Successful accounting career without CPA certification??

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I'm currently entering my sophomore year of college and pursuing a Bachelor's degree in accounting. I understand that being CPA certified will certainly prove beneficial in-terms of long term career advancement, but I'm wondering if I can make a decent living with only a Bachelor's degree in accounting. Thanks in advance for your responses.</p>

<p>Also, I have a 4.0 GPA and taking 18 credits per semester to retain my (4 year) scholarship, which is very time-consuming and has resulted in me never having a job of any kind. I hope to get one or more internships in the years to come, but will my lack of experience kill my chances of being hired after graduation?</p>

2

<p>A decent living in service to licensed CPAs is certainly possible.</p>

3

<p>What do you mean by decent? 40-50k is enough for you? Without CPA or any other certification, you will probably limit your salary up to 70-80k. And, in order to attain that level, you will have to spend 5-10 years at least, for it is very hard to get promoted if you do not have a license or a MS/MBA.</p>

4

<p>Sounds fishy to me, someone with a 4.0 would laugh at the CPA. Why not pass it? Unless…</p>

5

<p>He’s only entering sophomore year, so he might still believe the scary stories about the CPA. Besides, my guess is he’s inclined to just get 120 hours and not be eligible to get a CPA license. So the question is less about fear of the CPA and more about avoiding the extra year of school. </p>

<p>The answer is you can do the CIA or CMA exams, which aren’t as good but are better than nothing.</p>

6

<p>can’t be called a “partner” at an audit firm without holding an active cpa… even if you’re not on the tax / audit side…</p>

7

<p>As jonahrubin said, it’s about the extra year of school. You see my scholarship only covers 4 years of school, which is not enough time to accumulate the required 150 credits. As you know, a college education is extremely expensive so without the scholarship I would most certainly not be able to go for the extra year. This is not to say that I won’t go back and get those credits under my belt (and then possibly sit for the exam) after I attain a stable job. My main concern, though, is will I easily (considering the economic conditions) be able to land a job after graduation with only a degree?</p>

8

<p>^that is why people invented internships. There are millions students like you who do not have any working experience. The only thing you should do is maintain a high GPA, which is above 3.5; and if you will, you will be able to get an internship, and afterwords a job. After you will get a job, you can study part time and obtain those 30 extra credits that you need for the CPA. That is what I’m going to do myself :)</p>