Masters Accounting (Louisiana CPA)

I will be finishing up my Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Western Governor's University at the end of the year. Unfortunately, they do not plan on implementing a Master's in Accountancy until a year or two down the road. I would really like to sit for the CPA exam in Louisiana.

However, I'm trying to find a program (I don't care about getting a Master's degree I am just hoping to accommodate the LA CPA requirements) that I could get for relatively cheap (under 10k). Is there anything like this out there?

Louisiana CPA requirements:

Baccalaureate with 150 semester hours
* an accounting concentration of 24 semester hours at the undergraduate level or 21 semester hours at the graduate level and
* 24 semester hours of business courses other than accounting including Commercial Law suitable for the CPA Exam
* Louisiana specifies the courses included in the 24 hours of accounting with only 6 hours of electives allowed.


Any and all help or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

This might sound like a dumb question, but is your priority getting a Masters in Accounting OR sitting for the Louisiana board?

I ask, because while I don't know of any sub-$10K MAcc programs (other than B&M versions for in-state residents), since you already have a bunch of accounting credits you really don't NEED a MAcc to sit for the CPA.

I am from Illinois, and our rules are almost identical. What I would recomend is figuring out EXACTLY what you need:

1) How many accounting credit hours do you have so far, and do you need any additional classes to meet the 24 hr LA requirement (are you missing any specific classes)?

2) How many business credit hours do you have so far, and do you need any additional classes to meet the 24 hr LA requirement? Also, if it doesn't SEEM like you have enough business credits, ask them exactly what courses count for business. For example, Illinois counts economics courses for business credit.

3) How many total credit hours do you have? Remember to count ALL of the schools that you went to.

If you find you are lacking in some Accounting courses, you could take them through LSU's independent study program for $262 per 3 credit hr course (the cheapest RA accounting courses I know of). If you find that you are missing some business courses, or enough credits to make 150 hours, you could go for the MBA at Wayne State College for about $7,000 total (probably the best deal for online MBA's around)

As I said previously, Illinois laws are virtually identical. i never gave much thought to getting a CPA (had never taken an Accounting course or business course before) until I actually looked at the regulations and spoke to someone about it. It turns out that they IL counts economics courses as business courses. Since I was an econ minor, I have almost all of the 24 credit hours. Also, they will take CLEP and distance accounting courses from RA schools. I'm going to knock out the classes I need from LSU's distance program ($262 per 3 credit course).

If you really need the MAcc, the cheapest online one that I know of is St. Joseph's College in Maine. The program is 36 hours for $1,350 per course. However, with a Accounting Major you can skip 6 hours. This would give you an MAcc for about $13,500 + plus books and random fees.