Certified public accountants are individuals who have earned a passing score on the Uniformed CPA examination. These accounting professionals provide consulting services related to taxes, audits, and other financial issues their clients may be dealing with. You may spend your time preparing tax returns for clients, verifying documents and figures for specific tax returns, or using tax documents to help a business make better financial decisions. Depending upon your place of employment you may find yourself providing accounting help to individuals, small businesses, or larger corporations. As a CPA you will be able to work in the accounting department of a large company, within a public accounting business, or even in a privately owned accounting firm. In order to become a CPA you must have completed a bachelor’s degree program and have a minimum of two years of relevant work experience before you can sit for the certification exam. However, the specific requirements for CPA’s vary slightly from one state to another so you will want to check the requirements for your state of residence. Once you have obtained your certification it will be your responsibility to complete continuing education courses to maintain your certification. These continuing education hours may be completed in the form of seminars, conferences, group studies, or courses.
To become a certified public accountant you will be required to complete 150 credit hours at your choice of college or university. It is important to note that the hourly requirements for this profession exceed the typical 120 credit hours of a bachelor’s degree program. Some students choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree program and then complete the remaining 30 credit hours with relevant coursework. Other students choose to begin working on their master’s degree to complete the 150 credit hours needed to work as a CPA. Regardless of the degree program you choose to pursue, you will learn about the fundamental topics of accounting theory and then advance to more complex topics such as cost accounting. Take a moment and look through any of the schools that you see listed on our site. If you see one that you like, be sure and let them know by requesting a free information packet so that you can learn more about what they have to offer you. Other popular career paths that you would be able to pursue with your degree is an account executive, an accountant that is not certified by an examination, or a bookkeeper. It is important to understand that some of these career options may require more or less educational training. In addition, the salary that these professions will yield may vary from that of a certified public accountant.