Illinois Board of Examiners Provisional Approval for CPA Exam Eligbility dated July 30, 2007 … you can take the CPA examination while completing the final semester or quarter of college courses.
The Northern Illinois University (NIU) CPA Review can be taken for three or six semester hours of credit.
Both Northern and non-Northern CPA candidates may enroll for credit if they
take the Audit & Attestation or the Financial Accounting & Reporting
review. Each 3-hour course credit costs approximately $1100 for Illinois residents
and approximately $1800 for out-of-state residents. Be aware that the tuition
fee may change slightly from semester to semester. The fees for each three credit
hour course must be submitted to the NIU Bursar's office upon receipt of the
billing. The credit tuition fee is in addition to the cost of the
CPA Review course.
To earn credit, the candidate must attend 90% of the review lectures (may substitute recordings when traveling) and take three, 3-hour exams for 3 credits. A total of six credits may be earned by taking both Audit and Financial for credit.
Note, some international students may not be eligible to earn credit. Questions should be addressed to the NIU International Student office at (815)753-1346. Click here for more information.
The classes may be taken at any location. However, correspondence courses are NOT available for credit. The financial accounting review is course number ACCY 475, CPA Problems I and the Auditing review is ACCY 476, CPA Problems II. The registration procedures are described below.
The course will be graded (no pass/fail or satisfactory/unsatisfactory). The grade for each course is based entirely on the three individual exams worth 100 points. The exams will cover CPA Review course information.
| NOTE: ACCY 475/476 courses do not fulfill major requirements toward any NIU undergraduate or graduate coursework. The credit earned fulfills only the requirements established by the Illinois Board of Examiners to sit for the CPA exam in the State of Illinois. |
Note that a student must register separately for the audit and/or financial accounting review, and for each class: ACCY 475 and/or ACCY 476. For questions regarding taking the CPA Review for Credit or information on registering, contact the CPA Review director at (815)753-6207 or email her at dhopkins@niu.edu.
Illinois law and university policy require that all students born on or after January 1, 1957, enrolling in class at the NIU campus provide written evidence of current immunization status with respect to certain communicable diseases by the first day of the term enrolled. Failure to provide the required documentation will result in a $25 late processing fee. An encumbrance will also be placed on the records of students who are not in compliance and your transcripts will not be released. Although some students may take this course(s) off campus, the course professor is based in DeKalb; therefore the course(s) is considered on campus. To view the immunizations required and the form to be completed, click here. For transcript purposes, all students enrolled in ACCY 475 and/or ACCY 476 are considered to be on campus and therefore must provide proof of immunization as previously described. Additional immunization information may be obtained from the University Health Service at (815)753-9585.
All CPA candidates planning to take the CPA Review for credit will receive the course syllabus at the first review class meeting. Debra Hopkins is the instructor for all credit review courses. (dhopkins@niu.edu)
All candidates will take the three individual exams online using their own computer. The three individual exams are posted to a secure website allowing students to access the exams from any location in the world. Exams will be faxed or mailed only if there is a computer malfunction.
The Illinois Board of Examiners cannot grant you authorization to test (ATT) until your grades have been posted to an official transcript. Plase keep the following information in mind as you prepare your CPA Review plan.
CPA Review Course |
Date After Which Grades
Are Posted
and Transcripts are Available |
| Taken from January 2 through May 15 | End of May |
| Taken from May 1 through August 15 | End of August |
| Taken from August 5 through December 15 | Early January (these transcripts may be available earlier, depending upon the holiday break) |
Additional information regarding a transcript request are in the Syllabus for CPA Review for Credit that you will receive when you register for the course.
When a CPA candidate takes the CPA Review for credit, two payments must be made:
All textbook materials are included in the above course fee.
For questions about the above information, please call the CPA Review office at (815) 753-6207 or email cpareview@niu.edu.