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California CPA Under the Impression That CPA Exam Is Still an Infernal, Multi-day Event That Drives You to Drink

If you haven't heard of William Setterlund, he runs something called the Accounting Academy which offers a certificate in being a good little worker bee for the reasonable price of $7,400. The Academy purports to offer "training the old-fashioned way using manual sets of books & 10-key" among other things but apparently CPA exam tips or prep is not on the curriculum list.

Setterlund, a CPA since 1970, apparently did not get the memo nearly a decade ago that the CPA exam shifted from a two-day nightmare to a take-parts-when-you-want-over-18-months adventure. I thought everyone knew that but I guess I was wrong.

Check out his interview in the San Diego Reader:

In the end, your students graduate with what kinds of degrees or certificates?

It’s a certificate program, not a degree program. It’s not a license of any kind. The only license you can get in accounting is a CPA license, and in order to get that, it’s quite a challenge. You have to have a four-year degree with a major in accounting before you can even sit for the exam. And the CPA exam is equivalent to the Bar exam for attorneys. It’s two and a half days, and it’s very tough. I think the failure rate is 50%. In our program, it’s a certificate in small business accounting and bookkeeping.

For $7,400, I will personally offer Mr Setterlund a quick primer on the CPA exam in its current state, not the old-fashioned, paper and pencil relic it once was. You're welcome in advance, bro.