Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

What is Certified Public Accountant?

Are you pondering to become a public accountant? If yes! Surely these credentials are designed for you.

Thedesignation is preserved for accountants in United States of America who passed Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination which is authorized and licensed qualification administered by State Boards of Accountancy. Every state has different criteria for conducting CPA exam.

Organizations Involvement

There is an involvement of four organizations if CPA licensure is intended:

  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA): Developed the CPA exam.
  • National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA): Acts as a central mode in examination process.
  • State Boards of Accountancy: deals with 55 US jurisdictions including 50 states. Each board sets own forms, eligibility criteria, fee criteria in order to grant CPA licensure.
  • Prometric: responsible for scheduling exam, registration and running testing centers.

Sections Division

CPA’s exam contains three sections:

  • Auditing and Attestation (AUD): It mainly demonstrates the understanding of audit and attesting process.
  • Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR): This section evaluates understanding of financial reporting framework used by government and private organizations.
  • Regulation (REG): It assesses the knowledge and understanding of ethics, legal plus professional responsibilities, law and federal taxation.
  • Business Environment and Concepts (BEC): This section demonstrates the knowledge of business environment and concepts.

CPA Exam:

  • Candidate has to pass Uniform Certified Public Accountant exam (Uniform CPA exam) managed by AICPA).
  • To get eligible, 4 years’ college or master’s degree is required.
  • Mainly evaluates law information more like federal laws, law of contracts and principles.
  • In order to attain CPA credential, Three E’s (Education, Examination and Experience) are a must.

Scoring Criteria

Skills are attested at three levels mainly. Knowledge and skills understanding includes MCQs. Application of the body of the knowledge deals with

Skills attested Percentage (AUD, REG, FAR) Percentage (BEC)
Knowledge and Understanding Varies from 50-60% Vary from 80-90%
Application of the body of knowledge 40-50% Not available
Written Communication Not available 10-20%

For more details, download the exam outline to get aware of topics.

How to get registered?

To get registered, follow these steps:

  • Once jurisdiction determines the eligibility, your information will be sent to NASBA by jurisdiction.
  • Do apply to take the exam by contacting to board of accountancy.
  • In return, payment coupon will be sent to you.
  • After payment, Notice to Schedule (NTS) will be provided to a candidate. Inside the NTS, your actual information will be listed up.
  • After that, Contact Prometric to schedule the exam.

In order to schedule to your exam, follow this link:

https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/cpa/Pages/landing.aspx

Fee Criteria

Fee schedule vary from state to state, it costs $729.08 mainly scheduled by NASBA. For application, it costs $30-$200.

If a candidate review books at amazon, it will cost $30. In order to become CPA’s license holder, the cost will be vary from $50-$300.

Test Dates/Exam Locations/ Time:

CPA examination begins on October 1 and ended on November 30. So schedule your exam at least 5 days before exam.

To get more information regarding exam scheduling, download Candidate Bulletin:

http://www.nasba.org/cpa-exam-candidate-bulletin

Website: www.nasba.org

www.prometric.com