Nowadays, You Don't Have to Live in the U.S. to be a U.S. CPA

An English-based U.S. CPA exam was given in the Eastern Hemisphere on August 1 for the first time ever in Japan and four small Middle Eastern countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates). Over 1000 candidates took one or more sections of the exam. The AICPA cited increased demand from other countries (notably Japan) and claimed that over 3000 Japanese travelled to the U. S. last year to take the CPA exam.

I am sure that Canadians and probably accountants from Mexico and the island nations in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean have been taking the U. S. CPA exam for some while, but this is significant new development. I see one advantage and one potentially significant danger; the advantage is that some American CPAs on long-term audits no longer have to make their way back to the U.S. for the exam. The danger--having seen outsourcing of numerous other jobs; one wonders if the exam will be expanded to countries such as China, India and Russia; and if so, whether large American CPA firms will supplant American CPAs for less costly overseas employees with the American CPA credential.