I’m young yet, will be styarting high school next year, but im still curious as to know how many years of university/collage it takes to become an accountant, and how much do they earn annually. What is the best part of accounting to go into, as in, gets paid the most?
How Many Years Of Collage Does It Take Too Become An Accountant?
Posted on February 9, 2010 by admin, Filed under Answers
Every state has individual requirements for becoming a certified public accountant, but California is as follows: you need a college degree with 24 units of accounting coursework. At my college, this meant 6 accounting classes and most accounting students were business or accounting majors. The college degree is typically a four year degree. After you get the proper coursework you must take a certification test (mostly based on the information you learned in your accounting classes) which is very difficult to pass. You must get 70% and most people do not pass the first time. Finally, you must work/intern for appoximately two years at an accounting firm- this is sort of an apprenticeship.
There are many fields in accounting. You can be a general accountant, auditor, tax accountant, or a controller. My favorite field is tax accounting becuase I think it is much more interesting than the other fields.
Accountants’ salaries vary quite a bit depending on the size and success of the firm you are employed for, but it is not unsafe to assume a yearly salary of over $80,000. I don’t think one field gets paid much more than any other field, it is mainly based on the firm you are working for.
To become an accountant, you only need to do a four-year degree at least. There is quite a bit more that you have to do to become a Certifies Public Accountant (CPA).
Are you looking to get an Associate-,or Bachelor Degree ?
To achieve an Associate Degree, usually it takes 2 years, and 4 years for a Bachelor Degree. It also depends on how many credits you take every semester. Are you going to be a part time or full time student ?
minimum, 3 years, but perhaps you should learn to spell College before you attend one.
It will take 4 years in an undergraduate university or college to get a bachelors degree, which you will need regardless. To get a masters of accounting would be another two or three years depending on your graduate program.
The specific jobs that are most in demand and therefore are the highest paid will likely change in the next eight years, so your best bet is to go to a good school, major in accounting, and make any further decisions after you get a feel for what you like/are good at, and the job market.
minimum of 3 years