STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

crystal · Kate Spade

Any CPAs out there?

Elle · Hermes

Crystal - LSUBatgirl is in the accounting field, not sure if she is a CPA though. Anyway I worked at a sm/med accounting firm for almost a year (40 or so accts/cpas). Most of the CPAs started as regular accoutants for work experience and then got their CPA license. We also had quite a few para-professionals that were just trained into everything (many of whom started out as receptionists/admins). A word of caution though - in my firm, if someone was newly licensed they'd make them do a ton of CPA work and not pay them any more than they made w/out their CPA license. And as a regular accountant (if you work for a private firm of course), especially just starting out, you'll most likely end up doing a lot of monthly/quarterly stuff and a ton of simple tax returns during tax season.

******Disclaimer: This is my own personal experience and I'm sure it varies alot from place to place************

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Hey crystal. I am working on my MS in Accounting right now. I don't know the requirements in CA to sit for the cpa exam but you might want to check into them while you are starting to think about it. I know in LA you have to have a set amount of hours in certain areas to be able to sit for the cpa. There are many jobs out there in Accounting and it is a great field to be in. I have to run to class but check out this site for now:

http://www.aicpa.org

and I'll try to get on later. If you have specific questions just pm me. Bliss has worked in Accounting also so she might have some more info also for you.

crystal · Kate Spade

ah, thanks girls! dunno why i didn't know u were in the acctg. field lsu... i'm sure i've read it somewhere! anyways, i found a site regarding the requirements to sit & it's 24 semester units in accounting classes, 24 in business classes (can also be acctg.), and 2 yrs. experience working under the supervision of a licensed CPA. that experience is what is killing me... i've emailed a few companies whose requirements i satsify asking them if i would be supervised by a CPA and one replied back "no" while the other said "submit ur resume" which i dunno if that's a yes or no. is there a specific job i should be looking for? i see lots of "book keeper" positions on craig's list and some have stricter requirements than others so i might be able to "slide in" but i just want to make sure it will count for the CPA exam.

oh, and 'scuse my dumbness (haha!) but what's the diff between a "regular accountant" and a licensed one? i mean, i didn't major in accounting and only have the 2 beginning classes under my belt (well, finishing the 2nd as we speak) so i really don't know how to market myself aside from "aspiring CPA"! ok, well, any more info is great, thanks a TON ladies!! oh & i'm gonna go check out that site now, lsu, thanks!!

Elle · Hermes

quote:
Originally posted by: crystal
"oh, and 'scuse my dumbness (haha!) but what's the diff between a "regular accountant" and a licensed one? i mean, i didn't major in accounting and only have the 2 beginning classes under my belt (well, finishing the 2nd as we speak) so i really don't know how to market myself aside from "aspiring CPA"!!!"

"Regular Accountant" as in not a CPA

. You should be able to get on with a firm before you sit for the exam to do bookkeeping (monthly/quarterly) stuff. At least in the firm I worked in everything was reviewed by a CPA before it went out the door anyway, I don't know if that would count as being 'supervised'?

crystal · Kate Spade

quote:
Originally posted by: LMonet
""Regular Accountant" as in not a CPA . You should be able to get on with a firm before you sit for the exam to do bookkeeping (monthly/quarterly) stuff. At least in the firm I worked in everything was reviewed by a CPA before it went out the door anyway, I don't know if that would count as being 'supervised'?"

ah!

thanks lmonet! so basically i should be looking to join accounting firms as opposed to regular businesses who happen to need accountants? ok, off to do more research!

LA Gal · Kenneth Cole

Grrr...I typed this long response and then it wouldn't post.

Anyway, I am a CPA although I no longer practice. To be a Certified Public Accountant, you have to complete the educational and work requirements and take the 2-day CPA exam. The work requirements are very detailed and strict - I would contact the CA Board of Accountancy (http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/) with questions - but basically, you have to be supervised by a CPA and I'm fairly certain that you can't just perform bookeeping services to meet the requirements. In CA it involves doing some audit work too.

You can always just be an accountant without a CPA license - this means that you probably can't work for the bigger firms, but I would think that most in-house accounting positions don't require a CPA license.

bumblebee · Dooney & Bourke

this is a related question for you accounting-inclined gals, because no one i have asked has bee able to answer it. what is a "CA" as opposed to a CPA? my accountant has that designation after his name and i've never seen it before...?

LA Gal · Kenneth Cole

quote:
Originally posted by: bumblebee
"this is a related question for you accounting-inclined gals, because no one i have asked has bee able to answer it. what is a "CA" as opposed to a CPA? my accountant has that designation after his name and i've never seen it before...?"

I'm not completely certain about this, but I think that's a Chartered Accountant, which is a different designation than CPA and has something to do with being certified as an accountant in another country. Is he Canadian or British?

bumblebee · Dooney & Bourke

he doesn't sound british. maybe he is canadian. odd.

Elle · Hermes

Well, CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant so wouldn't CA stand for Certified Accountant?

crystal · Kate Spade

quote:
Originally posted by: LA Gal
"but basically, you have to be supervised by a CPA and I'm fairly certain that you can't just perform bookeeping services to meet the requirements. In CA it involves doing some audit work too. You can always just be an accountant without a CPA license - this means that you probably can't work for the bigger firms, but I would think that most in-house accounting positions don't require a CPA license. "

thanks LAgal for ur helpful info! from what i've read u used to have to only perform "attest" work to gain the 2 yrs experience but now u can do anything as long as u r supervised by a CPA (i'm sure not "anything" but u know what i mean!). so let's say i just want to become a regular old accountant (no CPA license), how do i get started? i mean, i'm only taking extra classes, i'm not working towards a degree in accounting, so even if i take 48 credits i won't have a degree. so how should i go about getting a job as an accountant, just apply & note on my resume that i've taken accounting classes even tho i have a math degree? also, what title should i be looking for (i.e. a/r clerk, auditor, etc.)? i don't want to apply for something WAY outta my league, what is considered the starting position? thanks again to all of u for ur helpful input!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Hey crystal,

How long would it take for you to get a second degree in accounting? 30-60 hours? If its not that much you would probably have it alot easier to get a BS in accounting instead of just taking accounting classes. For some reason people like accounting degrees which I didn't have as an undergrad and it came up at every interview I went on.

That said there are many places to get a job in accounting. You could work for just about any kind of company doing just about any type of accounting that you want. Most places don't care if you have a CPA or not except public accounting firms. As far as jobs go book keepers are on the lowest rung of the totem poll in my area and you don't make as much money as an accountant. I don't know if you would want to take a book keeping job to get some experience because you might get stuck there. I would take classes and apply for accountant positions and say that you are taking the hours to sit for the exam if that's what you want to do.

The CPA exam is now taken in 4 months. What they do is offer all 4 parts 6 times a year (Jan/Feb, Apr/May, July/Aug, Oct/Nov) and you sign up for one part a month and take it like that. They have all kinds of review classes you can take to help you study.

It all basically depends on what kind of work you want to do and how far up the promotion chain you want to go.

lindsayp · Kenneth Cole

hey crystal, just to let you know, you don't have to have 2 years experience, that's only 1 of 2 paths you can take. The most common one is to have 125 semester units and 1 year experience under a licensed CPA. Just to let you know :) Oh, also, if you go to my college's accounting club website, on the home page we have a link to California CPA stuff. Here's the link below...

Actually, here's the link to the CA board of accountancy...

http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/

let me know what else i can do to help, I'm sure I can find some more links :)

crystal · Kate Spade

quote:
Originally posted by: lsubatgirl
"Hey crystal, How long would it take for you to get a second degree in accounting? 30-60 hours? If its not that much you would probably have it alot easier to get a BS in accounting instead of just taking accounting classes. For some reason people like accounting degrees which I didn't have as an undergrad and it came up at every interview I went on."

ok, LSU, i checked it out & if i go back to my alma mater (which happens to have a very good b-school), i think i can swing an acctg degree in 48 hours/units. so if i take 3 classes per semester, 2 in the summers i can do that in 2 yrs. now the only problem is i'm not sure my job will pay for it since it's not really related to my position. so far they have let me take 2 econ classes, 2 acctg classes, and 1 business class. i think they might get suspicious tho if i'm taking a ton of upper level acctg classes. well, anyways, i guess i'll have to apply for financial aid. thanks so much eveyone for ur input, i think i'm gonna email the acctg dept. at my school & see if they will waive a few of the requirements (like math for business, as a math major i'm sure i covered it!). i'm so excited!!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: crystal
"ok, LSU, i checked it out & if i go back to my alma mater (which happens to have a very good b-school), i think i can swing an acctg degree in 48 hours/units. so if i take 3 classes per semester, 2 in the summers i can do that in 2 yrs. now the only problem is i'm not sure my job will pay for it since it's not really related to my position. so far they have let me take 2 econ classes, 2 acctg classes, and 1 business class. i think they might get suspicious tho if i'm taking a ton of upper level acctg classes. well, anyways, i guess i'll have to apply for financial aid. thanks so much eveyone for ur input, i think i'm gonna email the acctg dept. at my school & see if they will waive a few of the requirements (like math for business, as a math major i'm sure i covered it!). i'm so excited!!"

hmm do they know what courses you enroll in and approve it that way or can you just ask for them to pay for some business classes and leave it at that. It doesn't hurt to try and get stuff paid for. What classes do you have to take? Any managements? That wouldn't be hard to slip by... Finance? That might not be hard either. I would just see how much they would pay for with before they started asking questions. Maybe not take 2 accounting classes together...