How To Pass The CPA Exam: The IPassTheCPAExam.com Guide for International Candidates

CHAPTER 13

Business Environment and Concepts (BEC)

BEC is the shortest and, for most candidates, least difficult to handle among the four sections. Here is the examination specification released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA):

• Corporate governance (16 to 20 percent)
• Economic concepts and analysis (16 to 20 percent)
• Financial management (19 to 23 percent)
• Information systems and communications (15 to 19 percent)
• Strategic planning (10 to 14 percent)
• Operations management (12 to 16 percent)

This is a three-hour examination with three testlets each containing 30 multiple-choice questions, and one testlet containing three written communication tasks. Multiple-choice represents 80 to 90 percent of the score with written communications representing the rest. There are no task-based simulation questions in BEC.

Passing Rate History and Trend

As Figure 13.1 shows, while the passing rate was considerably better in 2012 at 52.8 percent, the long-term average is still below 50 percent. The data shows that BEC is in fact not easier to pass than the other three. Do not repeat past candidates’ mistakes and underestimate the difficulty of this section.

Figure 13.1 BEC Exam Passing Rate Trend, 2005–2012

Source: www.aicpa.org.

My Own Experience in BEC

I am an economics major with relevant experience in many aspects of this exam and therefore was expecting ...