Hi, IÕm Carol Graham an accounting professor at USF. Thank you for your interest in becoming an Accounting major and planning to attain your Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license. Pursuing a career as a CPA has proven to be a successful endeavor in both job attainment and career progression in accounting, finance, and business. This video will discuss the two parts on how you become a CPA. The first part is about what you need to know to be eligible to take the CPA exam, which you would do soon after you graduate, and the second part of the video explains the next steps towards licensure, which you would apply for once passing the CPA exam concurrently doing the required work experience.
The first step towards taking the CPA exam and applying for the CPA license is reviewing the education requirements of your stateÕs Board pf Accountancy. A state BoardÊof Accountancy establishes the education requirements and determines the eligibility of candidates for attempting the CPA exam. A State Board of Accountancy also controls the licensing of CPAÕs and the renewals of the licenses. Since USFÕs in is California, my information complies with the California Board of Accountancy educational and licensing requirements. For all states, you must pass the national CPA exam. This national CPA exam is administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). This also means that the exam you take is the same regardless of where you take it. To be eligible to sit for the CPA exam in California, you will need to graduate with a bachelorÕs degree with 24 credits of business-related subjects and 24 credits of accounting coursework.
A USFÕ bachelorÕs degree in business with an accounting major fulfills the requirements to sit for the CPA exam. At the end of this video, I will have a link to review the requirements of other states if needed, Once you pass the national CPA exam, you will them apply for CPA license. This license enables you to practice as a public account or auditor and as previously mentioned, is given by an individual stateÕs Board of Accountancy. Again, the laws of the state you want to practice and determine what you need to do to be eligible to take the CPA exam and afterwards to get your CPA license. To practice in California, you will apply to the California State Board of Accountancy. At that time, you will document your completion of a minimum of 150 semester credits of college coursework to include an undergraduate degree or higher, 24 semester credits each in accounting and business-related subjects, 20 credits of accounting study, and 20 credits of ethics education. The good news is that between some of your USF core coursework, School of Management coursework, and Accounting Major coursework, you have the opportunity to meet the 150 credit license requirements.
Since 2017 you must haveÊ a minimum of 3 semester units of accounting ethics, specifically within the 10 credits of ethics study, To ensure this requirement will be met, USF offers a four unit elective course in accounting ethics. Please note that in order to put you in the best path for licensure in California, we advise you to complete more coursework than the minimum to sit for the CPA exam during your tenure at USF in order to prepare you for the 150 credits you will need to obtain for your state license. As we all know, it is easier to take classes while still in school versus when you are juggling your full-time job.
In addition, because many CPA forms require being Ò150 readyÓ as a hiring condition, we advise that you complete the 150 credits licensing requirement by the time you graduate. For the California State Board of Accountancy, semester credits cannot be double counted in multiple categories but they can be split in categories. For example, auditing is a 4-credit course and the split could be 2-credits to be used toward the 10 credits of the ethics requirements and the other two could be used toward the accounting requirement. Meet with an accounting faculty member to review further the options you have.
If you plan to move to another state after you graduate, then you need to look at the AICPAÕs website for a listing of the State BoardÕs at this linkÉ 
Here is also a link to our California State Board of AccountancyÕs site for more information. Our department chair, myself, or any other faculty member from the Accounting department are happy to answer any questions you have. The CPA exam and your future license, are important achievements in your professional career and we are happy to help you on your path to success. Thank you!