13 Steps How To Become An Accountant In Florida

(doylc.com) How to Become an Accountant in Florida - A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is qualified to do many different jobs, from helping clients with their tax returns to overseeing bookkeeping to implementing financial planning. It takes a lot of time to become a CPA – there are educational requirements as well as 4 exams that you need to take over the course of 18 months to even qualify to submit your CPA application. It's a career worth pursuing. Just be willing to work hard and learn!

• Fulfillment of educational requirements

1. Get a bachelor's degree in accounting from an accredited institution. Most accounting degrees can be earned during a 4-year program. However, if you only want to go to school part-time, you can spread your training over a few more years. There are no requirements for your GPA degree, but a higher GPA will help you enter a master's program that is part of another CPA requirement in the state of Florida.

Visit http://www.myfloridalicense.com/DBPR/certified-public-accounting/education-requirements/ for a list of all approved accreditation bodies.

If you graduate from a non-accredited school, you can still take the CPA exam, but you must take 15 additional undergraduate credit hours from an accredited institution. Then you must also take 30 hours of graduate level courses to validate your degree from the non-accredited school.

2. Complete the required number of hours in top class classes. A total of 120 completed credit hours is a necessary requirement to take your CPA exams and licenses, but some of these hours must be met by certain classes. Advanced level means a grade on the level of 300 to 400. The requirements for advanced level are:

24 semester hours in Taxes, Accounting, Finance and Expenditure.

3 of these 24 hours must include business law.

Elementary accounting classes do not count toward advanced level requirements.

3. Complete 30 additional hours of education through a master's program. The state of Florida requires you to have a total of 120 semester hours to take the CPA exam, but you must have a total of 150 semester hours to apply for your CPA license. Completing the 30 hours of a master's program qualifies you for your master's in accounting and also helps you prepare for these exams.

If you are not pursuing your master's degree but still want to earn your CPA license, you can take courses in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) to earn those 30 additional hours.

To become a CPA, 2 applications must be submitted: 1 application is admission to the exams; 1 application applies to your actual CPA license after you have passed the exams and met the education and work experience requirements.

4. Get your official certificates to submit with your application. Your application for admission to the CPA exam must include your official school transcripts, not copies. Call your registry office to get the official copies.

There may be a small fee for obtaining official certifications, but it shouldn't cost you more than $10-20.

5. Submit your application to the Florida Department of Business. After you've completed your at least 120 hours of coursework (and hopefully you're on your way to completing those 30 additional hours), you're ready to apply for admission to the CPA exam. The application can be found at http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/cpa/documents/DBPRCPA1ApplicationforCPAExamination_001.pdf.

There is a $50 registration fee.

The state of Florida does not require you to be a state or US citizen, but you must have a social security number.

There are application sections for your basic contact information, educational history, and background information.

• Taking the CPA exam

6. Schedule your first test after receiving your approval letter. After submitting your initial application, you will receive either an email or a letter notifying you that you have been admitted to the exams. The notice contains information about the timing of the tests. Remember that you have 18 months to complete all 4 tests and pass them with a score of 75% or higher. There are 4 test windows and you can only take each test once during a given window:

January 1st to February 29th

April 1st to May 31st

July 1st to August 31st

October 1st to November 30th

You can take all 4 tests at once, but most people prefer to study for 1 test at a time.

Detailed information on the examination process can be found in the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Bulletin: https://www.nasba.org/app/uploads/2011/02/Candidate_Bulletin.pdf.

7. Study hard in the months leading up to the exam to prepare for each exam. Luckily, there are CPA review courses you can buy online to thoroughly prepare for any exam. Your previous education should also be of great help in preparing for this next part of your CPA journey.

Most exam takers study 80 to 100 hours for each exam just to give you an idea of ​​how much time you need to devote to preparing.

8. Prepare to pay for each exam. Every time you take a test, you also have to pay a fee. Note that the average pass rate for each part of the exam is around 50%. So these are tough tests and you have to pay every time you take them, even if it's your second try.

The Financial Accounting and Reporting Exam (FAR) costs $195.35.

The Auditing and Attestation Exam (AUD) costs $195.35.

The Regulation Exam (REG) costs $176.25.

The Business Environment and Concepts Exam (BEC) costs $176.25.

9. Check your results online the month after the test. Waiting for your exam results can be very nerve-wracking! Fortunately, the association aims to publish all results within 2 weeks of the completion of the exam. After the results are published and submitted to NASBA, you can access them online within 48 hours.

Your score tells you whether you have achieved the required minimum score of 75% or more. At this point you don't know if you passed or failed.

• Gain work experience and apply for a CPA license

10. Start looking for an accounting job to gain work experience. Finally, when applying for your CPA license, you must show that you have worked 1 year or 2,080 hours with a licensed CPA. Update your resume, apply for jobs and keep interviewing until you get a job.

It is 1 year or 2,080 hours of work experience. You can complete these hours by working full-time for 1 year or part-time for 2 to 3 years.

Ask friends and family if they know anyone who is hiring, post your resume on job sites like Indeed, CareerBuilder, Monster, and SimplyHired, and start researching accounting jobs to apply for.

11. Work with an approved company. You can technically start this part of the process before you even take the exams, which is a great way to continue working on your CPA license while studying. Whoever you work must be a licensed CPA, and they will fill out a form certifying your hours worked when it comes time for you to submit your CPA license application.

Visit http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/cpa/documents/DBPRCPA32VerificationofWorkExperience_000.pdf to view the form to be completed as of 2019 to verify your work experience.

12. Apply for your CPA license within 3 years after completing all requirements. The state of Florida gives you a full 3 years after passing your final exam to complete your work experience and submit your CPA license application. The application is much shorter than the one you submitted when applying for the CPA exam, so you're just a short walk away from completing the process!

There is an additional registration fee of $50.

Again, submit official transcripts showing that you completed the entire 150 semester hours.

Submit the proof of work experience completed by your employer.

Fill out and submit the application.

Here is the link for the CPA license application: http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/cpa/documents/DBPRCPA2CPALicensureApplication_000.pdf

13. Maintain your license by completing 80 CPE credits every 2 years. CPE stands for Continuing Professional Education. The state of Florida requires you to complete 80 hours of CPE every 2 years, 20 of which must be from accounting and auditing classes and 4 from ethics. You can take online courses at will to fulfill this requirement.

Since 2011, Florida CPAs are no longer required to report their CPE hours to the board. However, you must keep proof of hours worked in case you are screened.