Fastest way to earn 24 semester hours of accounting credit

[floridahgul]

I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how I can earn 24 SH of Accounting credit by the end of the year in order to qualify for a particular job series with the US government. I have found a wealth of information on the web (too much actually) but I fell super overwhelmed and am not sure what to do next. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[cathgrl]

I'm not sure how realistic it is to earn 24 credit hours in accounting in less than six months. One option that allows you to go at your own pace is Louisiana State University's Independent Study's accounting courses. It is $650 per course. That's not a terrible price for a public university.

[RANSOMSOUL]

Between Straighterline (12 credit options), Saylor (12 credit options) & CLEP/DSST (6 credits) - you have plenty of options with a focused effort to knock out 24 credits in 6 months. Prior to completing them, I would suggest getting clarity that the ones you decide on won't be recorded as duplicate credit.

Stay focused on just knocking out one course at a time. Spending efforts on worrying about the 24 credits in 6 months will not provide any positive energy on a task you can make happen.

Good luck & keep us updated!!

[KayV]

CSU Global offers 39 hours' worth of Accounting exams.
https://csuglobal.edu/undergraduate/prog...tions/cbes

[KayV]

OP, for TESU you could use these Straighterline courses:
Principles of Financial Accounting - ACC-101 3
Principles of Managerial Accounting - ACC-102 3
Intermediate Accounting I - ACC-201 3
Cost Accounting - ACC-303 3

Penn Foster has
Intermediate Accounting II ACC-202 3
Computer Applications in Accounting ACC-213 3

And there is a TECEP for Federal Income Taxation ACC-421 3

That would bring you up to 21 hours. Since the law about 24 hours of accounting includes up to 6 hours of business law:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversigh...ries-0510/
"Twenty-four semester hours in accounting or auditing courses of appropriate type and quality. This can include up to 6 hours of business law;"

You could either take one of the CSU Accounting exams, or take Straighterline/ CLEP/ Penn Foster Business Law (PF has I and II).

[dfrecore]

Are you allowed to earn them anywhere? Can they be ACE-recommended, or do they need to be from an NA or RA school? Do any of them have to be UL, or can they be LL?

Some people here are suggesting Straighterline, and giving the TESU course equivalencies. I would think that those aren't going to work for most places; most of these will duplicate each other (Accounting I will be considered Financial Accounting, Accounting II will be considered Managerial Accounting). If you look at the course equivalencies for other schools here, you will see that TESU is out of the main with how they look at these particular courses.

Also, my concern would be that while you can quickly pass a SL course without learning a ton, it might not be in your best interest to do so. That's because if you're trying to get a job where you are expected to really know accounting (enough for it to be a college major), that you actually need to know that much accounting for the job. At least, that would be my guess. If you went in there not knowing much about accounting after taking some courses, then they won't have done you much good.

My advice would be to go through and actually learn Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting very well, and then build on those two courses. Then take Intermediate Accounting I & II, Cost Accounting, and whatever else sounds interesting.

You can go through Penn Foster which is an NA school, and some of their courses are ACE-recommended. CSU-Global is RA and has many courses, but they are self-study CBE's, and will probably be harder. I would think though, that you would learn more that way. But that could just be my interpretation of how the courses work there vs. PF.

There are other options mentioned here that would work as well.

Good luck.

[tesu-acct-student]

... My advice would be to go through and actually learn Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting very well, and then build on those two courses. Then take Intermediate Accounting I & II, Cost Accounting, and whatever else sounds interesting.

This is excellent advice and I agree with it completely.

[bjcheung77]

PLA would be cheap and somewhat fast. $379/12 credits and another $250/6 additional subsequent credits, if you have experience it is worth a shot.
There are a few members on the board that have gone through the PLA option and have a thread in regards to it... it's an option I would look into.

[bluebooger]

... Then take Intermediate Accounting I & II, Cost Accounting, and whatever else sounds interesting.
...

if the person wants to do something that sounds interesting then why would they be doing accounting ?