Comment by knight17 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by knight17 | Hacker News Reader

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PwC, and other Big 4 and even small accounting firms in the UK already have a school leavers program.

You join the firms out of school, they will ask you to register with ICAEW/ACCA and study to become a chartered accountant (CPA in the US), the firm will provide you with books, exam fees and tuition fees while you earn on the job. After three years while your peers finishing up at university you will have a solid work history with great qualifications with no debt. You can even get a degree if you join ACCA for just ₤200 for submitting a thesis and no additional exams.

While in the US, to become a CPA, you would need masters level education in most cases to even appear for the CPA exams. UK and almost all commonwealth countries have programs and institutes that offer professional qualification opportunities with even more prestige than the average university route. Accountancy is one of the few fields where one can get-qualified-on-job in the Anglosphere (US, Canada excluded).

ICAEW : http://careers.icaew.com/school-students-leavers

ACCA : http://www.accaglobal.com/uk/en/qualifications/accountancy-c...

ACCA + B.Sc (Hons.) :http://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/help/oxford-brookes.html

> While in the US, to become a CPA, you would need masters level education in most cases to even appear for the CPA exams.

Source? This sounds ludicrous.

http://www.ais-cpa.com/outside.html

"Most states have adopted a 150 university semester hour educational requirement. A few states require only a four year university degree." Depending on how your hours are calculated, I think 150 might require a year of grad school generally. My school does 3 hours of class per week x 5 classes per semester x 8 semesters = 120 hours.

On the other extreme, the CFA institute requires 4 years of experience to sit the CFA exams.

I just checked the CFA Institute website. They say you must have a "bachelor's (or equivalent) degree or be in the final year" of one OR four year work experience (in any field) OR combined education + work experience of four years.

I think what you are saying is true for using the designation (becoming a chartered holder)--you need to have the practical experience of four years.

CFA Enrolment eligibility : https://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/register/Pa...

Experience required : https://www.cfainstitute.org/community/membership/process/Pa...

To become a CPA the candidate needs 150 credit hour education. This can be achieved in two ways:

1. Get a masters degree in accounting

2. Bachelor degree + other courses for credit from online diploma mills (University of Phoenix) or similar accredited educational institutions (I think community colleges would work too).

Both are complete waste of time and money. In the UK you can leave school, pass 14 or 15 exams costing about a £100 pounds + institute membership fee of £100/year and obtain the experience of three years then you are qualified to obtain a license to practice. If you are with a accountancy firm, they will sponsor all the main costs and provide you with study leave for exams.

I just read another article today [Tulip] that says the same thing about US medical education where one can study for becoming doctor only after completing an undergraduate degree which might have no relation to medicine. Author compares that with Ireland where one studies for 5 years after leaving school instead of the 8 that the US doctors need to spend.

I think it is similar case for becoming a lawyer too: four year degree then JD while in other countries they go and obtain an LLB (3 years) and then appear for the bar exams.

CPA eligibility

New York : http://nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/newyork/ California : http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/applicants/tip_sheet.pdf Other states : http://nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/

Against [Tulip] subsidies : http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/06/against-tulip-subsidies...

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