Help With Determining an Accounting Degree to Qualify to Take the CPA Exam

[AccountingForThis]

Hi! I’m interested in obtaining an accounting degree with the goal of becoming a CPA. 

I would strongly prefer a program that provides official grades so that I can keep the option of attending graduate school open. The most important criteria, however, is that the degree meets the educational requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam. Since this varies by state, it can be rather difficult to tell. Thus, I will be contacting my state board of public accountancy for more information. However, if anyone has information about qualifying for the CPA exam in Ohio (or any other state for that matter) I would greatly appreciate it!

Your Location: Ohio, USA
Your Age: 21
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor of Arts in Accounting 

Current Regional Accredited Credits:

Maricopa Community Colleges: 9 credits total
ENG101 English Composition I, 3, A
ENG102 English Composition II, 3, A
ECE102 Intro to Engineering, 2, A
FYE101 Intro to College and Career Success, 1, A

Arizona State University: 3 credits total
SOC101 Intro to Sociology, 3, A

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

CLEP Credits: 3 credits total
Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, 3, 86%

Any certifications or military experience? No

Budget: I don’t have a strict budget but would prefer to keep the cost below $10K. I would prefer to go the cheapest route but would consider spending more if it meant that I could complete it considerably faster or if the courses’ content better prepared me to take the CPA exam.
Commitments: I intend to work during my studies but do not yet know if it will be full-time or part-time.
Dedicated time to study: I can dedicate as much time as needed to study when I am not working.
Timeline: My goal is to obtain my degree in less than two years. However, I might be open to spending more time in a program if it means that I will have to spend less time studying for the CPA exam.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I expect to pay for my degree out-of-pocket but will continue researching my options.

[bjcheung77]

@AccountingForThis, Welcome to the board, great intro post with the addendum and template. There is a degree plan already for UMPI BA Accounting, I would go that route even though the degree is not geared for CPA, you can use the electives for the 3-4 classes that can be used towards the MAOL as most states require 150 credits, you can do the MAOL to round out the credits to 150 or so.

UMPI: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Un...esque_Isle
Plans: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI

[CenterSquarEd]

WGU also has competency-based degrees in accounting, including a master’s degree. You could mix and match UMPI undergrad with WGU grad, which could be more marketable than the Organizational Leadership path.

[inor]

Hi! I’m interested in obtaining an accounting degree with the goal of becoming a CPA. 

I would strongly prefer a program that provides official grades so that I can keep the option of attending graduate school open. The most important criteria, however, is that the degree meets the educational requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam. Since this varies by state, it can be rather difficult to tell. Thus, I will be contacting my state board of public accountancy for more information. However, if anyone has information about qualifying for the CPA exam in Ohio (or any other state for that matter) I would greatly appreciate it!

Your Location: Ohio, USA
Your Age: 21
What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelor of Arts in Accounting 

Current Regional Accredited Credits:

Maricopa Community Colleges: 9 credits total
ENG101 English Composition I, 3, A
ENG102 English Composition II, 3, A
ECE102 Intro to Engineering, 2, A
FYE101 Intro to College and Career Success, 1, A

Arizona State University: 3 credits total
SOC101 Intro to Sociology, 3, A

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:

CLEP Credits: 3 credits total
Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, 3, 86%

Any certifications or military experience? No

Budget: I don’t have a strict budget but would prefer to keep the cost below $10K. I would prefer to go the cheapest route but would consider spending more if it meant that I could complete it considerably faster or if the courses’ content better prepared me to take the CPA exam.
Commitments: I intend to work during my studies but do not yet know if it will be full-time or part-time.
Dedicated time to study: I can dedicate as much time as needed to study when I am not working.
Timeline: My goal is to obtain my degree in less than two years. However, I might be open to spending more time in a program if it means that I will have to spend less time studying for the CPA exam.
Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I expect to pay for my degree out-of-pocket but will continue researching my options.

Looks like Ohio has a unique way to qualify for the exam that revolves around getting a certain GMAT score (combined with educational requirements), but since that won't qualify you in other states, it's best to qualify in the traditional manner so that you can get a license in other states should you ever decide to relocate.

Ohio lets you sit for the exam with 120 credits, 24 of which must be in accounting (including a minimum of one course each in financial accounting, managerial/cost accounting, auditing, and taxation), and 24 in business (they do not seem to require that these be distributed in any particular way, i.e. all 24 can be in economics, or 12 can be in economics and 12 in finance, or all 24 in management, etc.)

In order to be certified as a CPA, you need 150 credits, 30 of which must be in accounting (with seemingly the same distribution mentioned above) and 24 in business (ditto with regards to distribution requirement, i.e. there does not seem to be one).

Double check that, of course, since I'm not from Ohio. I'm a bit envious, though, since my state requires slightly more accounting credits and significantly more business credits.

[LevelUP]

I would check to ensure they accept ACE credits as a part of the accounting and business course requirements. 

Remember that you can transfer 120 credits to UMPI, do 30 credits there, and then have 150 credits on your transcript.

[bjcheung77]

Multiple options of getting this done, another one to bring to your attention is, doing a double major, such as BA Accounting and then adding the BA PM & IS, you'll be well versed in Accounting, Business Admin (Project Management & Info Systems), and you'll have got closer to that 150 credits. Or, you can do the one and done Masters, at WGU by doing their BS Accounting and MS Accounting to hit the 150...

[AccountingForThis]

Thank you all for your responses! They have been very helpful!

At this point, I am very interested in pursuing UMPI's BA in Accounting. However, I will first email the Accountancy Board of Ohio to inquire about their policies on accepting ACE credit for the business and accounting courses. Additionally, I will ask them to confirm whether UMPI's accounting courses will meet the accounting course requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam since the accounting courses at UMPI are technically categorized under business. If I can get a proper answer to these questions, I will update this post to help other aspiring accountants.

[inor]

Thank you all for your responses! They have been very helpful!

At this point, I am very interested in pursuing UMPI's BA in Accounting. However, I will first email the Accountancy Board of Ohio to inquire about their policies on accepting ACE credit for the business and accounting courses. Additionally, I will ask them to confirm whether UMPI's accounting courses will meet the accounting course requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam since the accounting courses at UMPI are technically categorized under business. If I can get a proper answer to these questions, I will update this post to help other aspiring accountants.

I can't imagine the department code will matter. Cornell is one of the top universities in the country to offer undergraduate accounting courses, yet the department code for those courses is AEM because they are part of the Applied Economics and Management department. I doubt there's a state accountancy board in the country that would hold that against a Cornell grad!

[AccountingForThis]

Thank you all for your responses! They have been very helpful!

At this point, I am very interested in pursuing UMPI's BA in Accounting. However, I will first email the Accountancy Board of Ohio to inquire about their policies on accepting ACE credit for the business and accounting courses. Additionally, I will ask them to confirm whether UMPI's accounting courses will meet the accounting course requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam since the accounting courses at UMPI are technically categorized under business. If I can get a proper answer to these questions, I will update this post to help other aspiring accountants.

I can't imagine the department code will matter. Cornell is one of the top universities in the country to offer undergraduate accounting courses, yet the department code for those courses is AEM because they are part of the Applied Economics and Management department. I doubt there's a state accountancy board in the country that would hold that against a Cornell grad!

This is an excellent point. Thank you!

[CharisandJon]

Thank you all for your responses! They have been very helpful!

At this point, I am very interested in pursuing UMPI's BA in Accounting. However, I will first email the Accountancy Board of Ohio to inquire about their policies on accepting ACE credit for the business and accounting courses. Additionally, I will ask them to confirm whether UMPI's accounting courses will meet the accounting course requirements to be eligible to take the CPA exam since the accounting courses at UMPI are technically categorized under business. If I can get a proper answer to these questions, I will update this post to help other aspiring accountants.

I can't imagine the department code will matter. Cornell is one of the top universities in the country to offer undergraduate accounting courses, yet the department code for those courses is AEM because they are part of the Applied Economics and Management department. I doubt there's a state accountancy board in the country that would hold that against a Cornell grad!

This is an excellent point. Thank you!

Typically the course name is more important to the board than the department code, so I would check with the board about any potentially problematic/unclear course names if possible. For example, my former school tried to be “fancy” and renamed the Business Law course halfway through my degree to “Legal and Ethical Concepts for Decision Makers” (pretty annoying). It was going to cause me problems with my board because it’s hard to tell that is the business law course required by the board. 

Also, be sure to check how many of the 24 business and 24 accounting courses need to be upper level 300/400 courses. Some states are particular about both how many courses you need to take in each subject and how many of those courses need to be upper level. My state is super strict/particular about the exact courses that need to make up the required amount of business/accounting courses and what level they are.