[Pete]

Right now, i’m having a heck of a time trying to move away from book-keeping. I’ve managed to pass 3/4 parts of the CPA exam, yet this isn’t having a dent on the number of interviews I’m obtaining. You’d think 6+ interviews would be enough, including second round interviews, but my lord, it’s not. I fear, even if I pass the next section of the CPA exam, this month, I won’t get very far in terms of my job search, without the 150 hours. The CPA exam alone doesn’t seem to have that big of an effect in private industry. Additionally, I’ve been networking like mad with little effect.

Therefore, I was looking for the fastest/cheapest way to get these damn credit hours. I can always have the firm pay for grad-school, but first I need to get hired by a firm. Are the CLEPs, the only way to do this? I also read that CPE’s count for credits as well?

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[Anonymous]

LSU online accounting classes are go at your own pace, you have from 2-6 months to complete them. Once I am done with the exams, I plan on taking a few of them to get 150 and doing them as fast as possible (2 months). Sure as hell beats a normal semester college class that drags on for four months.

[Pete]

Yea, this LSU thing is enticing. You can get 15 hours doing that, then I would just need 15 hours more. Maybe CLEP the credit hours or try to negotiate the price of my Alma Matter's grad-school down.

I swear the US education system probably paid the AICPA to push for the enactment of the 150 credit hour rule.

What's stupid about this requirement is that I can literally take college “dance” classes, along with agriculture classes to meet the credit requirement. The law almost favors career changers, since they already posses the majority of the 150 credits. Oh well, I finally came to the conclusion I need the credit hours, six years after graduation. Certainly took me long enough to figure that out, ha.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[CPA788]

@daredevils33 would you mind posting a link to the exact site for LSU you've looked at. Very curious as well, want to make sure I check out the same thing you're talking about.

BEC - 74, 77
FAR - 72, 71 (retake 7/29)
REG - 69
AUD - Q4 '16

CA Candidate

[nadroj]

Community college classes are fast and cheap.

[Pete]

My goal is to have the 150 credit hours by campus recruiting time. I'll likely take a Bull-shit grad-school class at my alma-matter to change my “Graduation Date” and get another shot at campus recruiting, after having passed the CPA exam and a few months public+4 years book-keeping experience.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure this is the LSU being discussed: https://is.lsu.edu/home.asp?level=CO&online=0&nid=101 It's their online/distance learning program and is generally the LSU under discussion. They have classes in more than just accounting, so you could take classes in other random things if you need general credits and wanted to take general courses through them. If you need specific courses, or need or want “real” courses not CLEPs, I'd highly recommend LSU. $651 plus books for a 3-credit course.

However…CLEPs are cheaper and quicker. You can do a course a week through CLEP if you have a base knowledge in the subject. The CLEP exam itself is about $100 ($80 to the College Board and usually $20 proctor fee), prep materials are about $25 (REA books are highly recommended!), then you have to get the credits on a college transcript in most states for them to be accepted. TESU's credit banking service ( https://www.tesu.edu/documents/NondegreeServiceApp.pdf ) is $300 for up to 60 credits. So, 30 credits, you could have that in 10 weeks, submit the paperwork to TESC might take another few weeks to process, and $1300 total (assuming you sell your books back for what you bought them for) you've got your stuff taken care of. BUT, be sure to check your state's requirements and confirm they don't limit credits from CLEP. I got a lot of credits from CLEP, but after I was licensed my state instituted a rule limiting CLEP credits to like 6. Oh, and DSSTs are very similar to CLEP, also worth looking into for more credits.

[Trele6]

@Ratfus, I've been in the public sector for 13 years now. The only benefit I have seen from having a CPA versus not having it is promotions to a supervisor + type of positions. It is the only reason I am going for it now. Most companies will not consider an Accounting Supervisor if they do not have a CPA. Any position below that though and you are just another person with or without a CPA from what I have found.

First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
Far / Apr 2016 - 79
Bec / May 2016 - 80
Aud / Aug 2016

[Pete]

Is the 150 hour credit rule more important then?

From.what I'm seeing, firms won't even consider you without the 150 hours.

Why will they consider you without the CPA, but they won't do the same without the 150 hours? The whole thing is confusing.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[Trele6]

You say firms, that makes me think of the big four, when I said public sector I meant corporations. No company I have ever worked for (Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum, or Marathon Oil) have cared about me having a CPA or having 150 hours to get hired on. To get a high level promotion, yes for the CPA bit, but not for the hours.

Only Marathon specified a minimum GPA to be hired – 3.0, nothing about minimum hours.

I had two degrees coming out of college also, so hours have never been an issue for me. Especially when you take on my MBA I am almost near 200.

First go at the CPA! Only using Becker
Reg / Nov 2015 - 87
Far / Apr 2016 - 79
Bec / May 2016 - 80
Aud / Aug 2016

[Pete]

Yea, I got confused, when you said “public.” Just curious how you got those jobs? Every job i'm applying today almost requires BIG 4 accounting experience, especially at the larger companies. Was networking to these positions your main strategy or did you apply through job boards?

I was also considering aiming for financial analyst positions to get out of book-keeping and into a larger organization. I'm hoping passing the exam and getting the required hours will help me over this hurdle. Might even try passing the CFE, CMA and series 7 exams; honestly, i'm just getting very frustrated haha.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[Missy]

Ratfus I think you are on the right track looking to get the 150, do you also need to meet the experience requirement? In Public (particularly big 4) they want the 150 credits just because not everybody is going to go back to school for more credits while they're working big four hours. If the interviews you've gone on are in industry, having 150 credits is going to make a marginal difference if any. Honestly if you're applying to industry jobs you might want to have someone else look at your resume and get some critique on your interview skills. 6 interviews with no offer is very common, in fact expected unless you are a rock star with a specific experience or some other unique attribute.

Its going to be hard to find anything other than entry level with just bookkeeping experience, passing the exams without being licensed doesn't add value to an employer, but if you keep at it there is something out there for you. You may end up having to go on 30 interviews to find the right job, but so what? As long as you find something thats a good fit there's no time limit on it.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Pete]

Yea, i don't have the experience requirement as well. I have 6 months experience working at an accounting firm, during tax season, but I need 1.5 years more experience and it needs to be under 1 person, i think?

At this point, i have gone on a bunch of entry level jobs at larger companies, but not even they will budge. What's scary for me, is that as I get farther and farther away from my job at a public accounting firm (last year), I get fewer and fewer interviews.

I'm reaching out to alumni in my school's database to try and set up “informational interviews,” but i'm lucky if 1/4 people agrees to even respond back to me to reject my request. I can't fault them for it either as they're probably just really busy. Recently, an individual from my school got rejected to a REGIONAL (not even big 4) accounting firm with a 4.0 GPA. I just think the economy in this state is much worse than most other states. I may need to exit this state completely.

BTW, you guys took GE from us MLA :(.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[wanttogetmylicenseby2017]

@Lilia The TESU credit banking transcript shows the sources of your credits? like it shows the credits were from another school or CLEP?

[Author]

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