TL;DR: Six CPA review schools in the City of Manila are in our records, and they cluster tightly in Sampaloc and along Recto Avenue in the University Belt. One of the six, Professional Review and Training Center on Recto, is listed as permanently closed and its Facebook page has been quiet since late 2024. Of the five that remain, CRC-ACE publishes a course length (five months), REO publishes three delivery modes and a batch structure built around the May and October CPALE, and none of the five publishes a price. CPAR, founded 1976, is the oldest. ReSA operates through Facebook and has no corporate site.
The six, side by side
| School | Address | Format | Website status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPAR | 837 F. Cayco St., Sampaloc | Face-to-face and online | Live, but a login portal only |
| CRC-ACE | Padre Campa St., Sampaloc | Face-to-face and online | Live, with programme detail |
| Pinnacle | 819 M.F. Jhocson St., Sampaloc | Online, hybrid, face-to-face | Live, but a streaming app |
| REO Manila | 1985 Recto Ave. cor. S.H. Loyola St. | Face-to-face, pure online, hybrid | Live, with full programme detail |
| ReSA | 5/F CMFFI Bldg., 813 R. Papa, Sampaloc | Face-to-face | Facebook page only |
| PRTC Manila | 2044 C.M. Recto Ave., Quiapo | Face-to-face | Listed permanently closed |
The full Manila list across every exam is on the Manila review centres page, and our all-exam roundup for the city is here.
Start with the one that is closed
Professional Review and Training Center's Recto Avenue location shows as permanently closed on its Google Business listing, and its associated Facebook page, Professional Review and Training Center - Manila Branch, has had no new activity since late 2024.
The complication is that a related national network, branded Team PRTC, is still running face-to-face CPA review in other cities including Cebu, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and Davao, and its site now identifies the organisation as Pivotal Review and Tutorial Center. So the brand is alive; the Manila branch at that address appears not to be.
We could not confirm current status either way from a primary source, which is exactly why it is worth flagging. If someone quotes you a PRTC Manila enrolment, confirm the physical address is open before transferring anything. This is the single most concrete piece of protection in this article.
Everything is within walking distance
Four of the five operating schools are in Sampaloc, and the fifth is on Recto. CPAR is on Cayco, CRC-ACE on Padre Campa, Pinnacle on M.F. Jhocson, ReSA on R. Papa, and REO on Recto at S.H. Loyola.
That concentration is not accidental. This is the University Belt, and the CPALE draws its candidates from the accountancy programmes at UST, FEU, UE and the surrounding schools. REO's own material notes its Manila branch sits near UE, FEU and UST.
Practically, it means you can walk between all five in an afternoon, and you should. CPA review is a five-month commitment in a room you will spend hundreds of hours in. Seeing the actual room is worth more than any comparison table, including this one.
What each one publishes
CPAR: the oldest, and the quietest online
CPA Review School of the Philippines was founded on 31 October 1976 and is based at 837 F. Cayco Street in Sampaloc. That is nearly five decades of operation, which is the longest run on this list by a wide margin.
Its public website, cpar.com.ph, is a login portal. There is no public programme page, no schedule and no rate; everything sits behind an enrolled-student login. So what you can verify about CPAR from the outside is limited to its age, its address, its offering of both classroom and online review, and a Google rating of 4.7 from 65 reviews, which is the second-largest feedback sample here.
Third-party comparisons commonly cite CPAR's own claim of more than 1,637 topnotchers since 1976 and 787 passers from the May 2024 CPALE. Those originate with the school, not with PRC, and cannot be independently audited. We cover the school in more depth in the CPAR guide.
CRC-ACE: the one that publishes a course length
CRC-ACE on Padre Campa publishes the clearest description of its product of anyone here: a five-month course for graduating or fresh BS Accountancy graduates, built around strengthening fundamentals, problem-solving proficiency and exam technique rather than memorisation, taught by CPAs including people with Big Four audit backgrounds and university teaching experience. It runs an online web review system alongside the classroom format.
Five months is the useful number. It tells you the shape of the commitment before you call, which none of the others do. Google rating 4.6 from 43 reviews.
Pinnacle: the online-first option
Pinnacle CPA Review School on M.F. Jhocson runs a pure online track and a hybrid one through its Pinnacle Online streaming platform, plus a mobile app carrying a question bank across the six CPALE subjects and Basic Accounting, mock exams and a performance tracker.
It also does something the others do not: it advertises discounted enrolment for transferees from other review schools, for new enrollees and for retakers. If you have already paid one school and it did not work, that is a specific category worth asking about. Pinnacle additionally offers tutorial services to undergraduate accountancy students, which is unusual on this list.
Its public site is a streaming web application rather than a marketing site, so no rate or schedule is readable from outside. Google rating 4.3 from six reviews, too small to weigh.
REO Manila: the most detailed public material
REO CPA Review's Manila branch at 1985 Recto Avenue is the flagship of a network with branches in Baguio, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dagupan and Pampanga, and it publishes more about its operation than anyone else here.
What it states publicly: a "Triple Review Approach" offering a choice of face-to-face, pure online or hybrid; five air-conditioned classrooms with over 100 seats each; a dedicated study hub; and separate prayer rooms for Christian and Muslim reviewees. Batches are organised around the May and October CPALE cycles. REO's programme range also extends well past CPA into CIA, CISA, CMA, engineering, LET, civil service, NAPOLCOM and entrance exam review.
Its claims are the boldest on this page: it describes itself as a leading producer of CPAs and topnotchers and states its Manila branch swept the topnotcher positions in the May 2025 CPALE. That is self-reported, undated by any external source, and not independently checkable. Google rating 4.7 from 28 reviews.
The 100-plus-seat classroom detail is worth pausing on. Large rooms mean scale and lecturer access to good faculty; they also mean you are one of a hundred. Ask what class size actually looks like in the batch you would join.
ReSA: Facebook only, and that is normal here
ReSA, The Review School of Accountancy, runs from the 5th floor of the CMFFI Building at 813 R. Papa corner S. Loyola in Sampaloc. It has no corporate website; its official Facebook page is its enrolment channel, schedule board and student communication line.
That is not a warning sign in this particular market. Several of the longest-running Philippine review schools operate this way, and ReSA's 4.7 from 38 Google reviews is a healthier sample than most on this list. What it does mean is that nothing about the programme can be checked in advance. Get the batch dates, inclusions and total fee in writing before paying, and ask for an official receipt. We cover it separately in the ReSA guide, and the head-to-head against CPAR in CPAR vs ReSA.
Not one of them publishes a price
Five operating schools, zero published rates. CPAR and Pinnacle hide everything behind login walls, CRC-ACE and REO publish generous programme detail but no numbers, and ReSA publishes through Facebook.
Ask each one the same questions and write the answers down:
- Total fee, in writing, for the full programme.
- Programme length in months, and session days and hours.
- Whether final pre-board coaching is included or billed separately.
- How many full-length simulated CPALE sittings, and whether you get rationales.
- Whether materials and handouts are included.
- Class size in the batch you would join.
- Retake terms: sit-in rights, discount, or nothing.
- For Pinnacle specifically, whether you qualify for the transferee or retaker discount.
Our review centre cost guide explains why so few Philippine review schools publish rates and what that means for budgeting.
Nobody has a verifiable pass rate
CPAR's topnotcher figure, REO's May 2025 sweep claim, and every similar statement you will see in this sector are self-reported. PRC publishes CPALE passers by name; it does not release results by review school. There is no independently audited pass rate for any CPA review school in the Philippines.
This matters more for the CPALE than for most exams, because CPA review marketing leans harder on topnotcher counts than any other segment. Treat those numbers as advertising, and compare on the things you can actually check: course length, format, class size, mock exam count and how straightforwardly the school answers a direct question. Our guides to the CPALE and passing the CPA board exam cover what the exam itself demands, and the national roundup covers schools outside Manila.
Sources
- SchoolFinderPH directory records for CPA Review School of the Philippines, CRC-ACE, Pinnacle CPA Review School, REO CPA Review Manila, ReSA and Professional Review and Training Center
- cpar.com.ph, which resolves to a login portal with no public programme or fee information (checked 2 September 2026)
- crc-ace.com, for its five-month course description and faculty background
- pinnacleonline.com.ph, which resolves to a streaming application with no public rate
- reo.com.ph, for its programme list, review modalities and branch network
