Accounting Credits for CPA Exam: My Recommended Courses. 1 1. Credits for CPA exam via Local Community Colleges. If you live in the US and prefer a classroom setting, the nearby community colleges is a good ... 2 2. Credits for CPA Exam via CLEP. 3 3. Credits for CPA exam via Local Colleges and Universities. 4 4. Get an Extra Degree.
Roughly half of the state boards allow candidates to sit for the exam with 120 credit hours only. They can fulfill the rest of the requirements (30 credit hours) after passing the exam. In this case, you can choose to take the CPA exam first, but bear in mind that extra courses are mandatory to get the license.
There are two levels of qualifications you need to fulfill for the CPA exam. The first one is the “degree” eligibility and the other one is the number of credit hours required. If you don’t have a 4-year bachelor degree or equivalent, there isn’t a way to work around it and you have to get an additional degree that is 4 years at a minimum.
You'll learn all you have to from them. I don't have an accounting degree, just a useless unrelated bachelors. I took accounting courses afterwards but have no degree. And you were able to land a position at a big 4?
There are two levels of qualifications you need to fulfill for the CPA exam. The first one is the “degree” eligibility and the other one is the number of credit hours required.
The quizzes are T or F and as I recall they were all around 20 questions. They went quickly and are timed and mostly around 30 minutes. You can use your materials to answer them, but if you aren’t familiar with the material before taking the quiz that won’t be enough time to find all the answers, or at least that was my experience. The tests were like 30 questions, more like CPA exam format and timed at 2 hours usually. Some of the courses allowed less time and that made it harder to look up answers.
Here are some suggestions for your research on the local universities: 1 Check out the flexibility. As most of you have work and/or family commitment, it is very important to find a school that meets your lifestyle. For example, do they offer evening classes? What is the attendance policy? 2 Compare the price. Your goal is to get the credits, not access to a state-of-the-art library in expensive colleges. Tuition fee can vary greatly depending on the facilities. You can also see if you can qualify for any scholarships or financial assistance. 3 Arrange a campus visit. It’s always good to get feel of the campus by going on a tour. Check out the class size, the professors and teaching style, as well as the facilities around the campus 4 Gather feedback: Do you know anyone who took courses at the school? Do they have a positive, and more importantly, any negative experience that you should be aware of?
Each course is counted for 3 credit hours for US$540.
But if you have a 4-year degree but not the full 150 credit hours requirement, then things are easier because you can choose to get the extra degree, or to save money, simply take non-degree courses.
The consideration for choosing a master’s program is different from choosing non-degree classes. For master’s, it is best to have your long-term goal in mind. In other words, the subject you take is something you are interested in and will be value-add to your future career.
Arrange a campus visit. It’s always good to get feel of the campus by going on a tour. Check out the class size, the professors and teaching style, as well as the facilities around the campus
People often talk about the “150-hour rule” when it comes to the US CPA exam qualification.
The degree requirement (4-year bachelor degree or above) is separate from the 150-hour rule. Even if you have 200+ credit hours, if you don’t have a 4 years or more of higher education, I am afraid you cannot get qualified.
150 credit hours is equivalent to 5 years of higher education. It can be accumulated in different ways:
There are correspondence courses outside of the US that have been counted in the past. I can’t give you a general answer as everyone’s case is different, but you can check with your state board directly by emailing them your own personal situation and see if they can give you a specific answer.
Many recruiters want to know whether you are “ready” to get the license (i.e. fulfill all requirements except the experience) before giving out the offer.
As you can imagine, the exam requirements can be quite different and this has caused confusion among candidates and regulators.