collageYou should be familiar with how long it takes to become CPA, if you are planning on becoming a CPA in the future and you are enrolling in an accounting degree program. The Certified Public Accountant designation is a very prestigious one in the accounting discipline. If you would like to offer assurance services, business management consulting services, international accounting services, financial planning, or tax services, becoming a CPA can help you advance your career and propel it forward quickly.
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How Long Does It Take To Become a CPA?
Before you are able to qualify to take the standardized CPA exam, you must have a certain level of educational experience and professional accounting experience. The requirements to become a CPA are the same across the country. Read on, and find out more about the type of degree that you will need and how long you can expect to spend in school.
What Degree is Needed to Take the CPA Exam?
CPA’s are distinguished accounting professionals who have mastered the concepts and the principles of accounting and are able to apply these principles in a professional setting. In order to master accounting curriculum you must complete courses and graduate from acceptable programs. While there are not degree programs that specifically cater to CPA’s, any accredited accounting degree is acceptable as long as you take the appropriate number of credits and the right accounting courses.
Those who major in accounting have some specialization options. Some of these specializations are directly related to accounting. Others have to do with more general business coursework.
However, these specializations lay a foundation that will be helpful as the aspiring CPA enters the workforce. A specialization allows him or her to move into a particular industry if that’s what the person wants to do.
Some specializations include finance, strategic communication, quality systems, supply chain management, personal financial planning, forensic accounting, nonprofit accounting and finance, environmental accounting, valuation, international accounting, estates and trusts and more.
Most of these specializations provide the accountant with rewarding and interesting work. Some, like forensic accounting, hold particular intrigue. In this specialty, the accountant works with organizations, like homeland security or local law enforcement. Forensic accounting training allows the accountant to see irregularities in a business’s bookkeeping. Forensic accountants work in white collar crime divisions of law enforcement usually.
Estates and trusts accounting is another speciality that has risen in popularity in recent years. These professionals help people decide on strategies for the distribution of their wealth after they die. This accountant will help his or her clients decide on insurance policies and provide assistance for managing investments. They also help their clients bypass some of the tax penalties that can arise if the proper steps aren’t taken during the financial planning stage.
Would-be CPAs additionally specialize in advanced tax research. This allows them to understand more advanced and complicated tax issues. Those who have this training learn how to interpret tax law.
Other CPAs will go into management accounting. These CPAs work for a business or nonprofit instead of a firm that specializes in accounting. They take on leadership roles in the organization, possibly becoming the company’s Chief Financial Officer down he road.
Many degree programs will offer specialization options like the ones above, giving aspiring CPAs the opportunity to go into vocational fields that appeal to them.
Online Education Options
While the professional work requirements for the would-be CPA makes sense, they also pose some challenges for accountants who have been the workforce for a long time. Rather, it’s not so much that the work requirement is unreasonable. It’s just that the person who has been in the workforce for several years may not want to leave his or her job to get a master’s degree in accounting. Again, this is often required in order for the person to meet the 150 credit hour requirement.
Thankfully, education has changed. Many future accountants still go the traditional route when it comes to getting their accounting degrees. That is, they participate in a campus-based accounting degree. This requires them to show up in class a certain number of days a week at specific times.
For the more non-traditional student, this can be a problem. Leaving work or their family obligations behind isn’t always practical. Many can’t do it. This means many must decide not to take the exam to become a CPA.
Others will take the exam, but much, much later than they would like. These students may earn the required number of credits, but only manage to do so by taking a series of classes at night or on the weekends.
There’s a better way to earn these credits for the working accountant, however. Nowadays, it’s possible to earn an entire degree online. There is no need to take time off of work or away from family in order to get the degree.
Online degrees usually employ what’s called “asynchronous” teaching models. Unlike the traditional classroom, which requires them to show up at a specific time and date, asynchronous classes allow the student to access the material at any time.
Lectures are recorded ahead of time. Much of the material is learned by reading the textbook, listening to an online audio lectures or by watching educational films and TV shows. In some of the more progressive models of asynchronous education, even graphic novels, educational simulations and video games are used as teaching tools.
As for the degree itself, it’s the same degree that students earn on campus. Typically, diplomas have no indications on them that suggest that the student went to an online college. This is important to point out because some students wonder if an employer will look down upon an online degree. While anything is possible, most people are now aware of how beneficial online education can be. Online teaching is here to stay.
This option is particularly attractive to the accountant-turned-CPA because this professional can continue to work at his or her job while earning the extra credits required to take the CPA exam.
Additionally, some colleges and universities offer accelerated degree options for their online programs. Like the campus-based accelerated learning courses, students in class take classes that accelerate the pace of learning, compressing 16 weeks of class into much smaller chunks of time.
Finally, through programs like these, it’s possible to earn degrees at pretty much every level from the associate degree to the doctoral degree. This makes working and going to school a much simpler affair. There is no commute. The classes are often cheaper than their on-campus counterparts. The fees associated with the classes is often less, too.
That isn’t to say that online classes don’t pose a challenge to some students. They do. Many students erroneously believe that online classes are easier when, in fact, the opposite often turns out to be the case. These classes require students to do more reading to replace the in-person lectures. It’s important to note that not all asynchronous classes have a recorded lecture. Some never do.
These degrees also require a great deal of discipline. Although the classes have teachers, students are expected to work much more independently. Some students aren’t used to having so much autonomy, which makes it more difficult for them to get motivated to do the work.
Still, online degrees offer an excellent option to the account who needs to continue working while getting in some extra coursework, and on the bright side, once a student is accustomed to studying in his or her off-time, it’s less difficult to make time to study for the CPA exam. The study habits required for this task are already in place.
What Are the Unit Requirements to Become a CPA?
To sit for the Uniform CPA Examination you will need to complete a minimum of 150 college credits with 30 of these hours in accounting coursework and 25 hours in business, according to the Houston Chronicle. Since the typical bachelor’s degree program majoring in accounting only consists of 120 credit hours, you will need to enroll in advanced studies before you can test. You may not need to possess a master’s, but beginning an Master’s in Accounting program will be necessary to meet the new more strict testing requirements.
How Long Will it Take to Meet Educational and Work Experience Requirements?
If you are enrolled in college full-time, it will take no less than four years to earn your bachelor’s degree. Once you earn this degree, you can expect to spend at least one more year completing the credit requirements in an MBA or Master’s in Accounting program. If you complete the graduate program before pursuing your designation, you will study for an additional two years.
You must also meet work experience requirements before you will be eligible to be certified. The professional requirements vary from state to state, but a majority of states will ask that you show proof that you have been working in the field of accounting for a minimum of two years. Some states will require your experience to specifically be in public accounting, but corporate accounting may also be acceptable.
That being said, there may be ways to speed up the process. Some colleges and universities have accelerated degree programs. As Northeastern University points out, traditional semesters run 16 weeks. Classes in these degree tracks are usually offered in the fall and spring semesters.
However, students in an accelerated degree program finish those same classes in a much shorter time. Classes run in five-week, eight-week or 10-week time frames. Although the content of the class itself is the same, the time required to complete it is much faster. Because of this, students who undertake an accelerated degree program finish their bachelor’s degrees in a year to 18 months.
Some students will also finish some of their core classes via CLEP and other testing methods. These tests allow students to test out of a basic course. This leaves the student room to take more classes in his or her degree track. In the case of the future CPA, going this route may mean taking more of the classes required to hit the 150 credit hours during the bachelor’s degree.
Finally, taking an accelerated degree program means that students can spend more time in the work force before taking the CPA exam. While getting an accounting education certainly helps, there is something to be said for learning on the job, too.
However, there are more benefits than just learning on the job. Spending less time in school and more time working means that the future CPA is earning an income and not accruing as much student debt.
What Does a CPA Do?
A certified public accountant keeps track of an organization’s financial records. Their work requires them to compile financial data, to analyze it and to verify it. They’re looking to see if the company’s or organization’s finances are in compliance with state and federal regulations. To file any reports with the Security and Exchange Commission, a person must be a CPA.
CPAs are also responsible for preparing the tax returns for both individual filers and for corporations. Some provide investment and financial advice to their clients.
Final Thoughts on Becoming a CPA
If you add up all of the time it takes to complete credits and to get experience, you can see that it takes about eight years to become a CPA from day one. If you would like to work towards earning your prestigious credential so that you can earn a larger salary or you can become more marketable, now is the time to start. Find the right degree program, be sure you are taking enough accounting courses, and reduce how long it takes to get a CPA degree by being prepared.
Fortunately, with advances in education, this is much simpler now. A plethora of online classes and degrees, including in accounting, allow students to continue their education even while they’re working. These classes give them an opportunity to work toward a specialization in accounting, while they work around their work schedules.
Given how easy online education makes this process, fewer accounting students ask “how long does it take to become a CPA?” with feelings of trepidation. Truth be told, it can now take much less time than most people think.
Finally, accounting specializations provide future CPAs with fascinating, rewarding work. Some go on to work in forensic accounting, for example, while others may be more interested in trying their hand at estate planning. Regardless of their specializations, CPAs often find great satisfaction in their jobs. They also make an excellent income, making all of the years of work worth it in the end.
How to become a CPA
Becoming a CPA requires a substantial time investment. The Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation is considered a major step forward within the accounting field, since it is listed as a job requirement for many positions, even those that do not involve auditing.
Initial CPA Certification Requirements
The three key requirements for becoming a CPA are as follows:
- Training. Complete an accounting-related course of studies that fulfills the training requirements of the applicable state board of accountancy. This usually involves the completion of a bachelor’s degree in accounting, though it is also possible to fulfill the requirement with a master’s degree in accounting or in some other business discipline, as long as a sufficient number of accounting classes are taken. A major consideration is that many state boards of accountancy require that a CPA candidate have completed 150 semester hours of course work, which is more than the number typically required to obtain a bachelor’s degree. Consequently, many CPA candidates must first complete five years of college before completing this requirement.
- Experience. Complete the designated number of years as an auditor, as required by the state board of accountancy. This is usually two years, during which the individual is under the supervision of a practicing CPA.
- Test. Achieve a passing score on all parts of the CPA examination. If a passing score is obtained on fewer than all of the course sections, a test taker does not have to take these sections again, subject to certain time restrictions. If a time restriction is exceeded, one must pass the exams for these sections a second time.
Many people who are interested in obtaining the CPA certification will attend review sessions that are sponsored by review services. These sessions are intended to highlight accounting and auditing concepts that are most likely to appear on the CPA examination. While not required, these review sessions can improve one’s odds of passing the examination.
Continuing Professional Education Requirements
Once all of these requirements have been met, an individual can become a CPA. However, there are additional requirements for maintaining the certification. The CPA must complete an average of 40 hours per year of continuing professional education, as well as pay an annual fee to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), which is expensive. If these additional steps are not taken, then the CPA certification will lapse. If a person wants to be reinstated as a CPA, this requires taking a remedial amount of continuing professional education, and being reinstated with the AICPA.
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