California Cpa Exam

The California Board of Accountancy follows some different rules as far as the CPA exam is concerned. To appear for the California CPA Exam, a candidate must have a baccalaureate degree, 24 semester hours in accounting subjects, as also 24 semester hours of business-related courses.

The California Board of Accountancy has provided relaxations in some of the requirements such as the 150 semesters hours rule, citizenship, and minimum age. These factors have not been considered important by them. These make the requirements different from many other US states

But it must be kept in mind that these conditions are only for applying or taking the exam. Conditions for issuance might be different. It is always advisable to contact the respective state board for the knowledge of requirements to issue the certificates.

A candidate sitting for the first time, for the four-part exam needs to have the minimum required credential w.r.t. the exam requirements. The applicant, on verification that the exam requirements are met, is supposed to create a personal client account with the California Board of Accountancy. The application fee is $100. The name on the application should exactly match with the name on your photo identification card.

The next step is for the candidate to approach the institution attended and ask them to forward the transcripts of the original certificates to the California Board of Accountancy.

Once the California Board of Accountancy receives the documents and evaluates them, the candidate is issued the Authorization to Test (ATT) to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). After this, the candidate receives the invoice for the exam fees, which have to be paid within 90 days to NASBA from the date of issue, failing which the authorization stands canceled and the candidate has to re-apply.

Once the fees are paid to NASBA, the candidate receives the Notice to Schedule (NTS) from them, which is valid for the next nine months. However, the exams are held only two months in a row in every quarter of the year,so the examination window is open only for two months in every quarter of a year and every third month is vacant. Therefore, the NTS effectively is valid only for six months.

The NTS offers the flexibility to a candidate of taking exams in any order that may please the candidate. It allows the aspirant to schedule his exams at an early stage. The healthiest approach is to sit for at least two parts during the time a specific examination window is open, but it should be kept in mind that the examination fees paid for the parts not taken is not refunded.

So if you want to apply for the California CPA Exam, these are some of the aspects you need to take care of.