A certified public accountant does a lot of things when it comes to finances. For example, they can do taxes, estate planning, forensic auditing, and analyze financial information for businesses and individuals. A CPA is different than an accountant because the CPA has to have a certain amount of education and meet very specific requirements in order to be called a CPA.
Bachelor's Degree
You have to have a bachelor's degree at the bare minimum. It doesn't have to be a business or accounting major, but it will be more helpful for you if it is. If you are majoring in any other subject and still want to be a CPA, you need to take as many credit hours in accounting as possible. That's because most states have a minimum requirement of education hours before you can take the licensing tests.
Post Graduate Degree
A master's degree isn't necessarily a requirement, but taking the master's level courses will help you get the education hours that you need. While you are working on a master's degree, you can specialize in a particular field of accountancy if there is something that interests you. For example, you may be interested in tax accounting, so you would want to focus on as many classes about taxes and tax accounting as possible. There is also some evidence that getting a master's degree will help you be more successful when you need to take licensing tests. Mostly that's because you have a bigger knowledge base to draw from, giving you more available information to answer the questions.
American Institute of Certified Public Accountant Exams
The AICPA has an exam that every state requires potential CPAs to pass. It has four separate parts, but the parts generally aren't tested at the same time. After you start the testing process, you have a certain amount of time before you have to finish the total exam. But, you do have to pass the entire test.
Licensing Exams
Your state is going to require that you pass a licensing exam through them as well. Each state has different prerequisites that you have to meet before you can take the test. There are also going to be things you have to do after you have your license, like renewing it periodically and taking continuing education classes.
If you want to be a CPA, there are several things that you have to do. To learn more, contact a CPA service in your area.
Share7 September 2022
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