Requirements for the Illinois CPA Certificate

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants requires 150 hours to sit for the CPA exam. With the 150 hour requirement, 24 hours of accounting hours are required but this does not include business law. It is important to note that, while the 24 accounting hour requirement is the minimum, many accounting programs will offer more than that as part of their curriculum so students are adequately prepared both for the CPA exam and work in the profession.

The Board of Examiners recommends a distribution of courses to satisfy the 24 hours of business credits, rather than a concentration or focus in one or two subject areas. Accounting courses are not counted towards the business concentration. Acceptable courses are economics, business law, marketing, finance business and technical communication, business ethics, international business, legal and social environment of business, management, information systems, and quantitative methods. Other courses are subject to review by the Illinois Board of Examiners. Business law is a recommended course(s) because it is tested on the CPA Exam.

Students can take business courses outside of the department that can count toward the business courses requirement. Students who may have taken some business-oriented courses in other disciplines may not have to re-take courses in the business area when they transfer into accounting. The Illinois Board of Examiners ultimately decides which courses count toward the 24 hours, so questions about specifics should be directed to them.

John Wood Community College offers a number of accounting courses that can help a candidate meet the required semester hours of accounting for the CPA examination that may include the following:

ACC 101 Principles of Accounting I	3
ACC 102 Principles of Accounting II	3
ACC 200 Managerial Accounting	3
ACC 214 Cost Accounting	3
ACC 221 Intermediate Accounting I	3
ACC 222 Intermediate Accounting II	3
ACC 223 Intermediate Accounting III	3
ACC 270 Principles of Auditing	3
TOTAL	24

Additional information and an application to sit for the CPA examination may be obtained from the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy Web site. Students planning to sit for the CPA examination should also take ACC 230 and ACC 240.