cheryl7

Hello all,

I have been scouring the internet and have not been able to find an answer to my questions - so thought I would give this forum a chance.

I am a US citizen. I obtained a bachelor's degree in the USA (in literature) in 2003 before moving to the UK where I now work in audit for a Big 4 firm and will be a fully qualified ACA in September. My husband and I now want to move back to the USA next year, but from what I have found in my research this is not as straightforward as I thought as most states seem to require certain accounting education credits, which I do not have as I did not study accounting at College.

My questions are:

1) Is it possible that my ACA qualification can satisfy the specific accounting education requirements? I already have a bachelor's degree from a top level university in the US, just not in accounting .

2)If the answer above is no, what would the quickest route towards obtaining a CPA? I am willing to study a bit more, but obviously would like to utilise my ACA qualification if possible.

3)Do I even need a CPA to get a good job in accounting in the USA? Or would my ACA be sufficient? Ideally I would like to work in industry as a financial accountant / finance manager, etc.

Any advice, tips or general insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Cheryl

email1405

Hi,
1) Is it possible that my ACA qualification can satisfy the specific accounting education requirements? I already have a bachelor's degree from a top level university in the US, just not in accounting
2) If the answer above is no, what would the quickest route towards obtaining a CPA? I am willing to study a bit more, but obviously would like to utilise my ACA qualification if possible.

Answer: I am an accountant myself and would advise that you contact the CPA body in each of the different US States to find out which one would be willing to accept your current ACA qualifications and Degree to allow you to write the CPA exams. I understand that Maryland is one state where the requirements for writing the CPA examinations are not that stringent. Also, writing the CPA exams is the least difficult exams to pass to get a professional accounting designation. To make it simple to understand, let me put it this way, anyone who has done the UK ACA or the ACCA or the Canadian ACA or the CGA will find it much easier to pass the CPA exams without much study BUT someone who has only done the CPA will not find it easy to pass the ACA, ACCA or the Canadian CGA without much study.
3) Do I even need a CPA to get a good job in accounting in the USA? Or would my ACA be sufficient? Ideally I would like to work in industry as a financial accountant / finance manager, etc.
Short answer is like any country in the world; you are at advantage in getting a good job with a local professional accounting designation and also fight competition. Especially, in the US there could be better finance opportunities with a CPA designation.

Best of luck

JAJ

Try http://www.acaus.org/ for advice on which state is best to qualify through. As someone else has said, ACA is very good but a local designation alongside it is best.

Would you intend to work in public accounting (for which you normally need to be licensed in a specific state) or more generally (in which case, a qualification from any state is normally enough)?

cheryl7

Thanks for your replies.
I would likely intend to work in industry, as a finance manager/controller, etc. So hopefully could get a CPA in any state. I hear Colorado is quite good - but still requires a bachelor's degree in accounting which I don't have :-(
So frustrating as I have worked so hard for my ACA.

JAJ

Did you look at the Colorado requirements:
http://www.dora.state.co.us/Accounta...quirements.htm

"Foreign candidates: If you are a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and/or Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) you may use your membership certificate to meet the education requirements set forth in Rule 2.4:3 (see the Board Rules). You do not need to have your university transcripts evaluated. Simply submit a copy of your membership certificate with your application for certification."

cheryl7

Wow - that is SUCH as relief. Thanks so much for finding that JAJ!
I have been trying to get onto the Colorado website for days and for some reason my computer has not allowed me to access the site...keep getting the dreaded "The page cannot be displayed" message.

Thanks again for all your help - I am so happy

cheryl7

Hi there - it's me again

Was wondering if anyone knows about how usable a CPA designation is from one state to the next.

For instance, I know I can get my CPA from Colorado as they will accept my ACA qualification to meet the education requirements. However, will I then be able to find work easily in Texas (where there are much harder eduacation requirements)?

I have found a couple Texas job postings which say that CPA qualification is required, but they don't specify if it has to be from the state of Texas.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with this issue.

Thanks!
Cheryl

Hellboy663

You'll have to meet the requirement of a particular state only if you intend to practice there. If you're going to be in the Commerce and Industry, it doesn't matter which state you've got your CPA from.