Do I have a viable gameplan?

[Wannnabe_CPA]

I'm coming in with 40 units from AP tests awarded by UCLA, 163 units for classes taken at UCLA (major was in psychobiology but I did not graduate) and am planning on taking the following classes at Santa Monica College

Accounting 1, Principles of Accounting 1 (5)
Accounting 2, Principles of Accounting 2 (5)
Accounting 6, Accounting Consolidations (3)
Accounting 7, Accounting Special Topics (3)
Accounting 10A, Intermediate Accounting A (3)
Accounting 10B, Intermediate Accounting B (3)
Accounting 10C, Intermediate Accounting C (4)
Accounting 11, Cost Accounting (3)
Accounting 12, Auditing (3)
Accounting 15, Personal Income Tax (3)
Accounting 16, Taxation of Corporations, Partnerships, Estates and Trusts (3)
Business 5, Business Law (3)

I am also a currently licensed [URL="http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/agents/article/0,,id=100710,00.html"]enrolled agent
[/URL]
My plan is to apply for evaluation at the big 3 after finishing the accounting courses at SMC. My goal is to end up with a BS degree in accounting that would allow me to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam in California. My strategy right now is take the community college classes that would fulfill the educational requirements for the CPA exam and then try to figure out which college offers me the easiest path to a degree.

My concern is that the big 3 will accept credits from just UCLA or SMC. Not both of them. Is that how it works? Will more credits transfer if I go for an AA in Accounting at SMC?

I'd really appreciate any advice you may have on this topic.

[Yenisei]

The Big Three will accept your regionally accredited courses because their transfer policy is much more liberal than anyone else's. You may get some sort of credit for your EA license as well, but I can't say for sure at this point. You don't need an AA or AS from any school for the credits you mentioned to transfer to the Big Three or for credit to be awarded in the case of your AP exams.

Be sure you have the exact educational requirements your state requires for CPA licensure.

[brothert69]

Read your states CPA requirements very carefully before you take all those classes at a CC. In NY taxation, consolidations and auditing must be UL credits.

[Wannnabe_CPA]

Thanks for the replies guys. I lifted this from the CA [URL="http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/publications/exambk1.pdf"] UNIFORM CPA EXAMINATION
HANDBOOK for First-time Applicants[/URL]. It looks like I won't have to take so many accounting courses and instead take on more business courses. I don't see any rules specifying that the accounting/business units must be upper division, in fact now that I think about it SMC offers a certificate in accounting for those with degrees already to prepare them to sit for the cpa exam. I'm just doing it backwards. Unless I'm missing something I should be able to sit for the CPA exam via Pathway 2 by the time I'm with the business/accounting courses at SMC and then get a degree from one of the big 3.

General Education Requirements

Applicants seeking initial qualification do not select a Pathway when applying for the examination. Applicants must meet the examination education requirements at the time that they apply for the examination.
Only when applying for licensure in California will applicants select either Pathway 1 or Pathway 2. At that time, applicants must demonstrate they meet the licensure education and experience requirements for their chosen Pathway.

Pathway 1
Education Requirement
 Baccalaureate degree. (from one of the big 3 using UCLA/SMC units + filler)
 24 semester units of accounting. (SMC)
 24 semester units of business-related subjects (SMC)
Work Experience...
Two years of general experience, which may include
500+ attest hours for those who want to sign attest reports.

Pathway 2
Education Requirement
 Baccalaureate degree. (from one of the big 3 using UCLA/SMC units + filler)
 24 semester units of accounting. (SMC)
 24 semester units of business-related subjects (SMC)
Plus
 Overall total of 150 semester hours. (SMC+UCLA)
Experience Requirement
 One year of general experience,
which may include 500+ attest
hours for those who want to sign
attest reports.

Examination Educational Requirements
For admission to the CPA Exam, applicants must arrange for the submission of acceptable documentation detailing the completion of one of the following educational requirements in accordance with the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division I, Article 2, Section 9.2: Alternative 1
Baccalaureate or higher degree from a degree-granting college or university accredited by a U.S. regional institutional accrediting agency or a national accrediting agency (see page 5) with a core course requirement as indicated below. Courses earned in quarter units must be multiplied by a factor of 2/3 to convert to semester units. Transcripts detailing completion of all
required courses and conferral of the degree must be sent directly to the Board from the college(s) or university.

Core Course Requirement
The core course requirement consists of 24 semester units of business-related subjects and 24 semester units in accounting subjects. Courses in excess of the required 24 semester units of accounting may be counted toward the business-related subjects unit requirement. Courses may be completed in any of the subjects listed below. Courses earned in quarter units must be multiplied by a factor of 2/3 to convert to semester units.

Accounting Subjects
 Accounting.  Financial Reporting.
 Auditing.  Financial Statement Analysis.
 External or Internal Reporting.  Taxation. 5
In addition to those subjects already listed, accounting courses include, but are not limited to,
courses in Assurance, Attestation, Bookkeeping, Cost (Cost Analysis, Costing), Peachtree,
Quickbooks, and CPA Review courses taken at a recognized school (see below).


Business-related Subjects
 Business Administration.  Computer Science/Information Systems.
 Business Communications.  Economics.
 Business Law.  Finance, for example, Financial Management.
 Business Management.  Marketing.
 Business Related Law Courses
offered by an accredited law school.
 Mathematics.
 Statistics.

All required coursework and degree(s) conferral must be shown on official transcripts and/or evaluations. Prior to requesting official transcript(s), please confirm with your school that all required information has been posted.
The Board will not discuss coursework over the telephone or via e-mail without a current application on file. Coursework will be reviewed only after the Board has received an Application Remittance Form with appropriate fee. If an applicant has difficulty determining whether a course is considered accounting or business-related, the Board recommends that the applicant send a course description or syllabus with the Application Remittance Form. In some instances, it may be helpful to request a letter from the school that indicates how the course units are applied by the school (for example, unit credit is given toward either accounting, finance, business, or other departmental requirements).

Recognized Schools
The Board accepts only courses from degree-granting colleges and universities, or other institutions of learning that are recognized by a U.S. regional institutional accrediting agency or a national accrediting agency. The Board also accepts extension programs and correspondence courses from these accredited colleges and universities.
U.S. Regional Institutional Accrediting Agencies
 Middle States Assn. of Colleges and Schools.
 New England Assn. of Schools & Colleges.
 North Central Assn. of Colleges and Schools.
 Northwest Assn. of Schools and Colleges.
 Southern Assn. of Colleges and Schools.
 Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges.

[Wannnabe_CPA]

Found this on the CALCPA website too

-Looks like they take community college classes as well as pass/nopass units

Education Requirements

[Yenisei]

That's good news.

[cookderosa]

Tiny point for the sake of clarity, your AP credit won't be "from" UCLA, it will come from College Board (you'll need an official transcript) and TESC will do their own awarding of credit. It doesn't matter if UCLA accepted/denied your AP credit, you'll get a new eval when you apply to TESC. It might still be 30, but it *might be more too.

[Wannnabe_CPA]

Tiny point for the sake of clarity, your AP credit won't be "from" UCLA, it will come from College Board (you'll need an official transcript) and TESC will do their own awarding of credit. It doesn't matter if UCLA accepted/denied your AP credit, you'll get a new eval when you apply to TESC. It might still be 30, but it *might be more too.

Thanks for the clarification. I wouldn't have thought to send a transcript from the college board for the evaluations.