[rogerbikeswim]

I will pursue the CPA in Texas. I have an undergrad degree from University of Texas at Arlington in Finance. So I have enough accounting courses that I won’t need any prerequisites. And I live and work in Austin, TX. I have 6 years experience as a financial analyst.

Austin Community College has a CPA program I can join to knock out the accounting hours that I’m missing. Of the 30 hours of accounting I have left, only 15 must be taken in traditional face-to-face classes. I also think ethics must be taken face-to-face (but I’m not certain).

I would like to take the remaining 15 hours of accounting either online or through distance education. The main priorities for me are speed of completion and cost.

Where/how do you recommend that I take the non-traditional classes that are allowed? I’ve included what I believe are the current education requirements for the CPA in Texas. Thanks.

– Bachelor’s degree from a board-recognized university

– Complete 150 semester hours of college credit.

– Complete 30 semester hours of upper level accounting courses

~ of which 15 semester hours must be in traditional face-to-face courses;

~ of which 2 semester hours of accounting or tax research and analysis are required

– Complete 24 semester hours of upper level business courses

~ of which 2 semester hours of accounting or business communications are required.

– Complete 3 semester hour ethics course

[Anonymous]

If you need accounting credits and have room for some online courses, I would take them via community colleges. ACC's CPA program offers many of the courses online. If you do it through ACC, I warn you not to take any courses taught by Norma Jacobs, if you can help it. She is a nice lady and has a lot of good accounting experience, but she is very absent-minded and assigns TONS of group research assignments that you have to make time for at night and on weekends. This is completely ridiculous, given that nearly everyone in these classes has a full time job and/or a family, but she does it so she has fewer papers to grade than if everyone did their own individual assignments.

If you need other non-accounting/non-business courses to make up the 150 hours, it is my understanding that those have to be upper division, so you can't take them at a community college. However, UT-Austin has an extension program that allows anyone to take online, self-paced courses from a pre-determined list of lower and upper division courses. When I did them, they were $500 each (plus textbooks and supplies), you could start them at any time, and you got 5 months to complete all the assignments and exams (exams have to be taken at a testing center), although you could purchase extensions if you needed extra time. Your grades will appear on a UT-Austin transcript like any other course.

[Anonymous]

Also, check Mountain View CC (Part of Dallas CC). They have a CPA qualification certificate program that should get you most of what you need, includes Ethics, Communications and Research requirements. All courses in the program have been approved by TSBPA

https://www1.dcccd.edu/catalog/programs/degree.cfm?degree=advanced_tech_cert&loc=MVC

[Skynet]

WTF!? Serving up Great Texas Barbeque didn't work!?

[Tonya]

I took Ethics online through ACC and didn't have any problem getting it approved. Do not taken any of the LSU online accounting courses, these were not approved and where I ran into my issue. I decided since I was taking all the classes I might as well get my Masters so I finished up my requirements at Texas A&M Commerce – all of my classes have been online. I have had a great experience with them. I just received approval in June (2 hours from Spring semester) and I started studying for FAR a few weeks ago. I plan to take it Aug 3rd. Good Luck!

FAR -- 11/9/15 74 OUCH --Retake Jan 9,2016
AUD - 11/30/15 75
REG - Jan 2016
BEC - Feb 2016

[Anonymous]

Ethics does not have to be taken face-to-face. At one time it was. However, it must be an approved ethics course. The link for approved ethics courses is below.

https://www.tsbpa.state.tx.us/pdffiles/approved-ethics-courses.pdf

[markm627]

I also graduated from UT-Arlington (Go Mavs), but with a BBA in Accounting. Then I earned my MBA at Texas A&M-Commerce completely online. I even took the accounting research and communication class online through TAMU-C with Dr. Edelman. However, TAMU-C does not have a Board approved ethics course available online, so I took it online through UT-Dallas and transferred my credit. Granted, I had a lot of face-to-face accounting hours from UTA, but if you have enough face-to-face hours that you just need credits now, TAMU-C is a great option. It's very affordable and it's accredited through the AACSB. Good luck!

FAR - 77 Oct, 2014
AUD - 94 Nov, 2014
REG - 70**Feb, 2015 | 80 May, 2015
BEC - 81 Jul, 2015

**Didn't get to cover the last 20% of the material or do a final review.

TX candidate - using CPAexcel and Ninja audio

[Author]

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