ion to assess a candidates knowledge of the rules of professional conduct. The Board of Examiners of the AICPA, is responsible for preparing the Uniform CPA Examinations and for operating the Advisory Grading Service, both adopted by the boards of accountancy in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Examination is given twice each year, in May and November, and its duration is 15 hours long. The exam is administered over a two day period within the boundaries of the fifty-four jurisdictions that use the exam. It is given and graded in English only. The exam consists of four sections: Business Law & Professional Responsibilities; Auditing; Accounting & Reporting- Taxation, Managerial, and Governmental and Non-Profit Organizations; and Financial Accounting & Reporting-Business Enterprises. Once you have become a CPA, most states require you to take a specified amount of continuing education courses annually to retain your professional license to practice. As a CPA, there are no limits to the career opportunities available to you. CPAs work in public practice, business industry, government and education. In public accounting, the CPA serves many clients as an objective outsider or in an advisory position. Currently there are over 46,000 public accounting firms in the US ranging in size from small local accounting practice to large international CPA firms. To name a few, public accounting services include: Auditing- is one of the most important and best known services provided by CPAs in public practice. To better protect consumers and investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires every publicly-held company to issue an annual financial statement. These financial statements are examined by independent CPAs, and the results are referred to as an audit. The CPAs role as an auditor is to examine a companys financial statements in order to assur...
