I just completed my bachelors degree in General bussiness with Excelsior college a month ago. I am under thirty years and so I am contemplating on "beating the gmat" to get into a top bussiness school or just find any good school since i want to pursue accounting. To achieve these goals I am cramming for the gmat which is hardly motivational whilst taking accounting courses with Penn Foster College. The intermediate accounting and cost accounting courses I have registered are all ACE(american council of education) approved. I hope to transfer them to LSU's accounting certificate. The major reason is just to satisfy the prerequisite needed to pursue a master's degree in accounting since i only have a clep principles of accounting. I would like to know whether with this route I would be able to sit for the CPA . Furthermore, are there any masters in accounting degree that require few or no prerequisites? Lastly, any general suggestion will be highly appreciated.
Well, GMAT is the way to go for applying Business School; however, it is not required unless you want to go for top AACSB Schools. Is money matter to you? Having a Certificate in Accounting is a a good prerequisites for MS in Accoutning or MBA in Accounting; however, it is not enough for taking the CPA exam.
Study, study, study the GMAT...don't be cocky like me and think you can wing it...its not like any test I have ever taken...and try and get the first few correct, its an adaptive test. If it seem to get easy, then you may be doing poorly! Its a good experience though!
First, if you intend to sit for the CPA exam, you need to find out the requirements in your specific state(s). For example, IIRC, Texas won't let you take ONLINE accounting courses to fulfill your requirements. That would be a good thing to find out now. You can google your state's name and CPA Requirements and you should find what you need. That information will also tell you if an MBA would give you enough credits to sit for the exam or if you will need more. Without an accounting undergrad, it's a good chance you'll need more. There are two programs that might be of interest to you: Sacramento State http://www.cba.csus.edu/egp/accy/index.htm has an online MSAcc with very few prerequisites (but it does require the GMAT) and it would allow you to sit for most exams and you might not need the LSU classes. Pretty inexpensive for an AACSB-accredited school, too. There's University of West Florida post-undergrad certificate http://www.uwf.edu/account/profaccount_certificate.cfm that might get you enough credtis to allow you to sit for the exam. UWF is also AACSB and the certificate is offered online. This plus an MBA would be a great combo.
Agreed with searching out what your state requires. My state requires 150 credits (minimum) with a good about 40 credits in accounting business specific courses (true there are a couple econ courses in there, finance, ethics, etc). The 150 credits can be just extra undergrad courses in basketweaving from a college/university or in something else such as a Masters (MBA, MAcc, or even a liberal arts masters). There is no limit if those accounting core courses are taken online although they can not have been credited based on something like a CLEP, DANTES, etc.
Every state has different requirements for the CPA. Maryland, where I live, requires a BA/BS or higher and a total of 150 hours and those hours hve to fall within very specific subgroups. I believe the Master of Accountancy program at George Washington has no prereqs and allows one to sit for the Maryland CPA, but it is not cheap and I don't know if it is offered online. Pug
My recommendation - spend $39 at the site 800score.com and take some sample tests to see where you stand before you either invest more time or money on prep. I used them before doing my GMAT and their test scores were very similar to my actual score. I'm not affiliated with them, just a satisfied customer.
