An Albuquerque native is working to change how aspiring accountants prepare for the Certified Public Accountant exam, and he hopes the effort will also make the profession more appealing to younger people.
Joey Reeve, 32, is CEO and co-founder of Universal CPA Review, a company that breaks the material on the exam into small, easy-to-absorb lessons built around graphics, animation and recurring characters. Reeve graduated from La Cueva High School and DePaul University. After college he moved to New York City, where he worked at several CPA firms while studying for the exam. Once he passed, he tutored and taught live review courses, and about five years ago he started his own company.
"It's basically trying to completely change the narrative of the dense, dry, text-heavy approach that's been taught," Reeve said in an interview.
The exam is demanding. It spans 16 hours across four separate tests and is regarded as one of the tougher professional exams. According to Becker CPA, roughly half of those who sit for it do not pass on the first attempt.
Reeve argues that a new approach is especially needed because the profession is getting older. The CPA Journal has reported that partners at CPA firms average about 53 years of age, and many firms impose mandatory retirement at around 65. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, meanwhile, found that the number of accounting graduates fell 17% between the 2012-2013 and 2021-2022 school years.
Reeve said the field is dominated by large, long-established companies that are not trying anything new to raise pass rates. That, he said, helped push him to start his own venture. He also said he struggled with the exam himself and was unimpressed by existing study guides, calling them "extremely archaic" and saying a big block of text does little to help students retain information.
In his view, the technical vocabulary on the test is like a foreign language, and animation can help students see what is happening. The idea is that on exam day, a candidate will recall an image or story from the course and return to the moment they learned the concept. Reeve said the company is seeing many students raise their scores. One example is a lesson on data analytics, a five-step process that the course compares to baking a cake.
Reeve is not the company's only link to Albuquerque. Corinne Fox, a La Cueva classmate of his, handles marketing. She said another distinguishing feature is a short video lecture after each multiple-choice question, so students are drilled with practice questions and get an explanation each time.
The company is based in New York City but has clients around the world. Fox said that as it has grown in recent years, it has been building relationships with professional CPA groups and universities. Reeve said he would like to establish similar ties with New Mexico universities and plans to offer a discount on the curriculum to New Mexico residents. Those interested can contact the company at [email protected].
