Dear State Board Chair/President and Executive Director:

This letter will officially communicate information regarding candidate fees for the Uniform CPA Examination (“Examination”) during 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Prometric Fees

This is a COLA adjustment year for Prometric and, in line with the requirements of the Agreement, this is notice that the Prometric hourly fee beginning January 1, 2018 will increase $.22 per hour as a result of the COLA adjustment. Also as a result of the COLA, the $6.05 security fee per exam section will increase to $6.12 beginning January 1, 2018.

As a result of the recent practice analysis, and based on candidate demand, it was determined that Microsoft Excel should be adopted as the default spreadsheet tool for the Examination. Prometric and the AICPA have determined that, in order to make Excel available to candidates, it is necessary for Prometric to purchase Excel licenses for all Prometric testing workstations that deliver the Examination. To stay current with the software, it will be necessary to purchase updated software licenses every three years. To support this software license cost, an additional $.50 hourly increase to Prometric is necessary beginning January 1, 2018.   All upfront cash requirements will be funded by Prometric.

The Excel change, along with the COLA adjustment, result in the Prometric hourly rate increasing from $19.85 to $20.57 beginning January 1, 2018. 

AICPA Fees

The AICPA fee per Examination section remains at $90.00 for 2017. As previously announced in the supplemental fee letter of March 1, 2016, the AICPA per section fee will increase to $100.00 per section beginning January 1, 2018.

The 2018 AICPA fee increase of $10.00 included, among other things, anticipated licensing costs associated with the addition of Excel. Those licensing costs will now be borne by Prometric, as noted above. AICPA anticipates additional costs related to testing accommodation changes required to comply with ADA regulations and item research and development in the future and is therefore leaving the full $10.00 increase in place to cover those additional costs.

The AICPA per section fee will remain at $100.00 through 2019.

NASBA Fees

The NASBA fee per Examination section remains at $18.00 for 2017.

NASBA also uses best efforts to provide two years’ advance notice of any fee increase. It was anticipated announcing that the NASBA per section fee would increase from $18.00 to $20.00 beginning January 1, 2019. However, after discussions with and recommendations by the CBT Administration and Executive Directors Committees, it has been determined that, in order to minimize the changes required of the Boards in support of fee changes, the NASBA fee increase will go into effect January 1, 2018, to coincide with the AICPA and Prometric changes.  Note that the NASBA per section fee has not changed since 2008.

The NASBA per section fee will remain at $20.00 through 2019.

Score Review and Appeal Fees

The fees for score review and score appeal will also increase effective with the first release of scores after the launch of the next CPA Examination in April of 2017.

Implementation Schedule

The following tables summarize the 2017-2019 fees.

Pat Hartman, Director, Client Services at NASBA will provide information on the implementation of the new fee schedule in May of this year.

Sincerely,