By Caroline Nassuuna
Communications Officer
The Public Accountants Examinations Board (PAEB) has announced that the number of candidates passing on their first attempt has increased significantly, representing 62.2% for both the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) and Certified Tax Advisor (CTA) Courses and 55.0% for the Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD).
The announcement was made during the release of the May 2025 Examinations of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) on Monday 16 June 2025, at Protea by Marriott Kampala Skyz, Naguru.
The May 2025 Examinations were sat on 19 – 23 May 2025 at the designated examination centres across the country, including Kampala, Arua, Fort Portal, Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara, and Nkozi.
A total of 6,628 candidates sat for the papers out of 7,334 that had registered for this examination sitting. Of these, 6,428 sat for the Certified Public Accountants (CPA) examinations, 78 for the Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD), and 122 for the Certified Tax Advisor (CTA) examinations, representing a slight reduction of 2.46% compared to the 6,795 candidates who sat for the same examinations in December 2024.
According to the Public Accountants Examinations Board (PAEB), a notable increase in the number of female students sitting for CPA Examinations has been registered. 57% of the scripts presented were written by female candidates compared 43% from their male counterparts.
Delivering her speech on behalf of PAEB, CPA Laura Aseru Orobia, Chairperson of PAEB, noted that the Institute pledges to continue implementing the student engagement policy due to its numerous benefits to students.
“The student engagement sessions not only equip students with the necessary tools to approach examinations, but they are also free of charge. Our analysis shows that an outstanding number of students who attended the student engagement webinars passed the papers they sat for,” noted CPA Orobia.
She further noted that the Institute also introduced briefing sessions for the candidates, conducted before the examination period kicks off. During the sessions, candidates are advised on the requirements for sitting examinations to minimise unnecessary panic usually created as they enter the examination rooms. The inaugural sessions were conducted in May 2025.
CPA Josephine Okui Ossiya – Council President, ICPAU congratulated the students who have passed and commended them for their hard work.
She urged the finalists to put their acquired skills to good use, using their knowledge to create value in their workplaces, contribute to the growth of their communities and help build a better economy.
CPA Derick Nkajja – Secretary/CEO, ICPAU urged reminded students to always renew their contact details with the Institute to ease communication and delivery of documents, that include their certificates upon completion of the various levels during their course of study.
“The certificates offered on completion of each level are legal certifications, with security details. These can hardly be shared online to avoid interference with the security details. This explains why we continually post your results to the registered addresses,” noted CPA Nkajja.
The May 2025 Examinations diet registered 115 finalists from each of the three courses, and these are expected to graduate in 2026 at the 16th ICPAU graduation ceremony.
For the year 2025, PAEB scheduled three (3) examination diets: May, August, and November. The next examinations diet will be conducted on 18 – 22 August 2025.
