CPA course and CPA exam in India - Know everything from Simandhar Education

US Certified Public Accountant

US CPA ( Certified Public Accountant ) is a designation given by AICPA to the individuals who have passed the Uniform CPA exam, met the required and relevant experience. The CPA designation enforces high professional standards in the field of accounting. 

US CPA Course Eligibility

To appear for the CPA exam, the candidate must have any of the following qualifications.

• Member of the "Institute of Costs & Works Accountants in India."
• Member of the "Institute of Chartered Accountants of India."
• Member of the "Company Secretaries in India."
• MBAs.
• Master of Commerce.
• B.com graduates, pursuing Masters.

US CPA License Requirements

For receiving CPA license, the candidate must have to fulfil below requirements.

• In general, many states ask for 150 credit hours in some specific courses from a university or an accredited institute under NASBA.
• The candidate should pass the Ethics exam.
• Must have 2,000 hours of work experience in taxation, auditing, accounting and management consultancy (need not be under a CPA supervisor; Sripal Jain (CA, CPA) who is a licensed US CPA holder & co-founder of Simandhar Education can verify for you).
• Age limit: 18+ years.

US CPA Exam Format

There are four sections in the CPA exam:

1. Regulation (REG)
2. Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
3. Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
4. Business Environment and Concepts (BEC)

The AICPA administers the CPA exam. The total duration of the exam is 16 hours (4 hours for each section). 

Multiple-choice questions vary from being one sentenced to paragraph length questions with 4 potential answers. Whereas, the Task-based simulations require the candidates to type in answers, and may include journal entries, research questions, reconciling accounts, filling out a form with multiple questions, or filling out report sections. Written communication tasks test the ability of a candidate through writing, these are essential in the business environment. 

Regulation (REG)

The CPA-REG (Regulation) exam tests the understanding level of the candidate at legal matters in a business context and taxation at a federal level. The REG CPA exam covers the topics of business law and federal taxation. 

Let's go through the complete details of the CPA regulation exam structure.

CPA-REG Exam Topic Areas

The REG section is a 4-hour long exam. It includes below topics:

CPA-REG Exam Structure and Format

The CPA Regulation exam contains five different testlets. The first two testlets consist of 38 MCQs each. Then there will be a 15-minute break. After you come back from break, there will be three more testlets consisting of task-based simulations.

Regulation Section Format

Auditing and Attestation (AUD)

The CPA-AUD Exam (Auditing and Attestation) section focuses on the examination entity's processes, compliance, and financial statements. This section evaluates the understanding of standard auditing procedures, fundamental principles, gathering evidence, and internal control conceptsof the candidates.  

Many CPA aspirants think the CPA-AUD exam is related to the FAR section; it is because there's minor overlap in the requirements of GAAP reporting tested on both exams. Yes, there's an overlap, but that wouldn't be significant enough to base the entire CPA exam schedule on this one fact.

Let's know what is on the CPA-AUD exam.

CPA AUD Exam Structure and Format

The Audit exam consists of two testlets with 36 multiple-choice questions in each testlets. After completion of these two testlets there will be 3 testlets which consist of a total 8 task-based simulations.

You have a total of 4 hours for the CPA-AUD exam. You have to allocate time properly. The best time allocation for the audit exam is 35-45 minutes to MCQs in each testlet and 15-25 minutes to reviewing MCQ answers and about 2 hours for the simulations in total. 

Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)

The CPA-FAR Exam section covers topics like financial transactions, financial statements, GAAP, reporting for non-profits. Most of the CPA aspirants consider FAR to be the challenging one among the remaining CPA exam sections because of its length.

This exam is also considered as difficult because it tests the candidate's understanding of statement presentation, financial reports, and business transactions using IFRS, GAAP, and governmental accounting systems. There's also common to see topics like benefits of the employee, compiling operations, transfers, research costs, correcting errors in transactions, and calculating fair value figures as well.

FAR Topic Areas & Concepts

The FAR section is a 4-hour long exam. It includes below topics:

FAR CPA Exam Structure and Format

The CPA FAR exam starts with 2 testlests with 33 Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) each. After that, there will be a break of 15 minutes; then there will be three testlets with 8 task-based simulations.

FAR Section Format

Business Environment and Concepts (BEC)

The CPA-BEC Exam (Business Environment and Concepts) tests the students in management, principle economic concepts, Information & Technology (IT), and corporate governance. 

Let's know the complete details of CPA-BEC Exam.

BEC Topic Areas & Concepts

The CPA BEC section is a 4-hour long exam. It includes the below topics:

BEC CPA Exam Structure and Format

The CPA BEC exam starts with 2 testlests with 33 Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) each. The third testlet includes 2 Task-Based Simulations (TBS). After that there will be a 15-minute break. Then another 2 testlets will be there with 2 TBS and 3 tasks involving work communication.

 BEC Section Format

CPA Exam Fees

The CPA Exam fees will be additional around 3000 USD, below is the break up for your reference: In Indian currencies the below fees will be around 2.25,000 approx.

• 1000 USD for 4 CPA Papers is paid as Paper Fees.

• 1500 USD for 4 CPA papers is paid as International Testing Fees only for students writing exams out of the US.
• 225 USD is paid to NASBA for Evaluation.
• 250 USD is paid towards CPA Application fee whenever you apply for exams.

CPA exam fee is $1000 and International testing fee is $1500. Additionally, $225 for evaluation making the overall CPA exam fees in India is INR 2,00,000 without training fee.

The training fees of Becker is usually INR 1.2L to INR 1.47L depending on the product and offers.

•  Simandhar Education has a bridge program where you could invest additional INR 20,000 if you're not having required credits (120) for CPA.

• Credits are nothing but scores converted into a certain number of units, B.com of 3 years normally gives 90 credits ( if your first division and NAAC A you would get 120 ) and 150 credits to get US CPA license, so a bridge program would bridge the gap in case you're a B.Com and are not from the first division.

•  Simandhar Education is the only institution in India to provide entire support for CPA from registration to licensing and helping professionals select state board criteria.

CPA Exam in India

In India, CPA Exam testing began on January 1, 2021.

The uniform CPA exam is administered in Prometric test centers in the United States and international locations. 

Indian candidates may schedule to take the "US CPA Exam" in the Prometric locations given below:

1. Hyderabad
2. Ahmedabad 
3. Mumbai
4. Delhi 
5. Bangalore 
6. Chennai
7. Kolkata and 
8. Trivandrum

Candidates testing at any international testing center should pay the exam administration before he/she schedules with that particular Prometric. For this process, please sign in to the NASBA portal and select the option "International Administration." 

Salary of a US CPA

The US CPAs are more in demand across many industries in India. They can command good salaries because of their expertise in the fields of accounts and finance. Moreover, most of the companies retain US CPAs' talent in accounting by paying high salaries along with bonuses and hikes. In India, the salary of a US CPA entry-level is around Rs. 60 LPA.

According to Indeed, the US CPA salary in India is Rs. 9.25 LPA.

US CPA salary in big 4 in India is in the range of Rs. 12.5 LPA – Rs. 20.4 LPA.

Career Opportunities for US CPA

The CPA certification paves many career opportunities to work in the most renowned companies around the world. 

Given below are some of the best job roles in India for US CPA:

• Risk and Compliance Professional
• Senior Financial Analyst
• Accounting Software Developer
• Corporate Controller
• Personal Financial Advisor
• Information technology Accountant
• Finance Director

Indeed, there are countless job opportunities for CPA holders in India. Many companies, including Big 4s like EY, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC are hiring US Certified Public Accountants right now. According to Naukri, there are around 30,000+ job openings for the US CPAs in India, and this number keeps increasing.

Conclusion

Hope you found the complete information about US CPA exam format, syllabus, license process, US CPA salaries, US CPA career opportunities and US CPA course benefits. Any Questions? Comment below.

About Simandhar Education

Simandhar Education is the official partner of Becker and channel partner of AICPA - Largest Training provider for US CPA, US CMA, IFRS and EA courses in India. 

Learn how to clear your CPA exams with extremely satisfying results by getting proper guidance and knowledge through our online courses and video tutorials taught by industry Experts. We're here to provide you with all the help that you need in order to ace your CPA, CMA exams.