Changes In The Cpa Exam

Changes in the CPA Exam Coming In 2017 Many accounting majors, are not just going to school to be an accountant for the rest of their lives. The degree of accountancy has a lot to offer in the business world, from bookkeeping, auditing, and taxation. The highest paying aspect of accounting is taxation, people becoming CPAs, or certified public accountants. CPAs can file tax return, prepare audits, as well as advise clients on financial situations. The CPA route is the highest paying and most rewarding job in the accounting field; but to become one is very difficult. And it is about to get even harder on April 1, 2017. In one of the ways the CPA Exam is changing, is the college credit hours required in order to obtain the state license. Before

As a positive, accounting companies are going have to increase starting salaries, as it will be more education. “People with this requirement are expected to be more knowledgeable”, since the test is requiring more schooling, another 30 hours to complete; as well as being more “efficient and work with less supervision”. It is expected that both time and staff size will reduce in order to “offset increases in client costs” (Educational Requirements). The changes in the exam are designed to get bigger and brighter students to take it, not just average students that barely graduated with an accountancy degree. The AICPA, who created the exam, want to better benefit companies and clients by giving them better students that need less training and practice because of that extra year in school. The requirement is set to attract “a higher caliber student to accounting because it brings CPAs in line with other professions which require additional education”. “Students that complete the requirement will not only invest in their careers, but advance more rapidly in their firms due to an increased education base” (Educational Requirements). The opens up new opportunities for not just accounting majors but people with other financial degrees because, just an accountancy is no longer required. Someone with a finance major or another major with concentrations of accounting could make a good life for

Changes are constantly being made as new laws come into effect, old ones are taken away, so naturally the exam changes. The multitude of changes in the 2017 exam, is designed to make the exam harder to pass, giving accounting companies more skilled employees. Not only is the CPA Exam going to be harder, but it is going to take more time to complete. Currently, it is fourteen hours of examination, four sections, all having to be passed and completed within eighteen months. Now, it has increased by two hours, going from fourteen to sixteen, longer sections within the exam. A longer and more extensive exam also means more money (2017 CPA