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Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - ENG2ACCT - 01-10-2025
I am a mechanical engineer working in MN with a BS & MS in mechanical engineering. I currently work full-time at a local semiconductor fab 9-5 Monday-Friday. I am also 33 years old and married with a four-year-old son and 11-month old daughter.
I met a CPA at the 2024 Boglehead personal finance conference who recommended I consider becoming a certified financial planner (CFP) based on my personal hobby and interests in index funds, financial and estate planning. He runs his own assets under management (AUM) wealth management firm in Northern California.
A certified public accountant with three or more years of relevant work experience can follow an expedited track to become a CFP since most of the CFP educational requirements will be waived.
How Does CFP® Certification Complement My CPA? | CFP Board
In my mentor's opinion, a CPA/CFP is a very strong combination for a financial planner who wants to do advanced tax planning by merit of their experience with doing tax forms for trusts, individuals and small businesses. CFPs are more limited in the amount of tax planning knowledge they have compared to CPAs, which is why he recommended I take the longer path of getting a CPA first, if I am willing to put the work into it.
My career path would be to get the educational requirements completed in order to sit for the CPA exam, pass the exam, get the required work experience in Minnesota so that I can become a CPA. Then I will work for a few years at either a dedicated tax firm or a financial planning firm that also files taxes on behalf of its clients. Then I might spend a few years at a financial planning firm before going out on my own and starting a solo tax filing, financial planning business.
Since I already have a bachelors and masters degree, Minnesota has a route for me to sit for the CPA exam without getting a business or accounting degree. I just need to get 24 accounting credits at an accredited college university that are at an "intermediate or advanced level, not introductory level". See MN Rules 1105.1500 option D
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/1105.1500/
Minnesota Board of accountancy CPA exam requirements link: https://boa.state.mn.us/applicants.html#educationsection
My CPA mentor's son who is currently working to obtain a CFP too said college level accounting coursework only importance is preparing you for the CPA exam. He recommends paying for a Becker CPA exam prep course, which is his preferred test prep company. Therefore they told me I should take accounting courses that help prepare me for the exam. Minnesota says my 24 accounting credits have to be in the four branches of accounting: financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing, and tax accounting. It does not look like Minnesota cares whether my credits were earned from a college or university located in Minnesota. The only thing they care about is whether the college or university is accredited.
I tried calling the Minnesota Board of accountancy, but they told me that they don't advise anyone on what routes to take to fulfill the educational requirements. The recommendation was to talk to an academic advisor at the college or university where I plan to obtain my accounting credits. The problem is no school will let me sit with an academic advisor until I apply. There are many options for me to get accounting credits, so I would like everyone's opinion on this topic. I will email the MN board of accountancy once I have a proposed educational plan in place so that I can get their blessing in writing before I proceeded.
Questions:
- What are the cheapest and fastest routes to get college level accounting credits completed? Thus far, I am considering going for an accounting certificate from TESU. The problem is, some of those courses are 1xxx level, which means they are probably introductory courses and won't help me satisfy the 24 credit accounting requirement. So I would like to skip out of those. I only found one CLEP exam in financial accounting. Sophia.org offers two past fail classes: one in financial accounting and another in managerial accounting. They do partner with TESU, but I will probably have to talk to the registrar's office at TESU to confirm that they will accept those sophia.org courses.
- If I use a faster self study route such as sophia.org, will that provide me enough practice problems so that I can confidently move on to upper division accounting courses at TESU or another school such as WGU? I never took any business or accounting courses as an engineering student, so if I'm going to start from the beginning with accounting, I don't care which option I follow to get the credits completed as long as I am learning the requisite knowledge and getting more comfortable with the field of accounting as I get closer towards sitting for the CPA exam.
- Looking at the TESU catalogue, it looks like I am allowed to take some of their upper division accounting courses as a self-pay option. From what I understand, this means there is no required homework, quizzes, or midterm exams. I am given Free non-graded chapter practic tests and can take each course is graded final exam when ready. Has anyone used that course option before? Does that course option even provide practice problems for me to study from?
- From what I have read online, it looks like introductory accounting textbooks are updated by their publishers frequently because of changes made to US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which makes introductory textbooks obsolete quickly and adds a lot of costs for students. Are there any good open access textbooks people can recommend and managerial and financial accounting for self study? If not, this suggests I should just bite the bullet and take formal online accounting classes from a school where the instructor has all the study materials laid out for me.
- my fear with following a traditional path to completing 24 accounting credits is that I don't think I have the ability to take more than one traditional course per term since I have a full-time job and I married with two children. If there are self study options available for me, that might make it easier to squeeze in more than 3-4 credits per term. I'd love to get all 24 non-introductory accounting credits completed in one calendar year, but that may not be realistic for my situation, so guidance and Frank advice is welcome.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - origamishuttle - 01-10-2025
I don't know anything about accounting, but have you looked at UMPI?
UMPI BA Accounting Degree Plan
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_BA_Accounting_Degree_Plan
Accounting, B.A.
http://catalog.umpi.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=7&poid=801&returnto=260
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - LevelUP - 01-10-2025
UMPI (CBE format)
UMPI would be your best path for the advanced Accounting credits.
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_BA_Accounting_Degree_Plan
You could I guess only take the 24 credits of accounting though it would be strange not to go ahead and get the full Accounting degree there considering you were serious about doing accounting.
Timeframe:
You could easily do 24-30 credits of UMPI courses in 2-4 months. Then add any time if you plan to do Sophia or Study.com courses.
SNHU (Traditional Education Format)
SNHU's CFP Board-registered online financial planning fulfills all the educational requirements needed to sit for the CFP exam. (you'll still need work experience later to be a CFP)
https://www.snhu.edu/online-degrees/bachelors/bs-in-finance
https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/SNHU_Finance_Degree_Plan
Timeframe:
You could easily do 30 credits of SNHU courses in 8 to 10 months. Then add any time if you plan to do Sophia or Study.com courses.
Note:
General Education requirements are waived at UMPI or SNHU if you have a bachelor's degree.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - freeloader - 01-11-2025
A few general things (and these are coming from a former financial advisor, financial educator, and current tax accountant): the accounting job market is pretty soft right now. A couple of years ago the market was much stronger and there was a lot of hiring in industry and government. That has dramatically slowed. Many of the largest accounting firms have also laid off accountants in the last 2 years and more lay offs are projected. This will be doubly true if the economy slows down. There is definitely a malaise in the accounting and tax subreddits and on some other message boards that I follow. I also have a number of friends—good accountants with good degrees, years of experience, and CPA/EA designations who are underemployed or even unemployed. If you are passionate about accounting and financial planning, then go for it. But I certainly wouldn’t leave the day job, not yet for sure.
I love finance. Currently working on my MBA with focus on financial planning. I previously had my life, health, property, and casualty insurance licenses, the Series 6, and was studying for the Series 7. I loved and love learning about financial products, building portfolios, building models, and reading financial and accounting reports. As a financial advisor and insurance broker, I did very little of that. I was a salesman. I was constantly trying to separate people from their money and convince them that I was better at managing their money than the person who was doing it. Sometimes I was, often enough I wasn’t. But that didn’t matter. My job was to close the deal. I am not the most social person. I am not the kind of person that people flock to at parties. I am the nerd who didn’t go to the parties because I was home reading and studying. So, I wasn’t very successful selling things, which really means selling yourself. Being a retail financial advisor isn’t boggleheads. It’s CarMax. If that’s what you want, fantastic. The world needs people like that. But understand what the industry is before you get into it.
If you start the accounting route, be prepared for a pretty dramatic pay cut. I have a nephew who is a mechanical engineer (BEng only, no PE) with around 4 years of experience doing design and install of mechanical equipment in a large city in the US. He would have to take a 50+% paycut to switch to accounting. It would take him at least 4 years to match his current salary. Of course, in 4 years he will be a manger at his engineering firm and his compensation will dwarf what he would make if he switched to accounting…
As a new tax accountant, you are going to have 2 busy seasons. From mid-to late-January through late April and then again for at least early August through October. If you are at a firm with lower expectations, you will be working at least 50 hours per week. Very good chance that will be more like 60, 70, or even 80. Say goodbye to spring and fall break trips with your family. If you are in a smaller accounting firm, you also may have to do some audit/attest/general ledger accounting along with tax. If that’s the case, December may be pretty crazy too. Have plenty of friends who work 60 hour weeks in December and take the morning off on Christmas and back to work in the afternoon.
When the accounting job market is good, it doesn’t really matter where you get your accounting credits. Accounting firms are filled with CPA’s with history and English degrees who did their accounting credits with community colleges, for-profit schools, etc. Unfortunately, it’s definitely gotten a lot harder to get that initial job due to the weakness in the market. I would seriously consider a certificate or degree program where you live to be able to use their career services. It would be slower and more expensive, to be sure, but would increase your likelihood of actually getting a job (and without having to move across country for a $60k/yr job averaging 50+ hrs/week).
If you really like finance and financial products (and particularly with your background), I would think seriously about financial engineering, high-level quantitive finance, international banking, investment banking, or something similar.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - bjcheung77 - 01-12-2025
Welcome to the board, here are two threads for you to review, it boils down to UMPI BA Accounting or BABA Accounting as my recommendations. It really depends on what your requirements are and what you want to complete on route to your educational goal...
Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-BA-BABA-BLS-Accounting-which-one
Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-UMPI-BA-Accounting-2nd-Bachelor-Degree
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - Hotdogman1 - 01-16-2025
So I might have missed something, but everything I've read makes me think OP should go for the Enrolled Agent + CFP route.
"Then I will work for a few years at either a dedicated tax firm or a financial planning firm that also files taxes on behalf of its clients."
Enrolled Agents are federally licensed tax practitioners authorized to represent taxpayers before the IRS in all tax matters and specialize in tax preparation, tax planning, and representation (before the IRS). CPAs have a broader range of expertise while EAs specialize solely in tax-related matters. In the tax field, CPAs and EAs share significant overlap, but the main distinction is that EAs cannot audit financial statement. Becoming an EA is significantly easier than becoming a CPA: pass a three-part exam and no education requirements (you can bypass the exam if you have five years of relevant IRS work experience). $259 per section * 3 = $777.
https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/enrolled-agents/enrolled-agent-information
https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/enrolled-agents/enrolled-agents-frequently-asked-questions
My friend got his EA last year. He is currently working as a tax preparer at a public accounting firm while he works on getting the required work experience for his CPA. Rather than getting an Accounting masters* (despite his company offering tuition reimbursement), he just started the Franklin University's $99 per credit hour Advanced Accounting certificate (30 Credits $2,970 total, paid upfront). The format is online and is comprised of Eight 6-week courses. The Miles CPA Review program is included in that price so it seems like a pretty good deal.
https://www.franklin.edu/franklinworks-marketplace/certificates/advanced-accounting-microcredential
https://www.milescpacredits.com/
*He was advised by his managers that a Masters in Accounting is basically useless if you have a CPA +supposedly most Accounting masters are designed for non-accounting majors trying to satisfy the 150 hour requirement (education requirements differ per state). I don't know if that is true but that's why he is doing the Franklin program and a part time Masters in finance.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - Hotdogman1 - 01-16-2025
I noticed I made a mistake in my previous post. The Franklin University Advanced Accounting Microcredential is $99 per credit hour, not per course.
You have to pay the $2,970 upfront to start the cert. I also asked my friend about the class format and he stated it was online live instructions with recordings available for those that missed the session (so both synchronous and asynchronous). You also have 2 years to complete the program.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - Jonathan Whatley - 01-16-2025
(01-16-2025, 03:57 PM)Hotdogman1 Wrote: I noticed I made a mistake in my previous post. The Franklin University Advanced Accounting Microcredential is $99 per credit hour, not per course.
Thank you! I edited the post.
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - bjcheung77 - 01-17-2025
Actually, skip what I mentioned earlier... You've got the undergrad/masters degree, I wonder if your state will allow you to just go for 30 credits in accounting, to apply for the CPA. Review your state requirements and see if getting the WGU MAcc would work for you, it'll be about $5K and 6 months if you have the energy/time to get things done and very less commitments...
RE: Engineer changing careers to become CPA tax accountant - HogwartsSchool - 01-17-2025
When you mentioned "index funds, financial and estate planning." none of those items fall within the traditional accounting space. Can I make a suggestion, look into Wealth Management. There are many master programs that specialize in wealth management and include areas of taxation within the program. Doing someone's taxes isn't the same as financial and estate planning.
1. Go into accounting if you want to become a CFO / controller or love bookkeeping and number crunching.
2. Get a CPA license if you want to do auditing, otherwise, there's no much value.
3. Get a EA (from IRS) to handle someone's taxes but its not needed for financial and estate planning. Honestly, an EA is only helpful if you are going to represent a client before the IRS (audits, and other issues), otherwise, if you just do tax preparation work, you just need a tax preparer iD from the IRS (PTIN) which doesn't require any exams.
4. A better option. getting a master degree in Wealth Management + becoming a certified financial planner.
hope that helps.