[kettlecorn]

I have a bachelors which was not in accounting (it was econ) and the gpa is around 3.1 or 3.2. I took 2 accounting classes but I did not major or minor in accounting at the time.

I then completed a CPA coursework targeted certificate from a comm college with a strong accounting program. I took around 20-25 units in accounting through this certificate, including all the major CPA education requirements (audit, intermediate series, tax, business law, etc) My GPA here is somewhere around 3.9 or so.

I have 1 or 2 additional accounting courses I took through an university extension. and another 2 classes from a different comm college.

So when I’m applying for a job that requires me to attach transcripts, I have 4 different sources for it all, all over the span of 10 years or so. I’m not sure which GPA i need to include because if they look at my undergraduate bachelors transcript it will say 3.1 or so, then I have 2 accounting courses here, 2 there, and like 10 more at a different college.

I was reading that people put their accounting GPA and so I was going to manually add up only my CPA eligible accounting courses and come up with my accounting GPA and put it on my Resume under “Accounting GPA” and forgo putting any other GPA next to the institutes I’ve attended.

Would that be ok?

[mla1169]

are you applying to your first professional job or do you have work experience? IMHO the only time a GPA belongs on a resume is if you're a kid looking for your first job ever. If you have experience worth mentioning theres no need to put it on your resume at all.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

My accounting GPA was 4.0, but my cumulative was 3.67. I put the cumulative on there while in school looking for offers. Once I received my offer, I took it off. It won't matter after your first job. It especially will not matter when you are a CPA.

[Anonymous]

You should put whatever makes you look the best. In my case, my overall GPA was MUCH better than my Accounting GPA, so I put the overall and only provided the major GPA if asked (I never really was).

For your situation, I might not put anything because of the circumstances. If a GPA is required, give them your explanation. It's better to have someone ask you than miss an opportunity because they think 3.1 or 3.2 is too low.

[JaySt]

@bronxbombers2: I agree.

My overall and accounting GPA's are 3.08 and 3.10; I left them both off of my resume. I want potential employers to ask me and establish communication with me.

“It's better to have someone ask you than miss an opportunity because they think 3.1 or 3.2 is too low.” Perfectly said!

CPA Excel Gold, Ninja Flashcards, Ninja Audio
AUD - 70, 79!
FAR - 64 Retake 4/30.
BEC - 71, 78!

[EverybodyswaitingfortheCPA]

IMO – If I was in a position to hire, all other things the same, of course I'd want a student with a higher GPA. BUT I think there are too many other things to consider such as experience, organization/ volunteer work, etc. I’d rather have a student that has a 3.0 that was involved rather than a 4.0 that did nothing else; I understand this is a tough statement to make. With this said, unless your GPA are really high, I’d leave them off; chances are, I doubt a GPA will be a deciding factor in most cases. Also, chances are that the company will want to verify a GPA regardless. Like @Audit_this said, “It won’t matter after your first job,” and IMO, doesn’t help to a great extent for a first job either; I think volunteer work, involvement, etc. speak louder than a GPA if you have no experience.

BEC - ✔ REG - ✔ AUD - ✔ FAR - ✔

Becker + NINJA MQCs for FAR

Licensed January 2015

[FDR8703]

I would be careful in using your Comm College GPA and not the GPA associated with your actual Bachelors degree. When companies are asking for it in an application, it is usually part of a screening process they have associated with their company culture and objectives. Even it it is not part of the screening process, if you list your Comm College GPA, get the interview/job, they'll run a background check and if the GPA's don't match, will lose the opportunity (even if the job was offered you).

It is always better to put your GPA that ties to your actual degree, and put the other as explanatory information, if available. Not putting your undergrad GPA will make your resume and/or application misleading.

[kettlecorn]

I was wondering if that was the case. I don't want to be misleading but I have taken another 1-2 years of equivalent course work that has provided me with credit. My degree gpa is 3.1 but if I add up all the accounting and cpa educational courses only, it comes out to 3.75 or something.

In the resume I did state “Accounting GPA: 3.75” and a list of coursework involved.

This is my first job out in the working world. I don't have any recent relevant experience. My experience is old and in business but not accounting. I'm still in my school's program for accounting so it will say “in progress” for the GPA.

[kettlecorn]

I was wondering if that was the case. I don't want to be misleading but I have taken another 1-2 years of equivalent course work that has provided me with credit. My degree gpa is 3.1 but if I add up all the accounting and cpa educational courses only, it comes out to 3.75 or something.

In the resume I did state “Accounting GPA: 3.75” and a list of coursework involved.

This is my first job out in the working world. I don't have any recent relevant experience. My experience is old and in business but not accounting. I'm still in my school's program for accounting so it will say “in progress” for the GPA.

[Anonymous]

I'd take the list out. No need for it and space is at a premium. You have ONE page to show you are qualified to interview.

Any potential employer will have a decent idea of what classes you took without having to see it.

[FDR8703]

@kettlecorn, I agree with Billbrasskey that you should take the list out. I think it's acceptible to breakout your accounting course GPA, as sometimes companies will ask for your overall GPA, and then Major's GPA. In your case, even though you didn't major in Accounting, that is the relevant GPA they are looking for.

As for which to put on an application, it should always be the overall undergrade GPA. If this is your first job out of College, note that all CPA firms do educational background checks to make sure what you put on your application matches. You don't want to risk that not checking out. They'll also ask for a copy of your schools transcript most likely. You'll have to provide both schools transcripts since the later was not part of the undergrad, and that will be to your benefit, because they really only care about classes that are applicable.

Sell yourself, but don't mislead where the facts can show differently. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

The OP is asking about what to put on his resume.

“I was reading that people put their accounting GPA and so I was going to manually add up only my CPA eligible accounting courses and come up with my accounting GPA and put it on my Resume under “Accounting GPA” and forgo putting any other GPA next to the institutes I've attended.”

AWFUL idea. Do NOT do this. This can be very misleading. Keep the school GPAs separate.

Since it sounds like you did your undergrad first, I'd say list that and then the others. Something like…

Education & Qualifications

Targeted Degree Name, Community College | Includes __ accounting courses | GPA 3.9 GPA 2014

BA, Econ, University | Includes ___ Accounting courses 2012

…where you list out each school, the number of accounting classes, date or date range, and (for the most recent (and most impressive one) your GPA). YOu can leave off your GPA for the others, if you wish. Or include it, whatever you feel like – it's still above a 3.0.

[kettlecorn]

Oh okay. The only reason why I thought to use a gpa calculator and come up with the accounting GPA is because after my undergraduate degree, my CPA educational requirement classes are split among 3 schools. 1 is the major college I attend but during the summer when they didn't offer the classes I needed I took 1 from a different college and then another one from an university extension program.

So it looks kind of silly to put down the colleges I went to just for the 1 course I took there. So for example:

University of xyz

B.A. Economics, GPA 3.1

College A

Accounting Certificate, GPA 3.75

College B

Federal Income tax, A, 4.0

College C

Intermediate Accounting I, A

Business Law, A, GPA 4.0

So it's kind of ridiculous that College B and C would be included or labeled as “4.0” because they're only 1-2 classes each.

The other way to do it is to list the B.A. separately as GPA 3.1 And then add up college A, B, C together. The reason for this is because Federal Income Tax, Intermediate accounting I, and Bus Law that I took at the other colleges are a part of the curriculum and requirements for the Certificate I am working for at College A (which is the main school. over 20 accounting units done here). They allowed me to waive those 3 classes because I did them at the other schools.

That wouldn't be dishonest right because they are part of the Certificate requirements?

Either way I would forward over all transcripts together to whatever company I'm applying to

[Anonymous]

Don't do any combining of GPAs.

Only one class at college B & C t? Then just leave them off the resume completely and just include the two separate colleges and, if you want, THOSE colleges' GPAs.

[kettlecorn]

Thanks for the help, I'll just put the gpa for whatever program it's a part of.

[Author]

Replies