337 WOULD-BE CPAS MUST TAKE TEST AGAIN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 5, 1992                   TAG: 9201050122
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
337 WOULD-BE CPAS MUST TAKE TEST AGAIN
FAIRFAX - A box of certified public accountant exams was lost during shipping, and the state has informed 337 CPA candidates they will have to retake the test.
James Thomashower, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, said Friday his group is investigating the incident.
The tests of 435 people who took the examination at the Kena Temple in Fairfax were boxed and flown to Newark Airport, where they were to be shipped to the American Institute of CPAs in New York City. One of the boxes apparently was lost at the airport, Thomashower said.
The Virginia Board for Accountancy decided last month that the 337 people whose papers were lost would have to retake part of the exam. They were notified by letter this week.
"I was very angry," said Kathy Domer, 27, a senior accountant with Swart & Lalande Ltd. in Fairfax. "How could something like this happen?"
Domer was expecting a $1,000 raise for passing the CPA exam. For months last fall, she spent most of her free time studying. She said she spent $700 for a CPA review course.
"When you're studying, it changes your whole life," Domer said. "There are so many things you can't do because you study. You're on a schedule and you have to stick to the schedule and study."
Two sections of the four-part test - accounting theory and business law - were lost, said Alvin Whitley, a spokesman for the Virginia Board for Accountancy. The other sections on auditing and accounting practices were not affected, he said.
The candidates who will have to retake the exam in May will not have to pay the $117 exam fee and probably will be given their test results a month after taking the exam, rather than the usual three months, Whitley said.
Because the test is given nationwide twice each year - each time to about 75,000 people - Whitley said an exam cannot be scheduled before May for the Fairfax candidates.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB