Jalpesh (Internal Auditor) (51 Points)
24 February 2014Hi professional colleagues,
I am a chartered accountant (ICAI) with B Com degree working currently in mombasa (Kenya) as an Internal Auditor wants to know the CPA course structure including duration, requirements and cost for pursuing the course and also the Job prospects in India and US.
Thanking you in advance.
Suman
(CMA)
(195 Points)
Replied 19 May 2020
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a license issued in 55 states or territories of the United States that authorizes the holder to practice as a CPA in that jurisdiction. To earn the prestige associated with the CPA license, an individual is required to demonstrate knowledge and competence by meeting high educational standards, passing the CPA exam, and completing a specific amount of general accounting experience. The two most important aspects of becoming a CPA are passing the Uniform CPA Exam and meeting licensing requirements in the state where you want to practice.
As for CPA eligibility, you need 120 credits to appear for the CPA exam and 150 credits for a CPA license.
General rule: Every year of university education in India is equivalent to 30-semester credits of US education.
Some state boards award credit for international professional qualifications like CA.
For international CPA candidates from India, generally 3-year commerce graduates from NAAC A universities who have scored a 1 st division are awarded 120 credits.
The demand for CPA has considerably grown in recent times with the substantial growth in MNCs and the Big4s in India. This shift in the trend is because of the requirement of knowledge and credibility about US GAAP, IFRS & US taxation by these multinational companies. “Aren’t there inhouse Indian accounting professionals like Chartered Accountants (CA) who can meet this demand?”, you may ask. But, Indian qualifications like Chartered Accountant (CA) have limited geographical recognition and do not cover topics like IFRS & US GAAP. This increases the demand for CPA candidates in India. The demand has increased than the supply and that forced the MNCs and the Big 4s to train their CAs as CPAs. In other words, they give extensive training on the US GAAP, taxation, and the IFRS to their existing employees who are a qualified Chartered Accountant from the ICAI. For such training, the corporations approach Educational institutes like Miles Education, who are the experts in the industry in relation to the US GAAP & the IFRS.
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