I'm an accounting major. I need to have 150 credits to sit for the CPA exam after I graduate. Is anyone here working to be a CPA? Is it the smart thing to do? I'll have 115 credits after this semester. I'm thinking about adding extra classes in the summer and fall to get closer to the 150 credits. Can I just take as many classes as I need to get to the 150 or will the school not let me do that? I think I would just add easy classes to fufill the 150 credits.

This was my attitude. I tried to take the easiest classes I could in my "graduate" year (retail, business sustainability, etc). I sort of regret it and wish I would have taken some cooler classes offered (hedge funds seminar, derivatives, some useful agriculture/farming stuff I could have taken).

I would take whatever you are most interested in. What school? Are you just getting an undergrad w/ 150 credits? Have you considered doubling in finance or some other major? I doubt the school cares how you get to the 150. Most important thing is meeting all requirements for cpa license in your state.

Its a Suny school in upstate NY. My degree is an undergraduate degree. I only need 120 for the degree. But, I want to get the other 30 credits to be able to sit for the CPA exam. I'm looking to graduate as soon as possible so I will probably have to take some of the more basic classes because in the summer thats all thats offered. I do have next fall to take some more advanced classes. I am interested in finance so I might take another finance class. I'm 26 and if I had more time I would be doing more challenging classes. I feel like I should be getting a job sometime soon because I wasted a lot of time after highschool.

Did you take the CPA exam? if so, did you study for it when you found a job? How did you find your job?

Gotcha - yeah it probably makes more sense then to take whatever classes you can to get the +30 as soon as you can.

I had a summer off between graduating and starting work - so I knocked out 3 parts during this time. I took FAR while working which sucked pretty bad studying on top of 50+ hrs/week, but you kinda just gotta suck it up. I would recommend studying hard early on for cpa if you can avoid studying during work.

I got an internship through the 5 year acct program at my school and an offer came from there. I was really fortunate.

I would recommend setting up office tours, attending leadership conferences/firm events and applying for interviews at all firms you are interested in. If you have not found a job by the time you graduate, starting your CPA work will help you stand out with public acct firms (and check on policies, but they may reimburse studying fees retroactively).

Are you interested in public acct or industry?

I am currently sitting for the CPA exam in NY and I have 135 credits. You only need 120 to sit for the exam.

Option 2 – (120 sit rule) Candidates who did not apply for licensure prior to August 1, 2009, or who completed their education after August 1, 2009 and want to sit before completing 150 semester hours, must meet each of the following:

• 120 semester hours of college level education • A course covering each of the following:
• Financial accounting,
• Cost or management accounting,
• Taxation,
• Audit and attestation.

See: http://www.nasba.org/files/2011/02/I...ts_NewYork.pdf

The way I am approaching it is to get the exams done with and then decide what classes I want to take. You may want to just get the classes out of the way first, but I suggest saving a tax/audit class or two for right when you are about to take the exam. It will help a lot. Good luck

It really depends on what you want to do. I'm currently sitting for the last part of the exam and I have just wrapped up graduate school.

The question is do you need a CPA license or not? I don't need one because I was just hired to a community college, but once you drop $1050 on that stupid test, you can never get it back. I passed the first 3 sections I took and now I might as well pass the last one. A CPA designation makes you the God of accounting.(in reality you aren't even close, but it opens up alot of doors)

Teaching or doing something else?

I'm the accoutant for the college. The cool thing is I could supplement some income with teahing. Honestly, I just got lucky with a great postion. They really wanted me for some reason.

I'm a little tipsy so don't point out the errors. I'm fully aware.

meh, how can you be an accountant for a college and not have a CPA? That seems odd. I would say just fill up on easy classes. You are going to have to study hard for the cpa most likely and once you have the designated # of accounting courses+ business courses, I find no reason to not just take easy electives.

I have around 120 credits and I'm also going for the 150 even though I have 1 year left of college and i've been in college for a while now since I just changed my major back to accounting from finance since the finance job market in my area is horrible. BTW what suny school do you go to? I go to Oswego. Just getting the 120 credit degree is pointless and I've heard the most you will prolly make with it is $13-14 hour (not sure how accurate this is, but cpa seems like the smart route).

First, you don't have to be a CPA to be an accountant. You don't even have to be a CPA to work at a CPA firm. You only have to be a CPA to practice public accounting. The only thing a CPA can do in my state of NC that anyone else cannot do is sign off on an audit. That's it. In theory, a CPA could have an entire firm of non CPA's doing an audit and all he does at the end is sign off on it. What seems odd to me is the fact that you believe that you are more informed than someone whose already in the field, has gotten his masters in accounting, and has passed 3 sections of the CPA exam on his first tries. Look up the pass rates of those things.

The world is now informed because you heard something. Then you go on to discredit yourself right after your statement. Let those in the real world speak of the real world and you just focus on your studies.

JKpoker1, $13-14/hr? who is feeding you full of ****? Your TRUE hourly as a CPA in public might be that when you're putting in 80 hrs/week lol. Non-CPA, non-public accounting isn't glamorous (but then again, outside of the accounting world, public accounting isn't glamorous either). You do, however, generally have a good idea of when you're going in to work and when you're getting off. I suggest you read up on life at Big 4. The glamour all hinges on making partner, but few survive.

no hate. Yes I know you don't need a cpa to practice accounting. However I've heard in NY with the poor economy, without a cpa, getting a well paying job will no be easy. Yea this $13-14hr seems likes BS but employers want you to get to the point of taking the CPA and passing it. I wasn't talking about CPA hourly. I'm talking about employees with there cpa and just doing A/P and similar tasks.

Also meh I'm not planning on going into the big 4. No way I will get in with my current gpa. Its way too hard right now with the poor economy. I'd be fine with making 40k a year at a small local firm and not working insane hours.

[QUOTE=UNC;31622767]First, you don't have to be a CPA to be an accountant. You don't even have to be a CPA to work at a CPA firm. You only have to be a CPA to practice public accounting. The only thing a CPA can do in my state of NC that anyone else cannot do is sign off on an audit. That's it. In theory, a CPA could have an entire firm of non CPA's doing an audit and all he does at the end is sign off on it. What seems odd to me is the fact that you believe that you are more informed than someone whose already in the field, has gotten his masters in accounting, and has passed 3 sections of the CPA exam on his first tries. Look up the pass rates of those things.

and btw if you have passed 3 parts of the exam, you are basically a cpa in my book. Its not like you wont pass the last test. You are basically there to being a cpa

There is no "being a CPA there" I'm at the college as its accountant. The CPA designation is to put some extra dough in my pay bucket, but I am the college's accountant! You wanna see my business card? Do you even know what CPA stands for? How the Hell can I be a public accountant if I have a private employer?

Why do you keep pushing this issue as if you are informed? You are comparing **** you heard to **** I know.