@Jin – I also graduated with an Econ degree and needed the 24 units to sit for the exam. I got most of my units taking online classes as quickly as possible. I remember Golden West Community College had several online classes. I also recall taking a Quickbooks course online as well. I asked a similar question to yours and received the following response (this is from 2010, so not sure what, if any, changes may have been since then):
In response to your e-mail, to qualify to take the CPA Exam as a California candidate, applicants must meet the following educational requirements at the time of applying for the exam:
· Baccalaureate degree or higher from a nationally or regionally accredited U.S. degree-granting educational institution or the equivalent foreign education.
· 24-semester units of accounting.
· 24-semester units of business-related courses.
Note: Any grade will be accepted (including pass from pass/fail courses) as long as the school has given credit for the course taken. The courses can be taken at any level (community college, university, or postgraduate). Repeated courses taken at the same educational institution are counted only once.
The Board will accept the following subjects to fulfill the 24-semester unit accounting core course requirement: accounting, auditing, financial reporting, external or internal reporting, financial statement analysis, and taxation. In addition to those subjects already listed, accounting courses include, but are not limited to courses in Assurance, Attestation, Bookkeeping, Cost (Cost Analysis, Costing), Peachtree, Quickbooks, and CPA Review courses taken at a recognized school.
To be accepted as an accounting course, the primary course content must be accounting, auditing or taxation. The fact that a course is offered in the Accounting Department does not ensure that it will be accepted as an accounting course. Also, some courses offered by other departments may be accepted as an accounting course, for example, Accounting Information Systems offered by the Information Technology Department.
The Board will accept the following subjects to fulfill the 24-semester unit business-related core course requirement: business administration, economics, finance (financial management), business management, marketing, computer science/information systems, statistics, business communication, mathematics, business law, or business related law courses offered at an accredited law school. Courses in excess of the 24 required semester units in accounting may be credited toward the business related units.
If you have concerns regarding the acceptability of a course as business or accounting, you should include a copy of the course description or syllabus with your Exam application. Due to the high volume of applications processed, the Board does not pre-qualify courses or applicants. It is highly recommended that your educational documents/evaluation be sent to the Board directly from the educational institution(s)/Board-approved evaluation service as early as possible to avoid any processing delays.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Esquivel
California Board of Accountancy
.