CPA exam question

I suggest you go to

and see what it shows. I believe your questions will be answered. Wayne Brasch, CPA, M. S. Taxation

Here are the answers to your questions:

1) In most states you need to satisfy the requirements of the 150 hour rule to take the exam for that state. That means you need 120 hours for your bachelor's plus 30 hours, of which each state has their own requirement of how many of those hours must be accounting hours. Here in Florida we needed at least 36 accounting hours, six of which had to be business law.

2) There are four parts to the exam: Auditing, Regulation (Tax & Law), Business Concepts (Finance, Cost, etc), and Financial Reporting (GAAP concepts).

3) As mentioned before, each state is different in their requirements, however with the computerized exam you can now sit for the exam in one state while taking it in the testing center from another state. I had a friend here in Florida take the Virginia exam at a Florida testing center. Also, the exam is the same for all 50 states. ly 4) As far as how long the exam is, you can now take each part individually instead of taking all four parts at once as in the past. Each part took me from 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours.

5) If you pass the exam in one state, you will be able to practice accounting in other states, with certain exceptions. Basically anybody can sign a tax return as long as they are the paid preparer, but audits are a different story. For one thing, it depends on if the two states in question have reciprocity with each other where all a CPA has to do to practice in the other state is pay a licensing fee. My boss was licensed in Illinois, but they do not have reciprocity here in Florida. I'm not sure of the specific rules, but I know he needs a concurring partner licensed in Florida to sign off.

Hope these answers help.

Jim

Not that you care in particularly, but, since the subject of 150 hours has been brought up, I'll talk about South Carolina's new rules. One reason I bring this up is because other states might be considering doing the same sort of thing, though I'm not sure exactly which ones. Anyway, in SC, one no longer needs 150 hours in order to take the exam. All one needs, if I remember correctly, is a bachelor's degree in accounting. I myself have already taken one section having only 148 hours on my transcript, and I plan on taking my second section here shortly. However, to be LICENSED in this state, it's actually become more difficult, as one still needs 150 hours to meet the education requirements, but those 150 hours need to contain 36 semester hours of accounting classes, 24 of those being at the junior level or above. Assuming I don't go to graduate school, I would need to take advanced cost accounting and advanced Financial Accouting in order to meet the educational requirements for licensing in my state. However, what I'll probably do --and I realize this is NOT what most people do-- is pass all of the CPA sections, and then go back to graduate school, while working part time.