Well, I'm another step closer to being a CPA. Yay! In case you don't know, CPA stands for certified public accountant. It's not that hard to become an accountant but it's very difficult to become a CPA. The CPA is one of the most difficult professional exams one can take. I've heard it's comparable to the bar exam. One has to have a bachelor's degree and X amount of accounting classes before even signing up for the exam. All states have their own rules for the minimum requirements. I live in one of the sates that has a 150 credit hour minimum. I was lucky enough to earn all those credits while getting my bachelor's but a lot of candidates achieve their master's before attempting this exam. (I'll explain how I got those credits in another post. I worked incredibly hard to get them and I want to celebrate my achievement a bit.)
Once you finally meet all the requirements, it's time to fill out the paperwork. The paperwork is annoying and time consuming. Then the states take their sweet time getting back to you on if they accepted your application or not. I had some trouble getting my credits accepted at first. They asked me to explain some credits on my transcript. I sent them a letter explaining what they were. They sent me a letter back saying it wasn't enough. I sent them a copy of my class details. They replied saying basically "what is this?" Finally, I got fed up and sent them an email saying what I've done and asking what more I need to do because I really had no clue what they wanted anymore. I guess that worked because the next email they sent me said they accepted my credits and I could start signing up for tests as soon as I receive a letter in the mail. A process that was supposed to take 6 - 8 weeks took me three months. Grr...
Besides all the tedious paperwork, there is all the fees that I had to pay when turning in each form. The tests are easily over $1,000 for one attempt. Being a CPA is expensive! I still have at least one more set of fees to pay and then I'll just have to pay an upkeep fee and fees for credit hours that are due every three years for the license renewal. Ugh!
The tests themselves are incredibly difficult! There are four tests one needs to take: FAR, AUD, REG, and BEC. All must be passed within an 18 month time period. These aren't like any tests I've taken in college. They are tricky and each test covers an enormous amount of material. The pass rate on each test is around 45%. (Each time you fail one, you have to pay a fee all over again, making the CPA even more expensive to attempt!) The percentage of people who pass all of them the first time is really low, maybe close to 10%.
Keep in mind, I was a single mom when I started these exams. That means you can assume I had NO SPARE MONEY for this crazy exam. I needed to save any way I could. Failure was not an option. I borrowed study materials from a friend who had just finished the exam, which saved me around $2,000. No joke! I even saved around $20 by paying for all four exams at once. I realized that was a mistake quite soon after I did that. When you pay for an exam or exams, you are mailed a Notice to Schedule (NTS) which has the exams you paid for on it. The NTS expires in six months. I had to attempt all four tests within a third of the time allowed! Big mistake. To make it worse, the exam isn't offered every month. The last month of each quarter is a break from testing. That knocked out another month from my already tight schedule!
To be continued...
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