I am currently enrolled in the MS in Accounting at Liberty and finishing up my last prerequisite course (Auditing) prior to starting the eight graduate accounting classes to complete my degree. Once I complete Auditing, I should have enough units to meet the California Pathway 2 Experience Requirements of 150 units total, 24 accounting, 24 business credits. I am seriously considering studying for the CPA exam now. My goal is to get both FAR and AUD done within the next 9 to 12 months while taking one course per session at Liberty, so I can start looking at open positions within accounting. I would like to know if anyone has any experience with Beckers or Yeager. I have no problem spending between 500 to 1000 for each exam, I want to make sure I completely understand material and score high on the exams. Yeagers videos appear to provide more video instruction of the material. One concern I have with CPA is obtaining the work experience. I read the description for General Experience (1 year / pathway 2) and it appears that I do not have to actually work in public accounting, but would have to work under a CPA? I am trying to find out what options I would have to gain the 1 year experience. The other option is to get the CIA designation since I noticed there are more auditing jobs here in Sacramento, but the prospective employers seem to prefer CPA over CIA for accounting credentials even in accounting jobs. The reason why I mentioned CIA exam because the exam is almost 50% cheaper for students and the material is less expensive. Below are the courses I completed and timetable for the rest. Spring 2011 01/17/11 - 03/11/11 ACCT 301 Intermediate Accounting I (completed) 01/17/11 - 03/11/11 ACCT 401 Taxation (completed) 03/21/11 - 05/11/11 ACCT 302 Intermediate Accounting II (completed) 03/21/11 - 05/11/11 ACCT 311 Cost Accounting (completed) Summer 2011 05/16/11 - 07/08/11 ACCT 404 Auditing (Currently taking) 06/27/11 - 08/19/11 ACCT 511 Advanced Business Law for Acountants 06/27/11 - 08/19/11 ACCT 642 Accounting Ethics Fall 2011 08/23/11 - 10/15/11 ACCT 531 Accounting Information Systems 10/25/11 - 12/17/11 ACCT 632 Advanced Financial Accounting Theory Spring 2012 01/17/12 - 03/11/12 BUSI 601 Accounting for Decision Making 03/21/12 - 05/13/12 ACCT 521 Advanced Cost Accounting Summer 2012 05/16/12 - 07/08/12 ACCT 622 Advanced Auditing 06/27/12 - 08/19/12 ACCT 612 Tax Research and Jurisprudence
I am going over the accounting/auditing jobs over careerbuilder and it seems that a lot of these positions require extensive excel and some access knowledge. I made a post on the other thread, but I am considering getting Excel/Access 2010 expert certified prior to doing either CPA or CIA
