Information for CPA (Certified Public Accountant) Exam Candidates
For students working toward the CPA examination, Oakton is accredited with the Illinois Board of Examiners. Exam candidates with a master’s degree in accounting that is recognized by the Board of Examiners are immediately qualified to sit for the exam. CPA exam candidates without a master’s degree in accounting must successfully complete 150 hours of college/university credit, including a bachelor’s degree in any field. Within those 150 hours, there are some specific requirements:
(a) 30 semester hours in accounting. All accounting courses, with the exception of ACC 255, can be counted toward the 30 accounting hours required by the Illinois Board of Examiners.
(b) 24 semester credit hours of business courses (other than accounting). These business courses must include 3 credit hours of business ethics (BUS 107 or MGT 276) and 2 credit hours of business communication (embedded in MGT 118). For students that still need to satisfy the remaining business credits, Oakton recommends ECO 201, ECO 202, BUS 221, and BUS 222 because economics and business law are tested on the CPA exam.
For information about the CPA exam, visit www.ilboe.org. For more information concerning the program, course transferability, or the CPA exam, contact the department chair or visit www.oakton.edu/accounting.
36 Semester Credit Hours; Curriculum: 0006
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Courses for a Certificate | ||
| ACC 153 | Principles of Financial Accounting | 4 |
| ACC 154 | Principles of Managerial Accounting | 4 |
| ACC 241 | Intermediate Accounting I | 4 |
| ACC 242 | Intermediate Accounting II | 4 |
| ACC 244 | Income Tax Accounting | 3 |
| ACC 260 | Auditing | 3 |
| ACC 266 | Advanced Accounting | 3 |
| ACC 274 | Advanced Tax Accounting | 3 |
| Additional ACC courses to complete 30 accounting hours 1 | 2 | |
| BUS 107 | Applied Business Ethics | 3 |
| or MGT 276 | Corporate Social Responsibility and Decision Making | |
| MGT 118 | Effective Management Communications | 3 |
| Total Hours | 36 | |
Note: Before students take courses needed to meet the requirements outlined above, it is strongly recommended that they send a list of courses in these areas that they already have, in addition to those they expect to take, to Board of Examiners for pre-approval. This pre-approval will be valid for three years. See www.ilboa.org for more information.
- 1
Students must have a total of 30 credit hours of accounting in order to receive this 36-credit-hour certificate. Depending on how many credit hours were received for the accounting courses required for the certificate (from previous versions of these courses at Oakton or from other institutions), students may need to take more or fewer than two hours of accounting electives. Note that the Illinois Board of Examiners counts all courses with the ACC prefix as part of the 30 required accounting hours, with the exception of ACC 255 Careers in Accounting.
Professional Accounting - CPA Preparation Certificate Pathway
The following Pathway is recommended for students pursuing the Professional Accounting - CPA Preparation Certificate.
| First Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall Semester | Hours | |
| ACC 153 | Principles of Financial Accounting | 4 |
| MGT 118 | Effective Management Communications | 3 |
| BUS 107 or MGT 276 | Applied Business Ethics or Corporate Social Responsibility and Decision Making | 3 |
| Hours | 10 | |
| Spring Semester | ||
| ACC 154 | Principles of Managerial Accounting | 4 |
| ACC 241 | Intermediate Accounting I | 4 |
| ACC 244 | Income Tax Accounting | 3 |
| Hours | 11 | |
| Summer Semester | ||
| ACC 260 | Auditing | 3 |
| Hours | 3 | |
| Second Year | ||
| Fall Semester | ||
| ACC 242 | Intermediate Accounting II | 4 |
| ACC 266 | Advanced Accounting | 3 |
| ACC 274 | Advanced Tax Accounting | 3 |
| ACC Elective | 2-3 | |
| Hours | 12-13 | |
| Total Hours | 36-37 | |
Note: Pathway is a recommended sequence of courses. Students should contact the department chair to discuss the course sequence as well as course prerequisites and recommendations.
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this program, students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of:
- Financial accounting topics covered in intermediate and advanced accounting, including the ability to work with the FASB Codification Database.
- Managerial accounting, including the application of Microsoft Excel.
- Topics related to individual, corporation, and partnership taxation, including the ability to work with the RIA Checkpoint research database.
- CPA topics related to auditing, including cases that require judgment and critical thinking analysis.
- Business ethics cases that require synthesis and evaluation.
- Business memos in professional formatting as required by the CPA Exam.