CPA-required courses cover accounting practices and business management, with some specialties requiring courses with a narrower focus. An accounting student must complete at least 48 credit hours of basic accounting, finance, and business administration classes at the undergraduate level and pass the CPA exam for the state in which the CPA license is applied for. Core CPA accounting courses include Introduction to Accounting Practices, intermediate and advanced accounting courses, financial statement analysis, international accounting practices, management accounting, and various courses required by the CPA on conducting audits for various types of organizations. Required business courses include an introductory course in business administration, commercial law, business ethics, commercial finance, and depending on the state, Statistics for Business Applications may be required. The remaining courses required by the CPA include qualified electives in accounting and business.
Depending on the program and the type of certified public accounting (CPA) job an individual intends to pursue, there are a number of CPA-required courses that the individual must take at an accredited college or university. Generally, these courses will cover a range of subjects related to accounting practices and business management, but some specialties will require courses with a narrower focus. Some CPA required courses may be taken on an elective basis, which means that the specific course is not required, but a certain number of units in a certain area of study must be successfully completed.
In most cases, an accounting student must complete at least 48 credit hours of basic accounting, finance, and business administration classes at the undergraduate level. An accounting student must already possess a bachelor’s degree. While the degree can be in any academic discipline, a bachelor’s degree in finance, business administration, or accounting will simplify the process of becoming a CPA. Some states, such as California, require a student to evenly split those 48 credit hours between accounting and business administration courses, successfully completing 24 credit hours each. Upon completion of the course, the student must pass the CPA exam for the state in which the CPA license is applied for.
Core CPA accounting courses include Introduction to Accounting Practices, which provides a foundation for accounting field requirements, as well as intermediate and advanced accounting courses. Other courses required in the accounting industry include financial statement analysis, international accounting practices, management accounting, as well as various courses required by the CPA on conducting audits for various types of organizations.
For required business courses, the student must complete an introductory course in business administration that covers basic principles of profit, loss, capitalization, and other management issues. Other required courses include commercial law, business ethics and commercial finance. Depending on the state, Statistics for Business Applications may be required. For example, Massachusetts requires this course before a candidate can take the CPA exam.
The remaining courses required by the CPA include qualified electives in accounting and business. If you intend to use your CPA license to work at an established accounting firm, focus your electives on ancillary accounting courses. If you intend to work as an account for another type of business, focus the electives on business practices or a field that is related to the type of business you want to work in.
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