Although the pandemic has jolted everyone’s life significantly, but there is always a silver lining even in the crisis situation. The announcement by NASBA, AICPA and Prometric about opening their test centres in India has opened a bandwagon of opportunities for CPA aspirants in India to seek influential career in the field of finance and accounting.
For the convenience of Indian applicants, the exam centres have also been opened in all the metro cities of India such as:
Ahmedabad
Bangalore
Calcutta
Chennai
Hyderabad
Mumbai
New Delhi and
Trivandrum
This pathbreaking and dynamic initiative by the governing bodies towards the CPA aspirants in India is a sigh of relief for many. This significant step has multiple benefits for instance, huge savings on travel cost and accommodation along with related hassles.
In a nutshell, it is a cost effective and time saving process which for sure very encouraging and motivating for the Indian aspirants.
Course content at a glance
The AICPA administers the CPA exam and in order to become a licensed US CPA, it is mandatory for a candidate to pass all the 4 sections of the CPA exam within 18 months and score a minimum 75 in each section. The duration of each exam is 4 hours with 15 minutes of break.
The 4 CPA exam sections are namely-
- Auditing and Attestation (AUD): The Audit and attestation (AUD) section of the Uniform CPA Examination revolves around the auditing standards and procedures. This section covers the knowledge and skills required when performing the audits and attestation engagements for issuer and non-issuer entities, preparation, compilation and review engagements for non-issuer entities and reviews of interim financial information for issuer entities.
Content Areas
- Ethics, Professional Responsibilities, and General Principles
- Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response
- Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence
- Forming Conclusions and Reporting
The Audit and Attestation (AUD) section consists:
- 50% Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
- 50% of Task-Based Simulations.
- Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR): The Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the Uniform CPA Examination assesses the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate in the financial accounting and reporting frameworks used by business entities (public and non-public), not-for-profit entities, and state and local government entities.
Content Areas
- Conceptual Framework, Standard-Setting, and Financial Reporting
- Select Financial Statement Accounts
- Select Transactions
- State and Local Governments
The Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) consists:
- 50% Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
- 50% of Task-Based Simulations.
- Business Environment and Concepts (BEC): The Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) section of the Uniform CPA Examination tests knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate when performing audit, attest, accounting and review services, financial reporting, tax preparation, and other professional responsibilities in their role as certified public accountants.
Content Areas
- Corporate Governance
- Economic Concepts and Analysis
- Financial Management
- Information Technology
- Operations Management
The Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) section consists:
- 50% Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).
- 35% of Task-Based Simulations.
- 15 % Written Communication (WCT).
- Regulation (REG): The Regulation (REG) section of the Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) tests the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate with respect to US federal taxation, US ethics and professional responsibilities related to tax practice, and US business law.
Content Area
- Ethics, Professional Responsibilities, and Federal Tax Procedures
- Business Law
- Federal Taxation of Property Transactions
- Federal Taxation of Individuals
- Federal Taxation of Entities
The Regulation (REG) section consists
- 50% Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
- 50% of Task-Based Simulations.
Travel itinerary towards your CPA journey in India
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) conducts the Uniform CPA exam. CPA exams are decided by the 55 state boards of accountancy.
The 4 Essentials to CPA
Education - 150 credit hours. US CPA complements Indian University Degree - i.e. A Bachelors with first division(30+30+30+30) or Masters degree to be eligible to appear for the CPA exams and henceforth procure for a license.
Exams - Pass the AICPA Uniform CPA exam.
Experience - 1 year of work experience.
Ethics - Online on-demand exam (required by some state boards of accountancy only)
Process to become a licensed CPA
- Determine your eligibility: Select a jurisdiction where you want to become licensed as a CPA and KC GLOBED will help you to review its specific requirements. NASBA’s International Evaluation Services help to determine a candidate’s eligibility to take the Exam.
- Submit your application- Our team at KC Globed will help you to complete your application and submit the required documentation. You will receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS), which is valid for six months.
- Schedule your Exam-Decide by your NTS information to schedule an Exam date with Prometric. You can take your Exam at any Prometric test center. In India the CPA exam is conducted in 8 prometric centres:
- Ahmedabad
- Bangalore
- Calcutta
- Chennai
- Hyderabad
- Mumbai
- New Delhi
- Trivandrum
- Prepare for your Exam- Study the Exam Blueprint and use all available Exam resources and study tools to prepare with the help of KC GLOBED’s live classes and Surgent’s adaptive learning software which is tailored made, suitably fit in to cater to individual needs of learning.
- Take your Exam-Pass all four Exam sections within 18 months (score a minimum of 75 on each section)
- Testing Availability: Testing is available year-round, and scores are released on a rolling basis.
- Apply for your license-Generally one must have 150 credit hours of education with a concentration in accounting. This includes: a minimum of one year of experience (approximately 2,000 hours) verified by a licensed CPA. Experience can include accounting, attest, auditing or tax.
The upgraded preparation strategy for the US CPA Exam along with Surgent's AI technology-based program and software, helps to master difficult accounting exam topics on a more profound level.
Hope the above cited information will be helpful in planning for your CPA journey in India. to know more about US CPA Exams in India, please feel free to connect with us.
Testing for US CPA Exam aspirants at test centers in India will begin on January 1, 2021.
Additionally, the CPA aspirants may begin to use the scheduler on November 2, 2020.IF you are a US CPA aspirant and of course you are, you can take the CPA exam sections without restrictions, other than expecting to receive scores from prior attempts of the same section or when there is a major revision to the exam.Despite the fact, continuous testing will replace the existing limited CPA Exam Testing Window model, which only permits aspirants to test in India during assigned time frames.
A journey to US CPAAccording to NASBA, the 55 U.S. Accountancy Boards support the move to continuous testing in India.
And this shift to a continuous testing model in India implies the power of alignment among state boards of accountancy, NASBA, AICPA, and Prometric, as these organizations continue to promote Exam aspirants on their journey to US CPA.Applicants should visit NASBA’s website to check that their Board of Accountancy has transitioned to the Continuous Testing model.Well, the agenda behind conducting the US CPA exams in India is to evade international traveling for the Indian CPA candidates in this uncertain time - the Novel Coronavirus.
And thankfully, this decision encourages the Indian students to ease the burden of traveling to countries like the United States, Dubai, for giving the US CPA exam.
KC Global Education Professionals;KC Global is one of the best institutes in providing the best CPA review course in India in partnership with Surgent Education Professionals.
We offer the best U.S.CPA Course in India.
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