Introduction

The United States Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is one of the world’s most prestigious accounting designations. Conducted by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA), CPA is the only license permitted to carry out accounting services to the public in the USA. It is one of the most sought-after crown jewels in the world of accountancy profession. Given the all-round development of the US economy, the dominance of US firms around the world and the plethora of opportunities it thereby offers increases manifold for individuals across the world.

Why should you do CPA?

While India has its own coveted accountancy program of Chartered Accountancy (CA) by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the instant question that creeps up is – Why do we then need to look elsewhere? Given the growing push for ‘Go Local’, many of you would be tempted to not give even a second’s thought to this course. 

But hold on! Your career is not made in a day or two, right? It takes years of work in the right direction. So before jumping to any conclusion, let’s just spend 40 seconds to quickly go through below features of doing US CPA, while studying in India:

• Testament of being an expert in world’s most developed accounting standards

• Opportunity of being employed by world’s biggest companies like Pepsico, Xerox, Accenture

• Clear just 4 exams within 12 months to earn a CPA certification!

• Increased prospects of being employed in the USA/outside India

Scope of CPA course 

We, now need to ensure that we understand the CPA course, its curriculum, and exam dates. CPA as a course requires you to clear just 4 papers! (yes, you heard it right). 

CPA tests your skills on four sections namely:

• Auditing & Attestation (AUD)

• Business Environment & Concepts (BEC)

• Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR)

• Regulation (REG)

All the four papers are a mixed bag of multiple-choice questions, short task-based simulations and written communication to test the overall ability of the candidate. 

Students can appear for these four sections in any order of their choice. To be successful, a student must pass in all these four sections within a time frame of 18 months. 

Exams are conducted throughout the year on a rolling basis across four testing windows. This provides students with ample opportunities to prepare and appear for exams according to their schedules and time needs.

Benefits of doing CPA

With growing globalization and cost benefits, many multinational corporations (MNCs) including Wall Street Giants like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup etc. have set up their accounting & technical base in India. This, thereby, opens up a plethora of opportunities for candidates who have knowledge of Foreign Accounting Standards and Principles like CPA.

Notably, almost 25% of Global Fortune 500 companies are US-based. So naturally, the demand and opportunities for people with knowledge in US GAAP (similar to Ind AS) is immense. With a CPA recognition, a person working in a MNC can expect to earn almost 30-40% more salary than any other accounting professional.

Below are some of the exciting career opportunities post CPA qualification:

• Assurance Services

• Foreign Accounting

• Internal and External Auditing

• Consulting Services

• Tax and Financial Planning

Eligibility Criteria

Below is a high-level criterion for being eligible for CPA examination and CPA License.

Now, let’s dwell upon how we achieve the above CPE credits. Generally, each year of college accords 30 credits.

Exception – Graduation from a NAAC A University with First Division gets a 4-year bachelor’s degree with 120 credits.

As an example, below combinations can help you to easily determine your eligibility:

• B.Com + 1 year Diploma – 120 credits

• B.Com + CA Inter/ ICWAI Inter / CS Executive – 120 credits

• B.Com + M.Com (2 year) – 150 credits

• B.Com + MBA – 150 credits

• B.Com + CA/ ICWA / CS – 150 credits

Also, please note that any graduate like BBA/BA/BCA/B Tech are also eligible to obtain a CPA qualification, similar to any B.Com candidate. 

Lastly, candidates who are unable to obtain 120 CPE credits through various combinations, may undertake a 1-year accounting diploma program from any recognized university which accords 30 CPE credits to their 3-year graduation degree of 90 credits (30 x 3 years).