California CPA Exam Requirements Overview

Hello, this is Stephanie from IPasstheCPAExam.Com. Today I'd like to give you an overview of the California CPA exam and licensing requirements. California is the most popular state to register for the US CPA exam, representing 15% of total candidates. Since January 2014, the state boards
rules have changed such that 150 credit hours and accounting concentration are required to obtain the California CPA license.

One Important Note for International Candidates
California strictly requires a social security number for the CPA license. Whats confusing is that California does
allow candidates without SSN. To sit for the exam, so technically, non-SSN holders can
still apply and think about transferring your exam credits to other states. However, I strongly recommend you try another
state because there are risks in credit transfer.

You can check out this page for state boards
popular to international candidates. California CPA Requirements First, Exam Eligibility Lets take a look at the general educational requirement. Candidates are required to have: 4-year bachelor degree or above; 150 credit hours;
If you are enrolling in a masters degree or a program that would make you fulfill the
150-hour rule upon graduation, you may take the CPA exam before graduation by seeking
prior approval from CA state board. For other bachelor degree
holders with 120 credit hours, you can make up for the remaining 30 credit hours with:
An additional masters degree; Non-degree courses in community colleges,
and other accredited educational institutions.

It can be done either online or in classroom
setting. Here are some suggestions on how this can
be done. Candidates are also required to fulfill minimum
accounting courses. They need to fulfill:
24 credit hours; Qualifying courses include Accounting,
Auditing, External or Internal Reporting, Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, and
Taxation.

Other accounting courses that can be counted include Assurance, Attestation, Bookkeeping, Cost meaning Cost Analysis and Costing, Peachtree, and QuickBooks CPA review courses can be counted but
must be taken from regionally or nationally accredited institutions. Please refer to CBA Regulations section 9.2(B)
for details. Third, candidates need to fulfill at least 24 credit hours of business related courses. Qualifying courses include Business Administration,
Business Communications, Business Law, Business Management, Computer Science or Information System, Economics, Finance, Marketing, Mathematics, Statistics, Business, related law courses
offered at an accredited law school.

Please refer to CBA Regulations section
9.2(C) for details. Second, License Requirements
The California state board does not give you certificates or other official documents after
passing the exam. You must complete the licensing requirements
to hold yourself out as a CPA. First, Education
Apart from the 24 accounting credits and 24 business credits, you need the following additional courses for the license: Accounting Study Subjects, and you'll need 20 credit hours.

This is an addition to the 24 accounting credits mentioned above. The state board is essentially looking
for an accounting concentration. You can check out the detailed requirement
under CBA Regulation Sections 11.1. You are automatically qualified if you
have a masters in Accounting, Taxation or Laws in Taxation.

Ethics Study, and you'll need 10 credit hours. Qualifying courses include Auditing, Legal
Environment of Business, Business Leadership, Morals, Corporate Governance, Business Law, Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Resources Management Fraud, Management of Organizations, Business Government & Society, Organizational Behavior, Professional Responsibilities. Details can be found in BPC section 5094.3. Question: this is all too complicated.

Does California state board provide pre-evaluation
service? The state board does not have such service, but they provide this self-assessment worksheet on their website, for you to determine whether you are qualified for the California CPA license. Third, Experience Requirements
150 credit hours, plus 1 year of experience is the only way to get the license effective
Jan 1, 2014. General requirements:
1 year of experience in accounting, attestation, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills. Experience acquired in teaching of the above subjects does not qualify.

500 And plus attest hours are needed for those who want to sign attest reports. Part-time work is accepted. 170 Hours is equivalent to one month of full-time
employment. Experience from public accounting For those with experience in public accounting, you must be supervised and verified by an individual who holds a valid active license,
or comparable authority to practice public accountancy in any state or country.

My interpretation is that your supervisor
can be a CPA or CA from other countries. Giving the language is quite vague here, it
is best to double check with the state board by email if your boss is not a US CPA.
Experience from non-public accounting or private industries
You'll need to be supervised and verified by a US CPA. If this verifier is not the owner of the
company, then a second signature from his boss (not necessarily a CPA) is required. Special Note to Out-of-State Supervisor
License Verifications If your experience is obtained outside of
California, the state board requires written verification from the out-of-state licensing
body with which the supervisor holds a valid active license to practice public accountancy.

Fourth, Ethics Exam Requirements The California State Board only accepts ethics exam known as the Professional Ethics for CPAs, from the California
CPA Education Foundation. The exam has to be taken within 2 years after
the submission of the license application. Fifth, California CPA Requirements on Residency and Age Non-US citizens and residents are welcome
to apply. There is no minimum age requirement.

Social security number is not required to
sit for the exam, but mandatory to obtain the license. Contact Information
The information in this video is extracted from the very useful and informative handbooks prepared by California State Board. Please go to the bottom of this page for the links. I hope this video gives you an overview of
CPA exam and licensing requirements in California, and special notes to candidates with international background.

Please drop me a note in the comment section
if you have any questions. If you find this helpful, you can consider
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