Graduates of University of San Carlos ace national accountancy exams taken by 5,565

Three graduates of the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City were among the topnotchers in the May 2013 Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Licensure Examination, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced yesterday.

A total of 1,553 out of 5,665 examinees passed the examination administered by the PRC in various testing centers in the country and abroad last May 19, 20, 26 and 27.

Richard Baguio Saaverda of the Ateneo de Davao University topped the exam with a 96 percent rating followed by USC’s Mikyll Hum Dalimot Narvios who got 95.43 percent.

Narvios, who hails from San Fernando town, graduated summa cum laude last March.

The class magna cum laude, Wendell Kho Ang, 21, of D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City, placed 4th with a rating of 93.71 percent.

Arianne Cañon Fernando, 21, of barangay Labangon, Cebu City who also graduated summa cum laude, was the 10th placer with a 92.29 percent rating.

She shared the honor with Jay Ronald Lluvido of Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, who also got the same rating.

The three USC alumni will be rewarded for the honors they gave the school, USC College of Accountancy chairman Christopher Malaya said.

He added that they will each receive a laptop and a scholarship to any four-year course in the USC.

Good standing

Malaya was happy that USC managed to maintain its good standing in the last three years.

USC’s passing rate in the licensure examination was 89 percent.

De La Salle University in Manila emerged as the top-performing school during the exam, with a passing rate of 96.36 percent.

To be considered a top-performing institution, a school must have 50 or more examinees with at least 80 percent passing percentage.

Big bonus

Second-placer Narvios is out of the country and could not be reached for a comment.

Ang and Fernando meanwhile were very happy with their achievement.

They both said that they just wanted to pass and making it to the list of topnotchers is a big bonus to their sacrifices and hard work.

Ang, the third of four siblings, said he took up Accountancy to follow the footsteps of his mother, Thelma, who is a CPA. He will be an incoming freshman at the USC College of Law when the schoolyear opens. Ang was the class salutatorian at Cebu Eastern College where he took up his secondary studies and was third honorable mention when he finished his primary (elementary) education in the same school.

Fernando for her part said, she decided to go to sleep at that time the exam results were expected to be released yesterday morning.

She was roused from sleep at 11:30 a.m. when news broke out that she had placed 10th.

“I’m so happy but I did not expect to make it in the topnotchers’ list”, she said.

Fernando, the eldest of three siblings, graduated salutatorian at the USC Girls High and 1st honor in elementary at the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT).

Fernando said she initially wanted to become a doctor when she was in high school, but her close friend influenced her to take up Accountancy. She eventually came to love the “debit-credit” world.