USQ/Australian degrees (accounting or computer)

Does anyone have experience with acceptance in the US of an Australian accounting degree? My wife is considering the Master of Professional Accounting program from the University of Southern Queensland, and we're wondering if anyone here has had experience using such a degree as qualification for the CPA or CMA exams. Alternately, has anyone had experience using a CPA Australia membership to gain a CPA license in the US?

Also, are there any problems in general with the acceptance of Australian degrees by the professional community in the US? Would a Masters degree from an Australian university carry as much weight as one from a US school? I'm specifically interested in the acceptability of accounting and computer oriented degrees. Would a Master of Professional Computing from USQ be as useful as an MS in Computer Science or MS in Computer Information Technology from a respected regionally accredited US school?

 

I can’t tell about the US, but Australian degrees are accepted in Canada in most of the engineering and accounting associations.

 

The degree on its own would be a problem. The best route is to get the Australian degree, which incidentally is a 'conversion masters', as it comprises the undergraduate core subjects and not masters subjects. It is designed to replace the undergraduate 3 year degree in 1 year, for someone with an unrelated degree, so don't be fooled.

Once you have the degree, then seek Australian CPA status (another 2-3 years) and seek US reciprocal membership. You will still have to do the US CPA exams. This will be the quickest from out here.

In short however, I think that you are wasting your time if you are seeking US CPA registration, and then CMA which incidentally has CPA entry. Do it directly in the US.

For those doing Australian Masters - be VERY SURE that you are doing a real masters and not a group of undergraduate core subjects packaged as a Masters. Those of us (MAcc - UNE) who worked our bums off for 2.5 years doing a 78 unit course get a little pissed of with these repackaged undergraduate courses.

Peter French
MEd MAcc (UNE, Australia) CMA
Chairman (86/7) CPA Public Practice Committee (Victoria)