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Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

July 11, 2010 By College Admin

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a designation granted to accountants who have qualified by passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination (UCPAE). The UCPAE is created and scored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

CPAs are licensed by their state Board of Accountancy on the basis of that CPA’s education, experience, and their ability to pass the CPA Exam.

In the majority of states, a CPA is the only person who is licensed and permitted to provide attestation (including auditing) opinions on financial statements for their clients. In Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina and Ohio, any accountant can audit but cannot use the CPA designation until he or she has passed the UCPAE.

If a person who has passed the UCPAE

  • has not finished the on-the-job experience requirement or
  • has previously met that requirement but since then has not completed their continuing professional education

that person is designated “CPA Inactive.”

The majority of states allow only a person licensed as a CPA in their state to use the designation. Therefore, a CPA from California is not called a CPA in Illinois until that person meets the state requirements of Illinois for a license or meets the requirements stated in a reciprocity agreement.

Texas is even more restrictive. Only a CPA in Texas can be addressed by the designations “auditor” and “accountant.” The only exceptions are:

  • a non-resident of Texas who is a CPA in another state AND
  • meets the requirements to practice in Texas as an out-of-state member of the CPA firm or practitioner.

Would you like to be designated a CPA and command the higher salaries and greater career opportunities which comes with the designation? Then you need to pass the CPA Exam! CPAexcel is the easiest way to prepare and pass the CPA Exam.

Careers of CPAs in International Business

Careers for CPAs in International Accounting

International Accounting

The global marketplace offers CPAs a variety of exotic locales around the world in which to work. As an accountant, you know the language of numbers (accounting); by learning foreign languages, you expand your career opportunities to work and travel overseas. With NAFTA and other trade agreements, it is predicted that there will be incredible job growth in international accounting. A CPA is recognized world-wide as someone with an incredible command of a body of accounting knowledge and therefore is an instant asset to an organization. This is a trade-centric world so get onto a career path in trade-centric accounting. In a job like this, pack your suitcase: you may be traveling the world!

Here are job postings on Jan. 4-5, 2010:

Manager of Internal Audit- Latin America

Florida

Conduct complex audits of information systems. Travel to the US, Caribbean, Asia, Europe and Latin America about 70% of your time.

Requirements:

Staff Auditor II/ Internal Audit
Nebraska

Work with Audit Seniors and Directors to obtain management responses for audit findings that ensure attainment of audit objectives.

Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s degree, emphasis in Management Information Systems or a

related field.

  • Two to five years of public accounting and/or industry experience.
  • CPA desired.
  • Fluency in 2nd Language required: German, Greek, Polish or Korean

other deired languages will be considered.

Regional Senior Auditor, Business Unit/Audit

Novartis

Florida

Novartis is a biotech world leader, researching new drugs and vaccines. Its headquarters is in Basel, Switzerland.

The Regional Senior Auditor will be based in Latin American and will conduct a spectrum of audits while complying with internal audit standards and procedures.

Requirements:

University degree, preferably in a financial discipline.

CPA preferred.

Fluent (verbal and written) in English, and in Spanish and/or Portuguese (preferably both). Additional languages a plus.

Experience of 7-10 years in broad business and finance. (https://xjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?SID=&jobId=1048209&type=search&JobReqLang=1&recordstart=751&JobSiteId=5050&JobSiteInfo=1048209_5050&GQId=0&partnerid=13617&siteid=5050)

International Tax Director for one of the TOP 10 CPA firms

Chicago, IL
Salary: $150,000 – $250,000

Since our International Tax Practice group is rapidly growing, we have expanded.

The International Tax Director will provide world-wide tax minimization planning, foreign tax credit, foreign assignment planning, international business advice, transfer pricing analysis, FAS 109, and outbound and inbound structure planning.

Requirements:

  • CPA, must currently be with public accounting or consulting firm.

International Corporate Tax Adviser with CPA

San Diego, CA

Requirements:

International Tax Manager

New York City

Salary: $110,000-165,000

A large New York City CPA Firm seeks an ambitious and communicative International Tax Manager.

International Tax Manager

Sacramento, CA

Salary: up to $100,000

Requirements:

  • CPA license (preferably in California)
  • Bachelor’s degree in Tax, Accounting or related field
  • 2+ years international tax provisions
  • 5+ years of domestic Federal and State tax related experience
  • Can prepare and review federal and state tax returns for multiple entities

Benefits:

  • Competitive Market-Driven salary
  • Performance Bonuses
  • Comprehensive benefit package including insurance, paid holidays, paid time

off and more

  • Positive, fun, and supportive work environment
  • Excellent opportunities for learning and advancement

International Tax Specialist/CPA
Armonk, NY

CPA with the main responsibility to prepare US consolidated federal return for a Fortune 100 Company.

How do you get there from here? To become a CPA in international business, you should have an interest in nations beyond your own and you should have a desire to travel.

If you are still in college, consider taking courses in international business, international politics, and history. If you have graduated with your BA/BS, consider taking courses in international business, accounting, and/or IT to bring your total coursework up to the 150 semester hours required by most states before you sit for the CPA Exam.

How do you become a CPA? First, you need a bachelor’s degree with at least some accounting courses. Try CPAexcel’s Exam Planner to determine if you meet your state’s requirements. Exam Planner can tell you what courses you need before you apply to sit for the exam and Exam Planner gives you all the contact information for the testing agency in your state.

By becoming a CPA, you expand your opportunities to

  • move into management,
  • travel the world, and
  • command a higher salary.

Since the national CPA Exam has a failure rate of over half, consider a CPA review course. Since 1998, CPAexcel’s students pass at nearly twice the national rate.

Career Paths for Accountants

At the top of the corporate food chain, many senior corporation executives have a background in accounting, internal auditing, or finance. Ah, you ask, how did they get there? In all likelihood, they started out at the bottom of the corporate food chain and worked their way up…unless they took a short cut and married the boss’s daughter.

On a typical career ladder, beginning public accountants advance to positions with more responsibility in 1 or 2 years. A few years after that, they advance to senior positions. Those who excel at climbing the career ladder may:

  • become supervisors, managers, or partners within the firm; or
  • open their own public accounting firm; or
    • transfer to executive positions in management accounting or in internal           auditing with private firms.

Cost accountants, junior internal auditors, and trainees for other accounting positions can be promoted to positions as management accountants. From being management accountants, they climb the career ladder to become the:

  • accounting manager,
  • chief cost accountant,
  • budget director,
  • manager of internal auditing
  • controllers,
  • treasurers,
  • financial vice presidents,
  • chief financial officers, or
  • corporation presidents.

Public accountants, management accountants, and internal auditors usually have a high degree of occupational mobility. Public accounting practitioners often shift from management accounting and into internal auditing—or the other way around.   A rare career path would take an accountant or an auditor from either management accounting or internal auditing and move into public accounting. Additionally, because they learn about and review the internal controls of various business units within a company, internal auditors often gain the experience needed to become upper-level managers, especially when they become CPAs as well.

For accountants, the career path upwards requires that of becoming a CPA, a Certified Public Accountant. Progressing from being an accountant to becoming a CPA offers greater opportunities for promotion to management and higher salaries.

Interested in a career as a Certified Public Accountant? Here is some more information.

Each of the jurisdictions which offers the CPA exam has its own qualifications for sitting for the exam. The person who might not qualify in New York may qualify to sit for the Colorado exam so you have to check the requirements carefully.

In California, the requirements are:

  • A bachelor’s degree;
  • 24 semester units in accounting-related subjects;
  • 24 semester units in business-related subjects;
  • 150 semester units (or 225 quarter units) of education;
  • Passing the Uniform CPA Exam;
  • One year of general accounting experience supervised by a CPA with an active license; and
  • Passing an ethics course.– http://www.calcpa.org/Content/licensure/requirements.aspx

Logging 500 hours of attest or auditing experience will allow you to obtain the authority to sign attest reports.

In many firms having a CPA license is the only way one is promoted into upper management. Becoming a CPA increases your opportunity for promotions and salary increases.

How do you become a CPA? While you could buy books and study on your own, but you’d be missing several key learning modules featured in CPAexcel, a CPA review course for the CPA Exam.

Would you like a personalized study plan which takes into account how many hours you can study without loosing copious amounts of sleep? With CPAexcel’s Exam Planner, you can create a study plan. Based on the metrics of thousands of CPAexcel students who have passed the CPA exam, Exam Planner lets you know when you will be ready to sit for the exam and when you need to apply—critical information if you want to be ready to sit for the exam.

Did you enjoy asking your professors questions when you were in college? With Professor Mentored Learning, top accounting professors from leading universities promptly answer your posted questions, explaining thorny issues and problems. You can’t get that from a book.

Did discussion sections monitored by your professor add to your learning? In this small group setting, you could explore concepts not covered in class. With CPAexcel’s Student Discussions and Private Discussion Groups, you can share your ideas with other students. You can’t do that with just a book.

Would you like to create your own classes so that you can skip over what you already know and concentrate on what you need to learn? With CPAexcel’, you can create your own courses from our extensive list of assignments—and invite your friends to join you. Education personalized for you!

At CPAexcel, the countdown to 2011 has begun. Because CPAexcel is the only CPA Review Course which never expires, you can order it now and study for the current CPA Exam. If you have not passed all four sections by the end of 2010, you will have access to the new 2011 CBT-e content and functionality for free!

Order CPAexcel today: one price is all you pay to Pass the CPA Exam!

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