[vasaline]

For those working in public accounting, have any of you worked with or known anybody in the field with an unrelated degree (no bachelors or masters in business/accounting) such as biology, history, psychology etc. and have gotten their CPA requirements by going through the community college route. If so how common is it?

[Paravinja]

My degree is in Psychology and my minor is Human Resources. I just found out that I was accepted to an MBA program. I've been looking at the school's programs, and I noticed that they have a specialization in accounting. I am very interested in taking this route. I am an assistant store manager currently at a pharmacy, so I have business experience. My question is if my psychology credits will count towards the 150 credits needed for the CPA? Does it have to be from a business degree or any degree? I know I am required 24 credit hours from accounting. Also, If I only have a specialization in accounting, will that hinder my chances of landing a job? What about a specialization in accounting with CPA? Thanks

[Anonymous]

I have a BS in Biology and was originally working as a pharmacy tech when I applied for an admin job at my current employer (a small CPA firm). The admin job branched into doing bookkeeping tasks and I decided an accounting education would make for a much more lucrative career than the other options I was considering at the time, so I applied and was accepted to a M.Acc program without having any of the prerequisites. After spending quite a bit of money trying to finish prereqs in that program during evening classes, I decided to transfer to an online school (also a brick-and-mortar school, fully accredited, etc.) and just graduated with my MS in Accounting this past December after finishing up all of my prereqs and grad classes in 1.5 years.

Meanwhile, I've gradually advanced in my career and with my MS in hand, am now a senior accountant at my place of employment. So really, I had to work my way up from the beginning without any education or experience to promote myself with. Since you already have the education and the exams passed, I'm sure that's probably not something you want to consider, but it's the route I ended up taking on my journey. From admin to senior accountant studying and sitting for the CPA exam with all exam expenses (including all review materials) paid for by my employer.

[Anonymous]

I have a BS in Biology and was originally working as a pharmacy tech when I applied for an admin job at my current employer (a small CPA firm). The admin job branched into doing bookkeeping tasks and I decided an accounting education would make for a much more lucrative career than the other options I was considering at the time, so I applied and was accepted to a M.Acc program without having any of the prerequisites. After spending quite a bit of money trying to finish prereqs in that program during evening classes, I decided to transfer to an online school (also a brick-and-mortar school, fully accredited, etc.) and just graduated with my MS in Accounting this past December after finishing up all of my prereqs and grad classes in 1.5 years.

Meanwhile, I've gradually advanced in my career and with my MS in hand, am now a senior accountant at my place of employment. So really, I had to work my way up from the beginning without any education or experience to promote myself with. Since you already have the education and the exams passed, I'm sure that's probably not something you want to consider, but it's the route I ended up taking on my journey. From admin to senior accountant studying and sitting for the CPA exam with all exam expenses (including all review materials) paid for by my employer.

[Author]

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