Gobi2.com: Information About CPA Degrees
Are you good with numbers? A hard honest worker who likes people? Perhaps you should consider a career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). CPAs carry out an assortment of services associated with financial management, tax preparation and auditing. They may work for a public accounting firm, a public or private company, financial service providers such as investment banks and prime brokers, or may be self-employed. Public accountants have a wide range of responsibilities:
- preparation of important financial documents;
- analysis of budgets;
- financial planning;
- income tax preparation;
- bookkeeping and auditing; and
- forensic accounting.
A bachelor's degree in an accounting or financial major is usually required to obtain work as a public accountant. But many public accountants then take extra courses to become CPAs. A BA in Accounting will serve you well as a springboard to a career as a CPA. The country is replete with colleges and universities that offer a traditional 4-year undergraduate course of study, usually requiring about 120 credit hours. To get into one of these programs, one typically needs a high school diploma or equivalent, including specific math and English coursework. Many colleges required candidates to have taken high school classes in business, accounting, economics, and/or information systems as well. Remedial classes are offered at many 2-year and 4-year colleges to fill in any gaps in the education of potential accounting students.
Many undergraduates nowadays are opting for high-quality Internet-based education as an alternative to attendance at a brick-and-mortar school. In fact, traditional schools are increasingly offering distance-learning programs in which most if not all courses can be taken off-campus. Accounting graduates may go on directly to obtain a CPA degree, a graduate degree in accounting or business administration, or a combination of both. Others may choose to work in industry for a year or two before going back to school. A third category includes graduates from non-accounting backgrounds who decide they would like to become CPAs. Whatever the path, at some point, the decision is made to become a CPA, and you then have to become familiar the standards set by your state accountancy board. A typical set of requirements include 150 credit hours in accounting, passing the Uniform CPA Examination given by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and accumulating significant experience in the field. Many financial service providers, such as firms offering prime brokerage services, hire interns to work within teams to gain knowledge.
For instance, a prime broker may audit a client, such as a hedge fund, exposing the intern to a wealth of real-world experience.