<p>this isn’t for myself, but does anybody know the path you must take to become a CPA in Pennsylvania? I did some research online, but I was a little confused. It looks like 150 credit’s isn’t required, but are the 24 accounting credits? What composes accounting credits? Any input would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Fendergirl, I am not sure about Pennsylvania law, but the state board of accountancy should have the information. The bigger issue is probably the exam itself - I have heard that the CPA exam is the most difficult exam of any profession, and that it makes the bar exam for lawyers seem like a piece of cake.</p>
<p>Here’s some info from nasba.org:
"Candidates may qualify under one of the three following requirements:
- A Baccalaureate degree from a college or university approved at the time of graduation by the Department of Education, to include 24 semester hours in accounting, and auditing, business law, finance, or tax subjects. OR
- A Master’s degree or other post-graduate degree, from a college or university approved at the time of graduation by the Department of Education, to include 24 semester hours in accounting, and auditing, business law, finance, or tax subjects. OR
- A Baccalaureate or higher degree, from a college or university approved at the time of graduation by the Department of Education, and have completed a total of 150 semester credits of post-secondary education to include 24 semester hours in accounting and auditing, business law, finance, or tax subjects. An additional twelve semester credits in accounting, auditing, and tax subjects are required. (See state board web site information.)
All education must be met at the time of application. This will be strictly enforced."
Each state may enforce its own regs, and I didn’t find the PA state website to be very helpful. You may want to check a PA university’s business school, as it should have the details. </p>
<p>Our son must have 150 semester hours completed and our state has a specific list of what accounting courses are required before he can sit for the exam. These courses include 2 audit courses, 2 tax course and 1 business law, among others. His upper level audit course doesn’t actually use the word “audit” in its title, so he’s a little concerned. I suggested that he contact our state board w/ info on the textbook & course content to get some peace of mind.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages, dh only needed a BBA & no extra hours/no masters. He took the exam shortly after graduation & passed all sections on his first try with no extra prep. You can imagine how ds is somewhat stressed about measuring up to dh, even though we’ve insisted that there’s no competition & we won’t be upset if he needs more than one attempt. At one time, the first attempt pass rate was about 15%; I don’t know if that’s changed. At least now there are a variety of prep classes and online practice tests available.</p>
<p>Good luck to your friend!</p>
<p>“Fendergirl, I am not sure about Pennsylvania law, but the state board of accountancy should have the information. The bigger issue is probably the exam itself - I have heard that the CPA exam is the most difficult exam of any profession, and that it makes the bar exam for lawyers seem like a piece of cake.”</p>
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<p>A fellow CPA at my old firm became an tax attorney after years in public accounting practice and he said the CPA exam was definitely more grueling than the bar. I’ve only taken the CPA exam, so I can’t compare. But, imho, the sheer comprehensiveness (this a word?) and length of the test is what kills. Even though I am on retired status for now, I gladly pay the annual $400 in Texas State Board fees and $20 (go figure) in Louisiana State Board fees to ensure I NEVER have to take that exam again.</p>
<p>Fendergirl,
You’ve gotten good advice to check with PA’s Board of Accountancy. It is usually best to attend college in the state you hope to practice in so that all of the requirements are met. I know that NY is now a five year program. Back in the day when I took it in VA, we were allowed to sit for the exam in May before graduation, but in NY my H had to wait until he had his degree. VA required you to take all parts in one sitting while NY allowed you to sit for whichever parts you wanted (so you could study for one part each exam if you didn’t feel you could pass the whole thing at once anyway).
Many candidates don’t pass the entire exam on their first (or second or even third) try so it’s good to know what the rules are for keeping your passed parts - some states require at least two passed parts or else you need to sit for the entire exam all over. I took both the CPA exam and the bar exam and found the CPA exam tougher (even though the bar exam I happened to take had the lowest passing rate in VA’s history) but I also hated accounting and loved law.</p>
<p>^Also, some states require you take all parts…passing at least two parts or the Practice part… AND make a minimum score on the failed parts to keep the scores on the passed parts. When I took the exam, Texas did not require a candidate sit for all parts at once … they could take two parts or just Practice per sitting. Very helpful for those working those notoriously long hours in public accounting with little spare time for study. But…that has since changed. Louisiana, on the other hand, had the minimum failing score rule.</p>