Should you wish to pursue additional education to aid in your skill development, there are many organizations offering highly regarded and specialized qualifications and certifications, in addition to your ACCA qualification.

US Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Awarding body: Individual U.S. State Boards of Accountancy

The CPA is the most popular qualification in the USA for professional accountants. Many of our members have sat and passed the CPA. Currently, ACCA does not have a mutual recognition agreement with the International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB), a joint body between National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) or the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). 

To learn more about sitting for the US CPA qualification, AICPA has developed a resource for prospective students. This resource will help guide you through the process of earning your CPA if you are interested in pursuing it. In order to earn your CPA qualification, an individual must have at least 150 credit hours from an accredited college or university, pass a series of exams, and meet experience and ethics requirements. If you completed your education outside of an accredited US-based college or university, you will need to have your education evaluated to determine how many US-equivalent credit hours you have. These evaluations are conducted on a case-by-case basis. 

Should your evaluation suggest that you need additional credit hours, ACCA North america has developed a collaboration with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in order to help our membership receive additional credits at a reasonable cost. For more information on this, please read our ACCA Collaboration Announcement. We also recommend members and future members research their local community college for a cost-effective way of earning credit hours or research a competency-based college program, such as Western Governors University.

ACCA does have a relationship with the University of London (UoL) and for those members who have received their ACCA within five years, you will be able to sit the online UoL MSc program. The number of credit hours you can gain from this program varies on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, visit our qualifications section.

For more information on state requirements to sit the CPA, please contact the State Board of Accountancy for which you would like more information. AICPA has created a website to learn more about the individual state board’s requirements. 

American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
Contact Information and Offices

Certified Management Accountant (CMA)

IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) is the worldwide association of accountants and financial professionals in business. IMA offers the Certified Management Accountant certification, as well as the CSCA, Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis. IMA is a global strategic partner of ACCA.

The ICMA (Institute of Certified Management Accountants) Board of Regents, representing the certification division of IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), has voted to waive its usual bachelor's degree requirement for ACCA members wishing to earn the CMA credential. For more information on this program, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Certified Forensic Accountant Exam (CRFAC)

The American Board of Forensic Accountants (ABFA) oversees the popular CRFAC exam which is a fully comprehensive program covering forensic accounting, fraud, litigation services, cyber security issues, and evaluations.

ABFA is a local partner of ACCA and provides a discount to ACCA members.  More details can be found on the ABFA website.

Tel: +1-661-861-8861 (USA)
Email: staff@abfa.us
Website: www.abfa.us

Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) 

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is an international professional association. The IIA is the internal audit profession’s global voice, recognized authority, acknowledged leader, chief advocate, and principal educator. 

The IIA has partnered with ACCA to offer ACCA members a supporting exception for the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certificate. Your ACCA membership is recognized by the IIA as satisfying the education and professional experience requirements for the CIA program. For more information on the program and how to apply, please visit our webpage.

Tel: +1-407-937-1111 (USA)
Email: customerrelations@theiia.org
Website: theiia.org