According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than one million accountants in the United States. And the industry is expected to grow by seven percent over the next ten years. If you are interested in learning how to become a CPA, then you’re in good company.
Certified public accountants, otherwise known as CPAs, are in high demand. As our country’s tax code only becomes more convoluted and difficult to comprehend, ordinary citizens will need help from trained professionals to make sure that they save money while obeying the law.
If you are thinking about becoming a CPA, then you have come to the right place. So keep on reading and we will take you through everything that you are going to want to know!
Meet Your State’s Minimum Education Requirements
In order to become a certified public accountant, you will need to follow the guidelines provided by the state that you live in. For many states, you need to complete 150 semester hours of certain schoolwork.
You will likely need to complete around thirty semester hours in accounting, and most of those hours will need to be past the introductory level.
Within this field, courses will usually include:
- Taxation
- Professional ethics for certified public accountants
- Cost accounting and management
- Financial accounting
- Auditing, not including internal auditing
You will need to also meet certain education requirements in other business areas. These can include classes in marketing, management, finance, economics, and business law.
If you pass your Graduate Management Admission Test and have a bachelor’s or associate degree that meets the minimum number of hours of accounting classwork, then you might be able to reduce your number of hours. However, you will need to have additional experience.
Complete the Required Hours of Experience
As a CPA candidate, you will need to work in the field for at least one year. This experience can include working in academia, for business, for government, or with a public accounting firm.
Experience requirements aren’t uniform and they can vary based on your level of education. The best way to make sure that you meet your experience requirement is to carefully go over the board rules and reach out to the Accountancy Board of your state if you have any questions.
Finish an Approved Course in Professional Standards and Responsibilities. The Accountancy Board of your state will require you to take a class in professional standards and responsibilities (PSR). This class will go over the laws and accounting board rules of your state.
You can go through the Accounting Board of your state to find a list of accepted sponsors for professional standards and responsibilities classes.
Pass the CPA Examination
Your state’s Accountancy Board will administer the application and testing process for your CPA exam. In most cases, there are four sections of the test that need to pass within a rolling period of eighteen months.
These sections are usually Business Environment and Concepts, Regulation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Auditing and Attestation.
Each section of the exam will be formatted into question blocks. These blocks contain task-based prompts and multiple-choice questions.
In order to pass your CPA exam, you will have to study the topics of each section intensely. It’s generally recommended that you need to study for more than 100 hours for each section of the exam.
A lot of test-takers prefer to take an exam preparation class before they take the actual exam.
Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
This part of the test will cover all of the auditing and assurance services that a public accountant performs. You will be tested on your knowledge of the audit process and attest engagements.
Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
This section of the exam deals with topics of financial accounting and reporting. It includes IFRS rules, U.S. GAAP rules, financial statement preparation, and the FASB framework.
Regulation (REG)
This section doesn’t deal with accounting directly. Instead, it focuses on taxation and business law.
Business Environment and Concepts (BEC)
This test looks at how businesses operate. It deals with different levels of economics and with cost accounting.
Complete a Criminal Background Check
In order to obtain a CPA license in your state, you will most likely need to undergo a criminal background check. This chick is based on your fingerprints.
The check is going to include your state records as well as your federal records.
Apply for a CPA License in Your State
The last step to becoming a certified public accountant is to fill out the Application for Original Certificate of Certified Public Accountant. You will need to add the appropriate verification of experience forms with your application.
After you get your CPA license, you will then need to do another 120 hours of continuing education every three years in order to renew the license. Continuing education subject areas are going to be based on the area of professional practice that you are in.
Once you are a licensed CPA, you can become a professional freelance accountant through sites like TaxFyle (https://www.taxfyle.com/freelance-cpa-jobs).
Final Thoughts:
Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have a better idea of how to become a CPA. As we can see, there is a lot of work involved. But if you give it all of your attention, you should be able to master your courses and become licensed without much difficulty. Check out the rest of our site for more helpful articles.
