US Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is one of the world’s most advanced and better accounting designations, if not the best. Given the dominance of US economy and its companies around the world there is a plethora of opportunities it offers to members around the globe. Naturally, it is one of the most sought-after crown jewels in the world of accountancy profession.

Gateway of Dreams

USA accounts for around 27% of Fortune Top 500 global companies with all the top 10 companies based out of US. As much as a bank like Citigroup needs engineers, tech giants like Google and Amazon also need accountants to maintain and report their financial records.

Larger the company, higher the level of scrutiny and more the accounting and reporting requirements. With increasing regulations, reporting requirements, and complex products being introduced at a much faster pace every year, there has never been a more growing need for skilled accountants than now. These companies are just not large by revenue or profit, they are equally good and renowned for their employee well-being. They provide their employees with best of class infrastructure to work from in form of state-of-art corporate offices, mental well-being benefits and off course, lucrative paychecks. And guess what, most of them maintain same standards in all their offices across the world.

And these opportunities just do not end in your native country, rather its spread across the world. With growing globalization and cost benefits accrued, many multinational corporations (MNCs) including Wall Street Giants like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and heavyweights like Walmart, Apple,  Google etc., have all set up their accounting & technical base in India. Opportunities are thus in abundance for candidates who have knowledge of foreign accounting standards and principles like CPA. And last but not the least – Big 4s. Given their global presence and service contracts at group level, they keep having requirements of skilled accountants all the time. Basis demand and skill-level, it is much easier to opt for global mobility and live your dream of being a global citizen.

Scope of CPA course

Coming out of our dreams, we must now ensure that we fully understand the CPA course, its curriculum, and exam dates. CPA as a course requires you to clear just 4 papers!

CPA tests your skills on below four sections to judge overall capabilities, reasoning:

·        Auditing & Attestation (AUD) with 50% MCQ and 50% case studies

·        Business Environment & Concepts (BEC) with 50% MCQ, 35% case studies and 15% memo

·        Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR) with 50% MCQ and 50% case studies

·        Regulation (REG) with 50% MCQ and 50% case studies

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.

More importantly, 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.

Eligibility Criteria

At a high-level, below is the criteria for being eligible for CPA examination and CPA License.

Generally, each year of college accords 30 credits. So, a usual 3-year graduation course will gather 90 credits for you.

Below are few examples of various combinations that may help you gather required CPE credits:

·        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.

Career Opportunities

In terms of the actual career options, below are some of the exciting ones one can get into post CPA qualification:

ü  Assurance Services

ü  Foreign Accounting

ü  Business and Management Consulting

ü  Internal and External Auditing

ü  Consulting Services

ü  Tax and Financial Planning

ü  Advisory services like tax, transaction (M&A) etc.

ü  Forensic