About

The graduate-level academic Certificate in Accounting is offered to those wishing to reach the eligibility requirement of 150 credits of coursework to practice as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in California.

This may also appeal to individuals working in accounting who wish to update their knowledge and skills. Students in this program will be able to test the waters before committing to a longer program of study such as the Master of Science in Accountancy (M.S.A.) degree. This program is also appropriate for individuals with accounting degrees from other countries who wish to prepare for the CPA exam by taking courses specific to American accounting regulations.

Develop key skills to prepare students for the certified public accountancy examination and a professional career in accounting, including:

Financial Reporting
Auditing
Ethics
Business Law
Taxation
Cost Accounting
Accounting Information Systems

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Eligible Degrees: Bachelor's degree.

Required Academic Documents: Degree certificate and transcript (record of subjects taken and marks earned) If your academic record is not in English, an English translation must accompany all academic documents. Academic documents must be university issued and sealed.

GPA Equivalency: a GPA of "B" or higher is required for graduate study 70 - 79

English Requirements

PTEMin 59
IELTSMin 6.5
TOEFLMin 80

Fee Information

Application Fee 70

How to Apply

Before Applying

Spend time reviewing your desired program's information
Note your program deadline for application. Applications are due by 9:00 pm the day of your application deadline. Refer to the lists below to determine your application deadline.
Review the minimum university requirements for admission for domestic or international students.
Gather your transcripts, test scores, and additional program materials that can be uploaded online. At this time, you may use unofficial copies, however, official copies will be required for formal review.
International students should also gather uploadable versions of their TOEFL or IELTS scores.
Provide notice to your recommenders prior to completing your application.

Submitting Your Application

Go to the Cal State Apply portal, select semester from dropdown menu, create an account or login with account credentials
Upload and attach all required materials under the four quadrants
Once you have submitted names and emails for recommendations, recommendation requests are automatically generated.
Complete payment for application: $70. All fees are non-refundable and non-transferrable.
Once your application and payment have been submitted, you cannot add documents.

Cal State Apply

San Francisco State Graduate program applications are submitted through Cal State Apply. Cal State Apply is a Centralized Application Service (CAS) that simplifies the process of applying to CSU programs. You will only submit one application for the university and the graduate program.

Quadrant I: Personal Information

Complete all of the required fields in the 7 sub-sections
Fields noted as optional may be skipped

Quadrant II: Academic History

Colleges attended: Add all previous institution information and dates attended
Standardized tests: Standardized tests will be reported under Program Materials, click on "I am Not Adding Any Standardized Tests"
GPA entries: Graduate Studies will calculate your GPA from your previous institution transcripts, click on "Don't have a GPA to add"

Quadrant III: Supporting Information

Experiences: You may opt out of all supporting materials, unless your intended program instructs you to use these fields. Select "I Am Not Adding Any Experiences" in this section of the application.

Quadrant IV: Program Materials

Program materials is composed of 4 separate tabs. Carefully read the Home tab as the program lists all required materials and important information on this tab.
Questions: All required questions must be answered
Documents: All required documents must be uploaded. Attach documents that are legible. You may need to resize any scanned PDFs so that you do not exceed the MB limit for each document.
Recommendations: Once you have submitted names and emails for recommendations, recommendation requests are automatically generated.
Do not wait for recommendations to be returned. Continue with the application process in order to meet your deadline.

After Submitting

Applications will be sent electronically to the program once all materials have arrived and evaluators have evaluated the minimum requirements are met.
The program reviews applications and makes their recommendations to the Graduate Division.
You will receive an email notifying you that a decision is ready.
Log into your Student Center to review the acceptance checklist. If you have not already arranged for submission of official copies of transcripts, test scores and degree certificates, you will need to make these arrangements.