How to become a CPA in Florida?
Certified Public Accountant or CPA is a major designation to show expertise among accountants in the U.S. As per the National Database of CPAs, there are 669,130 actively licensed CPAs rendering their services in various fields including Auditing and Attestation, Forensic Accounting, Taxation, Investment Banking, and Business Consultancy.
The procedure, exam, and eligibility criteria to become a CPA may vary for each of the 55 jurisdictions. This article focuses on the step-by-step process of becoming a CPA in Florida.
Why choose Florida for CPA?
Ranked number 3 in education and 8th in the economy and fiscal stability —the state of Florida is one of the best professional destinations. It has everything that is required to transform you into a complete professional package.
The good thing about Florida is the ease in eligibility criteria for potential CPAs which can be quite complicated for some states. Here is how you can start your CPA journey in Florida.
CPA Requirements
Florida CPA Educational Requirements
To be able to appear in the CPA exam and ultimately gain your CPA license in Florida, you would need to meet the CPA eligibility criteria put forth by the Florida Board of Accountancy.
In a nutshell, to sit for the CPA exam, you must have completed 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours. The 120 credit hours should be from an accredited college or university that primarily focuses on business and accounting courses, and must comprise:
- 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) in upper-level accounting courses that include cost accounting and auditing
- At least 3 semester hours (4 quarter hours) of financial accounting
- At least 3 semester hours (4 quarter hours) of U.S. Taxation
All of the above accounting courses must be at an upper-division level. In addition, these courses must be from a recognized educational institution. Some additional auditing and accounting majors that are accepted for CPA eligibility include:
- Fraud Detection
- International Accounting
- Review of internal and management controls
- Financial Statement disclosure
- Compilation and Review
- Management Accounting
- Auditing Financial Statements, Operating Systems, and Programs
You must have completed 36 semester hours (45 quarter hours) of general business courses including:
- At least 3 semester hours (4 quarter hours) of business law based on U.S. Law
- One course on information systems, macro, and microeconomics, statistics, or any other computer course may be at a lower-division level.
Furthermore, you are not required to have a Bachelor’s Degree or a Master’s Degree to sit for the CPA exam and the credit hours will do for the education requirements. However, having at least a baccalaureate degree is a must to claim your CPA license.
Unlike some states, the state of Florida offers the CPA license to international students as well and you need not necessarily be a U.S. Citizen to become a CPA in Florida. International students outside the U.S. Can search online for the nearest CPA examination services in their country.
Florida CPA Work Experience Requirements
If you meet the above academic criteria, you are eligible to sit for the CPA exam. However, to gain your CPA license in Florida, there is an additional requirement of one year of work experience that must be in accordance with the criteria set by the Florida Board of Accountancy, and any type of service, no matter how technical or advanced, will not be counted for eligibility if it doesn’t meet the criteria. The work experience:
- Must start after completion of the 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours in accordance with the academic criteria listed above.
- Should be a service or advice that involves the use of accounting, auditing, financial or management advisory, compilation, tax, or business consulting skills and these skills must be verified by a CPA. That means you should work with a CPA under his direct supervision.
The Florida Board of Accountancy Committee has explicitly stated that the verification must be made by a manager that you have worked with directly, and verifications of colleagues or other indirect managers will not be acceptable. The manager should be a licensed CPA in the United States and need not necessarily be licensed by the Florida state. - Is acceptable both working for a year straight or in parts —the total of which equals at least one year. However, the work should average at least 20 hours a week with no more than 104 weeks or 40 hours on average with no more than 52 weeks.
In the verification of work experience form, your CPA must certify that the work you have performed is not trivial and customarily performed by standard full-time employees and that the work accounted for a minimum of 2,000 hours completed in more than 52 weeks but no more than 104 weeks.
Alternatively, relevant work experience of 5+ years in Canada or Australia under the supervision of an active Chartered Accountant is also acceptable for CPA Florida.
Exam & Fee Structure CPA Florida
In order to obtain your CPA license in Florida, you are required to pass ALL 4 sections of the CPA exam. First-time candidates are to submit the initial application fee (currently $170) along with the first-time application directly to the Florida State Board of Accountancy. No testing fee is charged and if your application gets approved, you will receive a Jurisdiction ID number that allows you to apply online for the examination.
Candidates who wish to re-appear in the exam are required to pay both the registration fee and examination fee at the time of registration. The fee can be paid directly by using a credit card.
Once you have your jurisdiction ID in hand, you can either apply for one, two, or even ALL 4 CPA exam sections. The 4 CPA Florida exam sections are as follows:
- Auditing & Attestation (AUD)
- Business Environment & Concepts (BEC)
- Financial Accounting & Reporting (FAR)
- Regulation (REG)
The fee for each of the 4 CPA sections is currently $226.15 and each attempt costs a separate $75 examination fee. That means, if you are to appear in one section, you will be charged a total of $301.15 (226.15+75), and ALL 4 sections in a single go would cost $979.6 (226.15×4+75). The more sections you go for in a single attempt, the more economical it becomes.
However, it is advisable not to attempt ALL 4, or even 2 or 3 on a single go unless you are a full-time student. Also, you don’t want to lose your credit score! Basically, you are required to pass all four sections of the exam within 18 months (referred to as the “rolling period”).
The rolling period starts right after the score for the first examination is released. Therefore, your best bet to successfully complete all sections is to plan your exams effectively. One way is to go for the toughest one at the start to avoid unsuccessful attempts in the rolling period. If you fail to complete all four exams within the rolling period, the credit score expires by section meaning that you will lose credit for each section passed outside (before) the rolling period and will have to re-attempt those sections.
The CPA exam is one of the most challenging and technical accountancy exams in the world that goes beyond testing your accounting capabilities!
It is noteworthy to mention here that once you have applied for the examination, you cannot request a refund merely because you are not prepared for the examination. The refund works in situations when you have a strong reason to convince the board for a full or partial refund.
Getting your Florida CPA License —Step-By-Step
Now let’s connect the dots and tell you exactly what to do from inception to licensure.
The first step you need to perform is to check the CPA exam and licensure requirements in Florida. In a nutshell, if you have 120+ semester hours from an accredited institution that fulfills the above CPA academic criteria, you are eligible to sit for the CPA exam in Florida.
Eligible? Great. The next step is to check the course contents of each of the four sections and decide which one should you attempt first. As mentioned earlier, pick one or two (depending on how much time you have for studies) and submit the application form along with the first-time application directly to the Florida Board of Accountancy. You will receive a jurisdiction ID number should your form gets approved by the board.
Next, apply online for the CPA examination using your jurisdiction ID alongside entering details like your social security number and you are good to go!
However, becoming a CPA is not just about clearing the exams and you need to have at least one year of relevant work experience verified by a certified public accountant registered with the American Institute of CPAs. The experience must be equivalent to 2,000 hours and your supervisory CPA must certify that the work you have performed is not trivial and relates to operations that are performed by standard full-time employees. Also, this should take more than 52 weeks but no more than 104 weeks.
Unlike most states, you are not required to complete the Ethics Exam in order to get your CPA license in Florida. If you successfully pass all four sections within the rolling period, have a bachelor’s, and have completed the required work experience, you should be able to obtain your Florida CPA license, and take your professional journey to next level.
Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
Once you become a CPA, you would need to complete at least 120 hours of CPE credit, also known as the CPE hours, to maintain your CPA designation and remain an active CPA Licensee. Basically, the purpose of CPE is to keep pace with current information and the continuously changing business dynamics.
To inject a bit of motivation, it is possible to become a CPA merely by going through the course contents of the four sections but that would take a lot of time since it would require a lot of reading and some accounting textbooks can be well over 1000+ pages!
That being said, if you want to play it smart and efficiently receive your CPA license, you need a helping hand. Remember your teacher in school telling you exactly what to do in order to pass that exam? You did pass it right?!
CPA Preparatory Courses
Though not compulsory, a CPA review can boost your CPA exam preparation and save you time and energy. Basically, an expert, most likely a CPA tells you exactly how to prepare for the upcoming exam, what to expect, and how to score. Statistically, these guidelines and pro-tips improve your passing chances and make sure you pass all four sections in a minimum time that ultimately leads to obtaining your CPA license early.
A CPA review course typically includes a question bank along with answers explaining how best to solve each type of question, video lectures, digital flashcards, and 1-1 mentoring to better prepare the candidate for the exam.
In order to make the most out of a CPA review course, you need to solve questions under strict exam conditions and do not consult any book or video lecture unless you have finished answering the question.
Is CPA Worth it in Florida?
CPA is among the most reputed accountancy tags in the world and they are deemed highly qualified professionals by employers since they are more than just number-crunching accountants. Florida, being the southeastern hub of the economy, has a lot to offer for such professionals.
Statistically, employers are hiring more CPAs in Florida than in most of the states and that’s one of the reasons CPAs have relatively higher incomes in Florida. To answer the question, it is worth the effort to start your CPA journey in Florida and obtain the prestigious license to elevate your professional game.
What does a CPA do?
Whenever a financial fraud occurs, who do you think is the best candidate to solve the mystery? CPAs are quite flexible with what they can do and that’s what makes the CPA’s job different than the conventional accounting profession. From fortune 500 to local businesses, CPAs have a wide range of career opportunities and can perform a variety of roles in both public and private sectors. Here is the list of some of the career paths that CPAs can take:
- Tax Consultancy
- Business Consultancy
- Audit and Attestation
- Forensic Accounting
- Investment Advisory
- Financial Advisory
- Public Accounting
Though not limited, these are some significant roles that CPAs can play and they are well trained to accommodate the changing dynamics. The point is that CPAs can help businesses and individuals solve legal and money problems i.e adherence to ethical standards or improving a business’ financial structure or position.
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