[Anonymous]

I’m extremely frustrated. My story….

I graduated with my bachelors in Accounting in 2012 and finally found the determination to sit for the CPA exam in Illinois this spring. I submitted my transcripts, paid the fee, and was told in early May that I did not satisfy their new rules for ethics and research and analysis in addition to their 30 accounting and 24 business credits (or whatever it is). I reached out to my school for assistance and they submitted a template for the Illinois Board of Examiners to use to reevaluate my credits. They eventually gave me some credit, but still not enough to satisfy their credits to take the exam. This whole process took 3 months to learn that I still didn’t qualify. I met every other requirement, but I’m short 1 Research credit and 3 ethics credits. I was absolutely sure I had all of that taken care of too.

So, I’m writing for advice on how to proceed. Do I try to find courses at a local college to satisfy these requirements and spend an extra $1,000+ for those college credits which will be a joke? Or can I sit for the exam in another state and only pay the $345 fee to have my license transferred? How easy/messy is that?

Has anyone been in the same boat and have any experience or creative solutions? I’m so unbelievably frustrated at the 3 months and $175 application fee lost for the time being. I just want to start studying and cracking out 75s sooner than later so I can get my career moving along!

[M.O.D.]

I like the idea of sitting through another state, and then dealing with the bureaucracy later, when you need the license.

It does not make sense to put your CPA studying on hold while you take an ethics class.

BA Mathematics, UC Berkeley
Certificates in CPA and EA preparation, College of San Mateo
CMA I 420, II 470
FAR 91, AUD Feb 2015 (Gleim self-study)

[GoVPI]

Alliesamcat, I live in Virginia. Virginia has pretty strict requirements to even sit for the exam so I decided to sit out of state after contacting the Virginia Board of Accountancy and asking them if my scores would transfer from the specific state I was sitting in. They said yes. If I were you, I'd sit for another state.

BEC 8/14/14 - Passed
Graduated from college 12/13/14
AUD 8/31/15 - 74. Retake - Passed
REG
FAR

[Lindrobe]

alliesamcat, I am in Indiana and I am not aware of any rules regarding ethics or R&A. Maybe you could try Indiana. I believe you just have to have 150 credit hours and 24 credit hours have to be in accounting.

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[Anonymous]

Sitting with another state would be nice, but how do I make sure I'm not setting myself up for another disappointment? I looked into Indiana and they require verification of work history. I have held a job as a Staff Accountant for 2 years, in Illinois, but not Indiana. Would that make a difference? Its things like that I want to get squared away for certain before pursuing that route.

I know I could study an Ethics cource concurently while doing the CPA, but its been tough to find an ethics course that is available this fall. The same goes for the 1 credit I need in research and analysis… It has to be online or during the evenings/weekends.

Are there any Illinois CPA candidates out there who have been in my shoes or something similar? What have you done?

[Anonymous]

Lindrobe, are you familiar with the experience credentials and how that would affect me?

[Lindrobe]

Experience credentials to be licensed include 2 years of accounting related experience. Is that what you mean? You do have to have a licensed CPA sign off on your experience.

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[Anonymous]

I do work with two CPAs (not sure if they keep current with their licensing though…). Does it matter if they're licensed in another state besides Indiana?

[Lindrobe]

I don't think so. Here is the Verification of Experience form that must be filled out:

https://forms.in.gov/download.aspx?id=6968

For the verifying licensee, it specifically asks for the state of licensure and states that if the verifying licensee holds and out of state license, a copy of the certificate must be attached.

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[impska]

Here in KS, Illinois is where we sit if we need to get around KS requirements. :p

I was able to bypass the ethics/research requirement because my university's School of Business is regionally accredited by the Association of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. But I also had a Master's degree, so that may have also been a factor.

REG - 94
BEC - 92
FAR - 92
AUD - 99

[Anonymous]

I agree with Lindrobe about Indiana. I thought about transferring my scores from WA to IN after learning of WA two ethics requirements. I decided to stick with WA because the score transfer would have taken longer than the actual time to complete the two ethics exams. But during my research, I found IN to be pretty candidate friendly.

[Anonymous]

Hi. IL candidate here.

I managed to squeeze in right before all the changes took in effect last summer, so I can't give you much advise on how to get around it by sitting in another state…

Do you have a community college in your area? Have you taken a look into it? Because I had to pick up some credits at community college and they were reasonable. At those classes, more than half of people were doing the same thing to get some extra credits to sit for CPA exam.

Their program is aligned to those requirements, they (at least my school) worked meticulously on the most up to date information from ILBOA so I had no problem/surprises when I sent in my transcript.

I know it's frustrating. Challenging on something they already said no, you might have a slim chance to make them say yes. Find a community college, check their accounting department, have their class #, ask ILBOA if your nearby community college's BUS/MGT(ethics) XXX is acceptable. They have a lot of online classes for people like us, it's worth a try.

[Anonymous]

Beat_counter, which community college did you use in Illinois? I live in Chicago and have found the city colleges to be disappointing.

[Anonymous]

I went to Oakton. They have two campuses in Skokie and Des Plaines.

I met a few guys taking classes while attending UIC and NIU. I am not sure if they were resident of the district.

If you work for the company in the district, you'll get a “FT employees working in the in-district companies” rate with your employment verification.

the list of the classes required for the exam at Oakton(via ILBOA);

https://www.ilboa.org/sites/default/files/Oakton%20CC_0.pdf

College catalog:

https://www.oakton.edu/about/instpubs/catalog2014-15.pdf

They seem to have a research class this fall 2014 via online and ethics on Saturday on-campus.

Like you said, for out of district-IL resident, it's still $1000 a class. But too soon to give up.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info!! I'll take a look into the info 🙂 you've given me hope!

[Anonymous]

@alliesamcat

If City college doesn't offer classes you are hoping to take but the out-of district college does and you would like to go there, there is a “chargeback policy” which gives you substantial cut on tuision at resident rate(or closer).

IF they approve it, you can attend Oakton for $90/cr, the City College will pick up the rest of the difference and pay to Oakton.

https://hwc.ccc.edu/services/Documents/ChargebackGuidelines.pdf

(I wonder what they mean by “developmental education”…whether it includes those classes you are about to take)

But HURRY UP.

Fall 2014 chargeback application deadline is on 7/20.

https://www.ccc.edu/colleges/olive-harvey/services/pages/request-a-tuition-chargeback.aspx

[Author]

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