MBA, CMA, and CPA: Natural Partners in the 150-Hour Requirement: By Following a Study Program That Combines College Coursework with Exam Preparation Materials, Students Can Complete Both the CMA and CPA Examinations within a Year of Earning Their MBA

Business in the 21st Century is increasingly wired and globally expanding. (1) Because of rapidly changing economic environments and information technologies, as well as stronger global competition, today's accountants must understand business and all its interrelationships. Financial accounting knowledge alone, although extremely important, is no longer adequate. Accountants must possess a deeper understanding of managerial accounting, economics, decision sciences, and other business disciplines in their knowledge base. (2) This knowledge toolkit has been advanced by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and its 150-hour requirement for membership in its organization. State Boards of also agree in that the majority of the 55 states and jurisdictions in the United States have adopted the 150-hour requirement for licensure as a CPA. (3) The additional hours beyond the undergraduate degree can be undergraduate and/or graduate courses. Many schools encourage students to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Accounting (MAC) degree. Diving into today's business world is a daunting challenge for new college graduates. How do they compete? The answer is for them to distinguish themselves from the pack. Larry White, 2004 Chair of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA[R]), says that new graduates can cull themselves from the herd by getting certified: Certification shows a prospective employer that you are an energized professional, you are improving yourself, and you're interested in and committed to ongoing professional improvement. (4) Additional support for certification comes from the IMA 2006 salary survey, which reports that individuals who hold the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and/or Certified Management Accountant (CMA[R]) designation earn more, on average, than their noncertified counterparts. (5) Furthermore, those who possess two certifications earn approximately $5,000 more than those with one certification, and this follows the individuals throughout their career! (6) How, then, do accounting students distinguish themselves in the current market? They increase their marketability. Accordingly, we identify two programs that accounting educators can suggest to prospective accounting students to accomplish this objective. The first is for those states that allow candidates to sit for the CPA exam after completing 120 credit hours, and the second is for the remaining states that require 150 credit hours to sit for the exam. We propose a curriculum for students that includes a 150-hour program to obtain either an MBA or MAC while structuring their coursework to allow them to sit for and complete both the CMA and CPA examinations. Our premise is based on efficiency. In general, most people are better test takers while they are still students. We believe that if students properly sequence their coursework and professional exam parts, they can prepare for the CMA and CPA exams more efficiently and greatly improve their chances for passing. Before we delineate our two programs, however, we will offer a quick history of the AICPA's 150-hour requirement and the various implementation formats that states have used to meet the requirement. Next, we summarize the educational requirements to sit for the CMA and CPA exams and then recommend a program of study to maximize the efficiency of preparing for both exams while earning an MBA. Last, we discuss the advantages of each approach. HISTORY OF THE 150-HOUR REQUIREMENT The American Institute of Accountants (AIA), the predecessor of the AICPA, enacted the first major bill to regulate the practice of public accounting in 1916. (7) The initial idea of a fifth year of accounting education is credited to Columbia University when in 1936 it wanted to establish a College of Accountancy by requiring two years of liberal arts education and three years of technical training. …