9/18/23, 4:39 AM Ineligible For US CPA?

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Ineligible For US CPA? Here’s What You Need To Know

 June 24, 2022  Siddhant Khanvilkar

After the pandemic, restrictions have been lifted and professionals are once
again grabbing the opportunities to work and earn abroad. The demand for
international courses has been at an all-time high. Since the finance and
accounting industry has grown dramatically during the pandemic, most students
who have an interest in this industry are keen on taking professional courses that
give them a global edge. Among the various international finance and
accounting courses, if there’s one course that’s gaining immense popularity, it’s
the US CPA course. The US CPA course is also known as the black belt in
accounting course.
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9/18/23, 4:39 AM Ineligible For US CPA? Here's What You Need To Know - ZELL Education

A course conducted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

(AICPA), US CPA 1 to 1.5 year-long course with four examinations on Financial
Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Regulation
(REG), Business Environment and Concepts (BEC). Each paper is about 4 hours
long and comes with a mix of multiple-choice questions and task-based
simulations.

US CPA (Education)

To become a qualified US CPA, the AICPA, NASBA, and the jurisdictions of

America have a criterion for three essential categories.

Education: A bachelor’s degree or a credit score of 120 in the field of

commerce.

Exam: The board requires you to complete all 4 papers of the US CPA exam
within a window of 18 months.

Experience: Based on the jurisdiction you choose to work in, you need to
have at least 1 year of relevant work experience.

Coming to the education criteria, as per the US’s ‘120-hour credit rule’ which
quantifies to 30 hours per year, most Indian students often tend to get stuck.
Since the US has a 4-year bachelor’s program (4 x 30 = 120 hours) and India has
a 3-year bachelor’s program (3 x 30 = 90 hours) Indian students often fall under
the eligibility criteria.

Solution: If you are a B.Com student already pursuing a CA degree, you can
easily qualify for the US CPA exam. Another way to fit into the criteria is to
pursue a 2 years Master’s program. Taking M.Com, in that case, would prove to
be a boon for you since the subjects overlap with that of US CPA.

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9/18/23, 4:39 AM Ineligible For US CPA? Here's What You Need To Know - ZELL Education

US CPA Eligibility (Examination)

After meeting the basic education requirement, the next step is meeting the
examination requirement. After completing the 120 credit hours, it’s time to find a
jurisdiction where you qualify easily. Send your mark sheets and Indian
transcripts to an international credit evaluation agency. Your evaluation depends
on where you’ve completed your education from. For Indian-international
students who’ve studied in the US, there’s no evaluation required. But for Indian
students studying in India, there’s an evaluation process.

Similarly, for US students studying abroad, an evaluation for US CPA is

mandatory. Make sure that you double-check all your documents before sending
them for evaluation. NASBA has the contact information of each and every
accounting board.

Solution: There is a basic charge that you need to pay for your professional
evaluation. This could range anywhere from $100 to $400. The cost also varies
on the evaluation required, the cost of a general diploma evaluation is way lesser
than that of a course-by-course evaluation.

Some jurisdictions also provide pre-evaluation as a service that helps you

identify which courses you are currently lacking in order to appear for your
examination.

US CPA Eligibility (Experience)

The minimum experience requirement often comes off as the greatest roadblock
when applying for US CPA. The work experience required for US CPA is about a
year. However, when it comes to experience ‘relevance’ and ‘verification’ plays an

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9/18/23, 4:39 AM Ineligible For US CPA? Here's What You Need To Know - ZELL Education

important role. For Indian students, only if you’ve worked under US CPA for a
year, will your experience be counted.

Solution: While experience is mandatory for many states in America, it doesn’t

necessarily have to be public accounting experience. It could also be an
experience in related domains such as taxation or academic teaching.

We hope that with this detailed explanation your doubts regarding the US CPA
eligibility have been answered. However, since it can be a complicated process to
get through, you’ll need a coaching institute that helps you through every step of
the process, from application to placement. Apply for Certified Public Accountant
(CPA) through Zell Education or simply get in touch with our experts with a click
the WhatsApp icon.

What is the minimum eligibility for the US CPA course?

The minimum eligibility for US CPA is a graduation degree with a total of

120 credit scores.

Can a BA student pursue US CPA?

A BA student can pursue US CPA if they complement their degree with a

postgraduate degree in accounting or an MBA.

How can I get the extra 30 credits for US CPA?

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9/18/23, 4:39 AM Ineligible For US CPA? Here's What You Need To Know - ZELL Education

If you’ve cleared your B.Com in the first go from a NAAC-A accredited

university, you will be awarded extra 30 credits making you eligible for the
US CPA course.

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