CPA Accountant

Have you ever thought how to become an accountant? do you think it is easy? Well I don’t think it is that easy. Because the road is long and it never really  ends. 

The best time for you to decide is really from high school the last two years of high school is critical. Ideally from year nine you need to take some applicable subjects such as social science including business related subjects.

If you make it to year eleven then you need to take up business study and legal study. A big myth is “if you are an accountant do you really need to be good at maths?” Well not really because mathematics is really for science and engineering. Advance mathematics subject is not required and may not help you with accounting, accounting is really a concept and rules which required basic algebra. Therefore advance mathematic is not really required.

Once you make to uni then what? Well you well need to enrol in a commerce course with university such as Sydney Uni, and you must major in accounting. The course structure is as below.

Core units of study

Junior units of study (42 credit points):

ACCT1001 Accounting 1A ACCT1002 Accounting 1B ECMT1010 Business and Economic Statistics A ECON1001 Introductory Microeconomics ECON1002 Introductory Macroeconomics INFS1000 Business Information Systems Foundations MKTG1001 Marketing Principles

Senior units of study (24 credit points):

CISS2001 Business in the Global Environment * FINC2011 Corporate Finance I WORK2218 People and Organisations ECOF3001 Business Strategy

Bachelor of Commerce (generic program of study)

Year / Semester

Unit of study 1

Unit of study 2

Unit of study 3

Unit of study 4

Total credit points

Year 1
Semester 1

junior core

junior core

junior core

junior elective or requirement for major

24

Year 1
Semester 2

junior core

junior core

junior core

junior elective or requirement for major

24

Year 2
Semester 1

junior core

senior core

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 2
Semester 2

senior core

senior core

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 3
Semester 1

major I

major I

major I

major II or elective

24

Year 3
Semester 2

Business Strategy

major I

major II or elective

major II or elective

24

 

         

If you did not make to university then don’t pancake you can join TAFE course which is only 2 year offering advanced diploma in accounting, Diploma in accounting, certificates in accounting, and when graduate you may continue with your study at University, if you do good you will be eligible for exemptions. However you can still be working as accountants associate.

A good idea is to apply for jobs during university holiday to take some experience and when you graduate you will need to apply for accounting jobs.

To gain a job in accounting you need to apply through internet such as seek, or my career web sites, or try directly with accounting firms. You look for job within  business services.

When you receive few years of business services experience within any accounting firm then you may continue with professional accounting qualifications such as CA or CPA. Then you will be like other qualified tax accountants. Do you think this the end? No you will always need to update your self with new rules and regulations.

Just imagine how long and how hard is to go all that? Do you still think it is easy? I will leave that for you to decide.

Logically, the first step in becoming a CPA is to have a desire to go into accounting. The next step is to ensure that you have the aptitude to be a CPA; that is, you must have an aptitude for math and numbers, as well as organization. A CPA candidate should also have a good sense of moral values and business ethics.

Once you have determined that you are a good candidate for an accounting career, you need to determine if becoming a CPA is the right accounting career for you. To do this, you must understand what a CPA does. A CPA can be employed individually or within a public accounting firm in tax or audit services. A CPA is, of course, a public accountant. That means that the CPA provides services on a fee basis, basically meaning that the CPA works for the public in general rather than a specific corporation or company. This can translate into variety in your CPA career.

CPAs make an average of $36,625 per year as a starting salary within local firms. Within national firms, a CPA can have a starting salary of around $44,375 per year. These figures may not seem fantastic, but for starting salaries they are very competitive. A CPA can easily start out making enough money to be considered middle-class income level, which is not a bad place to start in today’s society.

Once you have decided that you want to become a CPA, you must attend a college or university to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. All states within the United States of America have a Board of Accountancy or similar department or agency that lays down the requirements for an accountant to become a certified CPA. These requirements will tell you how many credit hours of your education must be in accounting related courses in order to become a CPA.

Once you have completed your degree, the Board of Accountancy will want you to undergo testing to see if you can become a certified CPA. This testing may include ethics examinations as well as examinations to test your knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles, accounting laws, and accounting regulations for your state, as well as tax law and principles.

Once you have passed all CPA examinations, some Boards of Accountancy may require you to provide them with references. These references should be people that can attest to your work ethic and moral character. These aspects of a CPA are very important, because CPAs have a lot of opportunity to commit fraud and embezzlement crimes. Therefore, only CPAs who have demonstrated good moral character and a sense of ethics is allowed to receive a CPA license.

Once all requirements are met, your state will issue you a license to practice as a CPA. You can then take this license to any firm and apply for a position as a CPA. If you prefer, you could start your own small firm and practice as a CPA alone. For more information about becoming a CPA, you should contact your Board of Accountancy or local college or university today!

The Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, or Uniform CPA Exam, is the most important of all required accountant exams. It is the examination administered to most people who wish to become Certified Public Accountants anywhere in the United States. There are, of course, some other required accountant exams that students will have to take throughout the course of completing an accounting degree. But if you really want to work in the field, the Uniform CPA Exam is the one exam to be most worried about.

The required accountant exams that are currently being used are tough, but they are not nearly as harsh and grueling to take as they used to be. The Uniform CPA was a 19 and a half hour test that was given over a period of three days, up until about 18 years ago when the exam was restructured into a four-section, two-day exam. The old exams sections were Auditing for 3.5 hours, Business Law for 3.5 hours, Accounting Theory for 3.5 hours, and Accounting Practice, which had two parts that each took 4.5 hours. There were only two opportunities to take the exam each year, in November and May, and there were no calculators allowed.

The required accountant exams for CPAs were restructured in the early 1990s. Test administrators eliminated material that they found to be redundant, mostly in the Accounting Theory and Accounting Practice sections, and also incorporated machine-scorable test questions to better assess the test takers’ CPA skills. Special calculators were also allowed, and four new sections were added – Business Law and Professional Responsibilities, Auditing, Accounting and Reporting, and Financial Accounting and Reporting.

The Uniform CPA Exam was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, which is still responsible for maintaining the examination. These required accountant exams are not administered by the AICPA, though. This is the responsibility of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. All fifty states in the union, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands all require the Uniform CPA Exam of all legitimate certified accountants.