Hi friends, a quick one frm my side.....jus after clearing all the four exams can i call myself a CPA or do I need to get the license first to call myself a CPA??

And also how does the exam credits work.....for how long the credits achieved in an exam remain valid ?

If you passed all four, your credits won't expire.

Call yourself a CPA when you have a certificate and can back up your statement with a certificate number.

Actually, sections do expire in some states. Florida has a 3 year expiration date. It used to be 1 year until they recently changed the laws. Thank God for that because it wasn't fair. Makes you wonder who on earth came up with a 1 year expiration date.

When you can call yourself a CPA depends on what state you're in. Florida is a one-tier state which means we only have a license here. Here, you cannot call yourself a CPA until the Board of Accountancy issues your license. Some other states are two-tier states which means you can be issued a CPA certificate or a CPA license. The CPA certificate says you can call yourself a CPA but you cannot sign off on audits or anything like that. The license, you can. So you can say the certificate is for non-public accounting use and the license is for public and non-public. You won't be able to get the CPA license until you obtain the required work experience for that state. You get the certificate once educational requirements(?) are fulfilled and you pass all 4 parts of the exam.

Some states' tests don't expire and some do. Consult your state board of accountancy's website.

Thanks a lot to both of you....well I am planning  to go for Colorado state, n thats a two-tier state, so I think my credits wouldnt expire anytime....

any special instructions from ur experiences are most welcome, before I enroll in the course

anything u wanna adivce....as I m new to it ??