美國華人自己的CPA博客
在美國的華人為了能夠令自己得生活過的好一點,或挑戰自我,努力去考CPA.但又有幾人能明白大家的心情呢
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這個版麵同時也是一個公告欄.
在眾多Study Group的成員當中有一些已經在積極備考,而有一些還沒有準備好. 在這裏我有一點關於CPA blog的使用提示. 如果大家有什麽關於CPA考試的問題和意見,請提前幾天提問.尤其是考試之前的一個星期,來看看這個BLOG,獲取最重要的提示.如果大家真的想得到重要的提示,就應該互相幫助.我們當中的幾位已經得益不少. 我們交流的經驗不應該隻是考試的問題,還可以談會計行業的問題. 讓我們把這個CPA Study Group 做得更好. 04/11/2007
You have to call CA accounting board to find out. It is too specific. They are the authority to answer.
The bachelor degree I got from China has been accepted by board-approved agency, but the agency didn't show how many units in accounting courses, how many units in business-related courses.CA board requires 24 units in Accounting and 24 units in Business-related.
My major is Business and Economics, so I think the units in accounting courses are not enough. I realized from website of CA Board of Accountancy, the courses I took from a vocational school are acceptale, but this school just evaluates coursework by hour, not unit. Could anybody advise how many hours are required by CA board of Accountancy? How can I do in this situation? Thank you for any reply.
The 18 months will be from you pass your first exam----which means the exam score is only good for 18 months, if after 18 months, you will have to take the exam again. :)
Hi Kevin, you said,
"The AICPA requires you to pass all four sections during the 18 months to qualify your credits to apply the certificate."
This "18 months"will start since I'm qualified as a canditate by Board and receive notice, or since I schedule first test?
Thank you for any response.
This is an article quoted from Annashi's blog at http://blog.wenxuecity.com/blogview.php?date=200605&postID=11823
Respect to others credit.
About CPA Exam
I have seen some queries these days to ask questions about CPA examination and want to take this opportunity to share with you some information that I know. I wish this information will help people know CPA, prepare CPA, and become a CPA in more effective and efficient way.
1. CPA Examination Overview
The CPA examination is designed to measure professional competence in auditing, business law, taxation, accounting, and related business topics. Passing CPA will give you certain benefits which include higher salary, increased confidence and competence, and recognition as a member of an elite group of professionals. Most of important for our Chinese, it will provide more opportunities for getting a job and promoting to higher ladder in your career path.
The CPA examination includes four parts of tests: Business Environment and Concepts (BEC), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Regulation (REG), and Auditing and Attestation (AUD). Basically, every test will cover multiple choices questions and simulation cases. Except for BEC section, all other three parts will test simulation cases on the exam. On the simulation case, you will be tested by reading the long case in a limited time, calculation, analysis of situation, research on the library, and communications (writing business memo).
Since 2005, the CPA examination was changed from paper-based test to computerized test. Quite similar as GRE or GMAT test, your performance on the previous multiple choices will decide the difficult level of following multiple choices. As a result, the harder level of questions you have the higher scores you may expect. Not all of questions will be used to evaluate your score; some of them are trial questions from AICPA test committee at all.
Thanks to Enron bankruptcy and WorldCom accounting scandals, a series of actions have been taken by AICPA to guard the competence of CPA which also reflected in the examination to be a CPA. Now, if you want to sit down a CPA, firstly, you must qualify to be a CPA candidate. The State Board of Accountancy has this administrative right to decide the qualification. Most states have implemented the “150-hour rule”, which requires a bachelor’s degree plus 30 credit hours in advanced accounting classes to sit for the CPA exam. For the person who has a foreign degree, he/she need to complete the foreign tran evaluation with the state board first to decide if they meet the criteria. It will usually take about one month to go through this process and spend about $200 dollar evaluation fee with the confidential agencies. Check with the state board for this step.
If you don’t meet the “150-hour rule”, the following states haven’t implemented that you may consider: California, Colorado, Delaware, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont, Virgin Islands.
The CPA test is given in the Thomas Prometric test centers in most cities nationwide. Annually, there are 8 months open for testing windows and four months close for AICPA to update the test database. The open testing widows that you can choose to take the test are: Jan/Feb, Apr/May, Jul/Aug, Oct/Nov). It usually takes about at least four weeks to get the test results for your test. The AICPA requires you to pass all four sections during the 18 months to qualify your credits to apply the certificate.
To summarize, these are steps to take CPA exam:
1. Decide when you are going to take the CPA exam
2. Determine the board of accountancy(ie State) to which you will apply to sit for the exam
3. Obtain, complete, and your application form, including trans, fees, etc.to your state board. After you board qualify you as a CPA candidate, you will receive a Notice To Schedule (NTS) from NASBA.
4. Start to prepare the test using the correct exam review materials.
5. Schedule your test with Prometric
6. Wait for the score and at the same time, prepare the next section
7. Persistently study even you fail on the first trial until you pass all, then You Are CPA
2. Prepare CPA examination
There are many CPA review materials in the market today and it is not easy to say which is good or not. It is totally up to your education background, your preference, your study habit, and your budget. However, I would like to share with you my experience.
1). Becker Conviser CPA review (www.beckerconviser.com)
They have best credits so far from the people who passed CPA exams for its materials concise and authority. However, among all the materials, they are the most expensive one. The company provides three ways to prepare: live-class, online class, and self-study package. Live class is the way like you go to class every weekend or night time, then sit down on the classroom to watch the video lectures. Online class is the way that you have access to online then watch the same video lectures on web. Self-study package include the lectures video CDs that you can watch at anytime you want. All three ways provide the same materials for you. The only difference between online class and CD packages is that online class will not charge the sales tax to you. You can buy the whole four sections at one time or you can buy section by section. One thing you should know is that they usually have a high security design on their CDs – every CD has an authorized installation key and will expire in 12 months period. The another thing you should also know is that once you enroll as a Becker student first, you will become a return student in the future purchase and will have 50% off special offer. So it is good idea for you buy section by section. Becker is good at on its FAR, AUD, and REG sections but not BEC.
2) Wiley CPA review (www.wiley.com)
Wiley has the long history to publish the CPA review. Its competitive advantage compared to other review programs are: cost-effective, very detailed, and annually update covering AICPA new released questions. You can go to the store to buy or you can borrow from the public library. The drawback of wiley is that they don’t have good CD practices bases. Most of time, people use Becker books primarily and wiley books as supplementary to dip into details knowledge. Wiley also have practical questions and simulations on the end of chapters in the book. Honestly, they are basically same questions as Becker has on its CD. I used Wiley primarily to prepare BEC section and supplementary for FAR section.
3) Gleim review (www.gleim.com)
Another good resource for CPA review. I heard lots of good comments for its materials in BEC section and Auditing section. Especially, for its BEC CD practical test, they have lots of IT questions for you to practice. The material is set at reasonable price and provide by online, CD, and text books. I used Gleim for supplementary review on AUD section and they give very good explanation for business cycle and risk factor chapter.
4) Others. Kaplan, Bisker review.
3. Some useful websites about CPA exam
AICPA webpage: www.cpa-exam.org
Hi, for your case, I think you have to check each state's accountancy board requirements. For North Carolina, you only need a B.S. or B.A. with xxx accounting course credits, then you can sit for the exam. Once you pass the exam, you need to practice for two years under CPAs. I heard that you can waive one year practice with a Master Degree, well, since I've not passed my exams yet, I am not sure about this. :)
But please check with the accountancy board, hope this info can help. :)