C
ertified Public Accountants (CPAs) are
qualified accountants in the United States
who have passed the Uniform Certified Public
Accountant Examination and have met additional
state education and experience requirements for
certification as a CPA. In most US states, only CPAs
who are licensed are able to provide to the public,
attestation (including auditing) opinions on financial
statements. According to Wikipedia, the exceptions
to this rule are Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina and
Wyoming, where although the “CPA” designation is
restricted, the practice of auditing is not.
In the present times of fast-paced globalisation,
the qualification of a CPA will prove to be a valuable
additional asset for the Chartered Accountants
across the globe. Following are the 13 information
tips which can help a Chartered Accountant become
a Certified Public Accountant.
(1) Although the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants (AICPA) conducts uniform
examination nationally, each State has got its
own requirements to sit for the exam.
(2) AICPA is a parent body, however only an
individual State can decide the pre-requisites
to sit for the exam in that respective State.
(3) It is our responsibility to choose the State
depending upon one’s qualification and
experience.
(4) Once we choose the State, eventually all the
States will ask our qualification and experience
to be evaluated by the designated body
(approved by AICPA/NASBA).
(5) But, as of now, only Colorado State recognises
Indian Chartered Accountants and so does not
require evaluation before admission to sit for
the exam.
(6) However, after passing the exam, Colorado
State does not award ‘CPA’ as at that stage it
asks us for evaluation of the qualification and
experience.
(7) Now the CPA exam is conducted online
(through prometric centres), but only within
USA. There are four subjects only and one can
choose to sit individually or together. The pass
percentage is 75.
(8) Exam questions mostly comprise Multiple
Choice questions (say 60-70%), other objective
formats (say 10-20%) and descripttivesimulation models (balance 20%).
(9) On an average, generally all the States require
a minimum of 150 credit hours to be complied
PLUS completion of the Ethics test (which can
be written from home—passing grade is 90%),
before a CPA is awarded.
(10) Then you will be given “Active” status of CPA,
based on which you can practise in that State.
You can sit for the exam in one State and after
passing, shift to another State by providing
valid reasons. The “Active” status will be passed
on to the other State, provided ethical test
requirements of the other State are complied
with.
(11) As for Colorado State is concerned, both CPA
pass certificate and Certificate of License
to practice are same. But, other states like
Delaware, the CPA pass certificate is different
from Certificate of License to practise.
(12) To maintain the “Active” Status of CPA certificate,
certain credit hours are to be maintained
annually. For example, in Colorado State, it is
80 credit hours for two years with a minimum
of 2 credit hours each year towards the subject
of ethics.
(13) The relevant details can be availed from the
websites www.nasba.org and www.cpa2biz.
com
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