Audit professional examination in emerging economy Jordan

This study investigates the consistency of Jordan's certified public accountant examination, and its agreement with professional viewpoints regarding the relative importance of examination topics. The study examines the grades of 15 consecutive examinations and surveyed 156 auditors and 31 examination committee (EC) members. The results indicate that the rankings of examination topics derived from the examination grades are different from the ranks of these topics in auditors and EC members' responses. The 15-examination period was divided into four sub periods to test the consistency of the examinations. The rankings of the examination sub periods were also different. These results suggest that the Jordanian Board of Audit Profession (BAP) should maintain the consistency of the examinations. To achieve this target, the BAP should prepare and use a content specification outline to enable candidates to prepare better and to direct the efforts of the examination committees.