribed by an act to regulate the practice of public accounting in the State of Illinois, approved July 22, 1943."   It stands as testimony that I have been duly "registered by the University of Illinois as a Certified Public Accountant." My certificate was issued on the 21 February 1978 after I passed the November 1977 examination.  My certificate is numbered 26,298.  It's my understanding that all CPA certificates in Illinois were sequentially number starting in 1923.

My father, M. Richard Lipschultz, passed the CPA examination given on May 11-12, 1939.  Remarkably, he saved the question booklets from his examination. Dad's certificate number is 1538. One of my maternal granduncles, H.A.Sayre, was an earlier CPA practitioner who passed the fourth CPA examination given in the State of Illinois, November 1924 and was issued certificate number 609.² This means in the 14 years between 1924 and 1938 approximately 900 individuals or an average of 65/year passed the CPA examination in Illinois.   Between 1939 and 1950, the passing rate, in Illinois, gradually increased an average 300 individuals/year.

The Illinois CPA Society was founded in 1903.  Today, it has over 26,000 members, 40% of whom are in public practice representing 8626 professionals in 2800 firms.³

The CPA examination has always been regarded as a tough examination.  Today's university students are but a click away from CPA examination information, http://www.illinois-cpa-exam.com/files/brochure.doc.  However, beginning with the May 1996 examination, CPA examine candidates are no longer permitted to leave the examination room with their question booklets as a souvenir.  More significantly, effecting students' study habits, the AICPA discontinued publication of its "Official Questions and Unofficial Solutions."

My collection⁴ of these "Official Questions and Unofficial Solutions" is now available in the Tax History Foundation's public reading room.  These include all published "Official Questions and Unofficial Solutions" for 28 examinations given from May 1969 through November 1983, a period of 14 years.  Also we have the publications of "Official Questions and Unofficial Solutions" for the November 1986 and May 1987 examinations.   We have copies of the candidates' examination questions from the November 1977 and May 1984 examinations.

In addition, we have the "CPA Examination and Critique Manuals" for the November 1977 and May 1978 Uniformed CPA Examinations published by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.

Those interested in cost or management accounting⁵ may be interested in the Questions and Answers published by the Institute of Management Accounting. The Tax History Foundation's reading room has available the published examination "Q and A" for the June 1979 through the June 1981 examinations.

These are amongst the sources available for use in the Tax History Foundation's public reading room.  It is best to e-mail adoniram@taxhistoryfoundation.org or telephone 847-446-5829 in advance of your visit to our reading room.

¹ No client ever asked me about my certificates except once.  One client inquired by the large one, my Pi Gamma Mu certificate from the National Social Science Honor Society.  It was issued to me on 1 March 1968 while I was an undergraduate at Illinois State University.

² I believe this number includes those who were practicing prior to 1923 and who obtained a CPA certificate without sitting for an examination.

³ It is very likely that all CPAs in Illinois are not members of the Illinois CPA Society

⁴ Many of my generation of CPA examination candidates found working old examination questions to be the best preparation for the examination.  We discovered that many questions from old examinations had a habit of showing up in a modified form on subsequent examinations. As a university accounting teacher, I found these an invaluable tool for the preparation of students' midterm and final examinations.

5 A major portion of the questions on the practice portion of the CPA examination have to do with cost accounting.

6 University of Illinois's notice to candidates sitting for the May 11-12, 1939 examination.

⁷ Letter dated April 27, 1939 from D.A. Grossman, Clerk, Committee on Accountancy to all candidates. This was a mimeographed form letter with an individually typed address and salutation to each candidate.

⁸ University of Illinois April 17, 1939 receipt typed by D.A.Grossman, Clerk, Committee on Accountancy.

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