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Anybody taken any certification exams (CPA, CIA, CFE, etc.)?
#1
I wanted to start a thread for those of us who have tried to go for any professional certifications: accounting, medical, educator, IT, whatever.

I got my CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), and public school teaching credential. CIA was the by far the hardest (39% pass rate for first time test takers). 

Do you have any certifications, or are going for any at the moment?
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#2
I've gotten a bunch of IT certs over the last 18 months and still going for more.
WGU BSIT Complete January 2022
(77CU transferred in)(44/44CU ) 

RA(non WGU)(57cr)
JST/TESU Eval of NAVY Training(85/99cr)
The Institutes, TEEX, NFA(9cr): Ethics, Cyber 101/201/301, Safety
Sophia(60cr): 23 classes
Study.com(31cr): Eng105, Fin102, His108, LibSci101, Math104, Stat101, CS107, CS303, BUS107
CLEP(9cr): Intro Sociology 63 Intro Psych 61 US GOV 71
OD(12cr): Robotics, Cyber, Programming, Microecon
CSM(3cr)
Various IT/Cybersecurity Certifications from: CompTIA, Google, Microsoft, AWS, GIAC, LPI, IBM
CS Fund. MicroBachelor(3cr)
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#3
I have several certifications from Google and IBM. But never for certs with a designation like CPA, CIA, CFE, etc.
In Progress:
BS Statistics + BS Physics, Indonesia, 2023
MSc ML/AI (LJMU, UK), 2022
Completed:
PGDip ML/AI (IIITB, India), 2021
BE Civil Engineering, Universitas Pelita Harapan, 2017
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#4
I got my CPIM under the old system of exams. It was on par with UL SDC courses.
In Progress: MBA - HAUniv, Anticipated 2024
Completed: BSBA OpMgmt - TESU June 2021

UG - AP Tests: 20 credits | APICS: 12 Credits | CLEP: 6 credits | Saylor Academy: 6 credits | Sophia.org: 27 credits | Study.com: 12 credits | Davar Academy: 3 credits | TESU: 15 credits | Other College: 99.5 credits
GR - HAUniv: 9 credits
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#5
I am a CFE. TESU awarded credits for it. I am also an EA after leaving the government for fin-tech


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#6
(08-31-2021, 06:06 PM)BrianFallon Wrote: I am a CFE.  TESU awarded credits for it.  I am also an EA after leaving the government for fin-tech


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How difficult are the three EA exams?
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#7
(09-02-2021, 01:42 PM)HogwartsSchool Wrote:
(08-31-2021, 06:06 PM)BrianFallon Wrote: I am a CFE.  TESU awarded credits for it.  I am also an EA after leaving the government for fin-tech


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How difficult are the three EA exams?


Unknown. I obtained my EA due to working for IRS as a Revenue Officer for 12 years.


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#8
(08-28-2021, 06:35 PM)kevinmane Wrote: I wanted to start a thread for those of us who have tried to go for any professional certifications: accounting, medical, educator, IT, whatever.

I got my CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), and public school teaching credential. CIA was the by far the hardest (39% pass rate for first time test takers). 

Do you have any certifications, or are going for any at the moment?
Which you value more CPA or CFE or CIA?

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NEXT: Considering DBA, DIT or PhD
In Progress: MSU MBA
                                
Completed: WGU MS-CIA & Ms University Isabel I, ENEB
TEEX: Cybersecurity 101 (4), Cybersecurity 201 (3), Cybersecurity 301 (3)
Sophia: Accounting (3), Project Management (3) Principles of Finance (3) 
Coursera: Google IT Certification, and Google Project Management.

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#9
(09-02-2021, 01:42 PM)HogwartsSchool Wrote:
(08-31-2021, 06:06 PM)BrianFallon Wrote: I am a CFE.  TESU awarded credits for it.  I am also an EA after leaving the government for fin-tech


Sent from my iPhone using DegreeForum.net

How difficult are the three EA exams?
I studied for these but, because of my current job situation, decided I didn’t need to actually take the exams. I was a seasonal tax preparer (both with VITA and in a retail setting) for three years and did 100+ hours of continuing education each tax year (that is far more than you are required to do to keep IRS authority to prepare tax returns). It is a challenging test (well, 3 tests), but I don’t think it’s too bad if you have experience with taxes and preparing tax returns. There is a lot of memorization (specific questions about tax rates, penalty calculations, and the like) that you can’t really use reason/logic/good guessing to figure out. You know it or you don’t. 

Everybody says that the individual and representation/ethics parts are easier and the entities part is harder. I believe that. There is more to entity taxation and I think most people who take the EA exam probably have a lot more background and experience with individual tax than entity tax. 

I had access to an EA prep class for free through my former employer and found it very helpful (don’t recall which company it was). If you like tax, have some experience doing taxes, and have a decent memory, I don’t think the EA should be too bad. It helps that you don’t have to sit all 3 parts at the same time. I was going to do entities first to get it out of the way and then move onto the other parts that would have been easier for me.
Master of Accountancy (taxation concentration), University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, in progress. 
Master of Business Administration (financial planning specialization), University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, in progress.

BA, UMPI.  Accounting major; Business Administration major/Management & Leadership concentration.  Awarded Dec. 2021.

In-person/B&M: BA (history, archaeology)
In-person/B&M: MA (American history)

Sophia: 15 courses (42hrs)
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#10
CPA sucks, but I finished it. EA was a walk in the park compared to CPA. However, I work in tax; not audit.
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