Can Associate Degree Holder Get A CPA?

“Can a 3-year bachelor degree (generally equivalent to an Associate degree) quality to sit for the CPA exam?”

I would say, since 2012, it has been exceeding hard for 3-year bachelor degree holder to get qualified for the US CPA exam.

Delaware still lets associate degree holder (which include 3-year bachelor degrees) to sit for the exam, but given the imminent change of rules effective August 2012, it no longer makes sense to go through Delaware if you are starting out the process.

Background Information: How Rules Have Changed In Delaware Throughout The Years

There are a lot of outdated information circulating on the Internet related to Delaware CPA exam requirements.

I would like to take the opportunity to clarify using the timeline below — in a way all the information you gathered on the Internet may be correct, but it may not be the most updated piece of information.

Before 2006:

Working experience was not required to get a Delaware CPA certificate  as long as you are not planning to practice public accounting in Delaware.

After 2006:

Since 2006 Delaware has been requiring all candidates to have work experience before getting the CPA qualification by abolishing the so-called two-tier system, which means that you can no longer get a CPA certificate alone, but a full CPA license instead.

With that, each CPA candidate with varying degrees will need to fulfill the following:

  • Masters degree: 1 year of working experience
  • Bachelor degree:  2 years of working experience
  • Associate degree: 4 years of working experience

Please note that the working experience has to be supervised and verified by a CPA license holder (note: CPA certificate holder is not qualified for verification). “CPA equivalent” e.g. Chartered accountants from Canada and Australia are NOT allowed for Delaware.

In terms of the education requirement, Delaware is the easiest to fulfill. Not only that Associate degrees are allowed, the number of account courses required is only 21 semester hours (one of the least, if not the least, among all states) and elementary accounting courses can be counted.

Effective August 1, 2012

Delaware will join the vast majority of states to impose a 150 credit hour requirement on all candidates. If you have an associate degree, got qualified for the CPA exam but don’t manage to pass all  4 parts of the exam before this deadline, you will be allowed to pass the CPA exam but you will not eligible for the CPA license.

It will also be impossible for you to switch to other states because none of the states will accept candidates with only a 3-year bachelor degree.

  • For details, please go to the Delaware CPA Exam Requirements page with links to the primary source e.g. NASBA’s Delaware page and State Board pages.

So, Can I Get Qualified At All?

I will take Indian candidate as an example since I get the majority of inquiries from them:

If you are:

  • B.COM only: no (sorry about that)
  • B.COM + Indian CA: I run out of ideas for you guys, but I know the person who may be able to help you, with a fee
  • B.COM + M.COM: yes it is possible

For further details specifically for Indian candidates please check out this page here.

For non-Indian candidates who went through a 3-year university system, please drop me a note on my Facebook page and I’ll see whether I can help you out.

If CPA Doesn’t Work, Do You Have Any Suggestions For Me?

If you want to go for jobs such as asset management, equity research analyst or hedge fund specialist, then you can consider CFA.

However, for most of you who are accountants working/plan to work in in corporate/industry, then I would encourage that you check out the CMA qualification because at least BCOM from a typical university in India, or any 3-year degree from a “decent” university in your country, can get you qualified.

For general info on CMA as well as CMA vs CPA, please click on the respective links which will bring you to our sister site, IPassTheCMAexam.com. Good luck!

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{ 3 comments }

VF

Dear Stephanie,

I have a law degree and a master of science in taxation from a business school. I have taken one accounting course (principles of financial accounting) and mostly taxation courses. Is Delaware the best state for me to be looking at? (if I’m looking to take a minimum amount of additional accounting courses). Also, I will be working in public accounting. Thanks!

Lokesh

Dear Stephanie,

I have a 3 year’s bachelors degree in commerce from Kurukshetra University, INDIA.
And I am currently pursuing Chartered Accountancy Course from ICAI, INDIA.
Do i qualify for CPA exam?
If not,
please guide me to the minimum requirements for an Indian student like me to fulfill for becoming eligible for CPA.
I have selected to study in Kansas City Of Missorie.
How can i do that??

Please help me with your kindest advice.
Thanks!
Lokesh
(India)

Stephanie

Dear all,
Many thanks for taking the time to leave your comments here and I should have had answered the above questions in other pages.

In order to streamline and improve the response time, I would like to redirect your questions to these pages:

1. For state specific questions (including whether specific state’ licensing rules):
Please go to CPA exam requirements by state, click on the state you are interested in, and add a comment there.

2. For general questions from international candidates:
Please check out this page written for you first, and click away / leave comments from there!

Finally, if you have a questions specifically on 3-year degrees, then please scroll back up and find the heading “Your comments are most welcome” and drop a note for me there. Thanks!

Stephanie