Where Can I Learn How to Become an Accountant?

If you are won­der­ing about how to become an accoun­tant, you have come to the right place. While there are a vari­ety of routes to becom­ing an accoun­tant, the most typ­i­cal is by becom­ing a Cer­ti­fied Pub­lic Accoun­tant (CPA). In order to become qual­i­fied as a CPA in most states, you will have to earn a bach­e­lor’s degree in account­ing, and then pass the CPA exam­i­na­tion. For­tu­nate­ly, there are many great account­ing schools that will give stu­dents an under­stand­ing of account­ing the­o­ry and prac­tices while prepar­ing them to pass the CPA exam. The CPA exam is bro­ken down into four dif­fer­ent sections:

• Audit­ing and Attes­ta­tion: Tests stu­dents on their knowl­edge of ethics, risk assess­ment, and fil­ing finan­cial records.
• Finan­cial Account­ing and Report­ing: Tests stu­dents on their knowl­edge of how to report finan­cial state­ments, includ­ing bal­ance sheets, income state­ments, cash flow state­ments, and trans­ac­tion statements.
• Reg­u­la­tion: Tests stu­dents on their knowl­edge of Busi­ness Law and Fed­er­al Tax Pro­ce­dures includ­ing prop­er­ty trans­ac­tion tax­a­tion, indi­vid­ual tax­a­tion, and fed­er­al enti­ty taxation.
• Busi­ness Envi­ron­ment and Con­cepts: Tests stu­dents on their knowl­edge of finan­cial mod­el­ing, eco­nom­ic con­cepts, and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy affluence.

Any account­ing major pro­gram from an accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion will help train your under­stand­ing of these four areas of account­ing. If you want to begin your jour­ney towards becom­ing a CPA while mak­ing a min­i­mal finan­cial invest­ment, you should check out some of these account­ing schools. Our method­ol­o­gy for select­ing the top pro­grams was based on the fol­low­ing methodology:

• Total tuition: None of the pro­grams on our list have an aver­age annu­al tuition of over $10,000.
• Accred­i­ta­tion: Accred­i­ta­tion from asso­ci­a­tions like the AACSB, ACBSP, or IACBE ensure that the pro­grams meet indus­try edu­ca­tion­al standards.
• Edu­ca­tion­al Qual­i­ty: We pri­or­i­tized schools that appear on nation­al rank­ings, and have great reten­tion rates, stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratios, and expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing opportunities.

Find­ing a good deal on your Account­ing degree will go a long way to ensur­ing that you can achieve a great return on invest­ment for your time and mon­ey. Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, Accoun­tants and Audi­tors make an aver­age annu­al salary of $69,350. As a prospec­tive account­ing major, it would be a good exer­cise to cal­cu­late A Cost/Benefit Analy­sis of a Bach­e­lor’s Degree. Some of the pro­grams that ranked high­ly based on our method­ol­o­gy include:

• Brigham Young Uni­ver­si­ty: Their Mar­riott School of Man­age­ment offers a BS in Account­ing that offers their stu­dents great intern­ship opportunities.
• Har­ris-Stowe State Uni­ver­si­ty: Con­sis­tent­ly ranks as one of the most afford­able HBCUs in the nation, while keep­ing stu­dents and alum­ni con­nect­ed through their Account­ing Stu­dents Association.
• Delta State Uni­ver­si­ty: Offers stu­dents the abil­i­ty to earn their Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion with an Accoun­tan­cy Major through flex­i­ble online or evening courses.

For the full list of schools that offer afford­able rates on tuition for your bach­e­lor’s degree in account­ing, check this rank­ing of Top 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lor Degrees in Account­ing. If you feel like any of the schools might be the best fit for you, be sure to fol­low the links to their web­site and request more information.

RELATED LINKS:

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The Top 15 Cheap­est Bach­e­lor Degrees in Accounting