CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT

CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is generally considered as the Topmost Chartered/Public Accounting Designation in the world.

With a CPA you can be an auditor in the United States provided you have a License from the relevant State Board of Accountancy in the US. A CPA can also choose to work as Management Accountant (Finance and Accounting Manager) within the companies. A CPA has high demand especially in the US based MNC s inside and outside India, big-4 international audit firms. The Indian companies, nowadays, value those accounting professionals who have good knowledge in US GAAP and GAAS. So the demand of a CPA is ever increasing in the world job scenario. A CPA will not have to think of finding suitable jobs, jobs chase him or her. CPA opens a huge international opportunity to the careerist.

CPA ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

CPA exam is a joint effort of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), National Association of State Board of Accountancy (NASBA) and Prometric Exam Centers. AICPA is responsible for the CPA exam development; NASBA represents the 50 State Board of Accountancy and 4 districts. Exam eligibility of the candidates is decided by individual Board of Accountancy. Different states of the US have different sets of eligibility criteria and a CPA exam prospect needs to fulfill the eligibility criteria of a given state. The eligibility issue is explained in details in the paragraph ... The relevant State Board of Accountancy releases the Exam score. Exam passed out candidate need to seek the license from the respective State Board of Accountancy

CPA ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

For writing CPA Exams one needs 120 Credits.
For getting CPA License one needs 150 Credits.
B.Com + M.Com/MBA/PDPA= 90/120 credits + 60 credits = 150/180 credits (Eligible)
B.Com + CA/CS/CWA = 90/120 credits + 60 credits = 150/180 credits. (Eligible)

Note: The above picture gives a gross idea on CPA eligibility. As stated above, different states of the US have different sets of eligibility criteria and a CPA exam prospect needs to fulfil the eligibility criteria of a given state. The eligibility is evaluated by CPA evaluation agencies.

REASONS BEHIND POPULARITY OF THE CPA US QUALIFICATION

The CPA (US) is the most popular among all chartered/public accounting qualifications because:

1. DEMAND: CPA is literally the most demanded chartered accountancy qualification of the world.
2. COMPACT, GLOBALLY ACCREDITED COURSE: CPA has 4 papers: FAR,AUD, REG, BEC
3. CONVENIENT EXAM WINDOWS: Exams are available throughout the year in 4 exam windows, viz, Jan-Feb, Apr-May, Jul-Aug, and Oct-Nov.
4. SHORT TERMED: The 4 paper CPA exam can be completed in 12 months of time.
5. INCLUSION OF MIDDLE EAST EXAM CENTERS: CPA exams can be written from the US as well as from SOME MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES LIKE UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon
6. ECONOMIC: The total cost of pursuing CPA US is less than most other equivalent finance qualifications
4. SHORT TERMED: The 4 paper CPA exam can be completed in 12 months of time.

A CPA’s national and international level job opportunity increases 10 times than an ordinary MBA/MCom. Hence pursuing CPA gives you a comparatively higher ROI.

COMPARISONS

Other Chartered Accountancy Courses like CA from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh and other countries of the subcontinent take about 4 years to complete, provided that you pass it on time as they have huge number of papers. ACCA (UK) is also a longer version of the Chartered Accounting exam of the United Kingdom. Compared to all other Chartered Accountancy courses the CPA is the shortest yet most demanded of all.

EXAM COUNTIRES

CPA exam for residents of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, Egypt, South East and Far East Asia is costlier in view of the fact that the exam candidates have to go to US to take the exam. This increases the total cost to the student. Citizens, Permanent residents and long term residents of UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon can take the exam in these countries. Also, people from India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman can take the exam in the exam locations in these four countries of UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon. Long term residents mean non-citizens residing in testing countries for the purpose of work, study or governmental assignments and include their dependents. Hence, non-citizens, like Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Pakistanis and others working in the Middle East can also take the exams in the above 4 countries.

GOOD NEWS FOR ALL INDIAN CPA US ASPIRANTS:

Now, Indians residing in India can write CPA exams from prometric centers anywhere in Middle East including Dubai., Kuwait , Bahrain This is as per the latest news release by AICPA w.e.f October 1, 2014.

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