Citrus has implemented new degrees and certificates in accounting that will come into effect beginning fall 2022.
One of the full-time accounting professors that presented this idea, Patrick Borja, said in the fall of 2021, faculty developed several new accounting courses, degrees and certificates.
The new degrees Citrus will offer are an associate degree in accounting and an associate degree in business with an emphasis in accounting.
The three new certificates being implemented are CPA, or certified public accountant, certificates, which will deem that person an accounting professional and a trusted financial adviser.
Dean of Mathematics and Business Victoria Dominguez said the certificates take anywhere from three to four classes to complete. The new certificates are the CPA exam preparation in accounting, the CPA exam preparation in business-related subjects requirement and the CPA licensure in accounting study and ethics.
The idea of these new degrees and certificates comes from the faculty in the accounting department because they “are the ones who write curriculum,” Dominguez said. The two full-time accounting professors, Borja and Robert Smolin, “are CPAs so they know what students need and what (employers) want (in order to) get employed,” Dominguez said.
These two new degrees will be the first associate degrees in accounting at Citrus. The process to get these courses approved was a long and slow one with “faculty submitting the curriculum degrees, courses and certificates in the fall. (After that) waiting for approval here at Citrus, and then going up to the chancellor’s office in Sacramento and being approved there,” Dominguez said.
If that wasn’t enough hoops to jump through, “it could take an extra year if the course is a transfer level course like this one, which (then) has to be articulated to a university, so that it’s accepted by (the university) and students get the credit for that course,” Dominguez said.
The requirements for completing these certificates vary and in the fall of 2022 is when they will be advertised so faculty will “put up posters in the LB classrooms so that students can see what the requirements are right when they are in class,” Dominguez said.
Citrus College has many accounting majors and the faculty that presented these certificates and degrees hope that “these new programs will offer more opportunities within accounting for students to take new… courses, gain a greater exposure to accounting and to prepare to take the CPA exam and obtain their CPA license,” Smolin said.
In fall of 2020, Citrus introduced three other certificates of achievements – payroll accounting, income tax one (income tax assistant) and income tax two (income tax preparer).
The income tax one and income tax two courses are meant to prepare students to become an income tax assistant or to become an income tax preparer, Dominguez said.
“Students take the first certificate class, and then a test from the IRS, and then they are able to become an assistant,” Dominguez said. “They then take the second certificate class and are able to become a preparer, so while they are in school they can prepare tax returns.”
Dominguez said one goal for the Citrus Math and Business Department is to “have what’s called a vita site on campus, so that people from the community can come and get their taxes done for free. It would be a great opportunity for students to practice what they’re learning.”
All courses will have every modality offered to them such as “fully online…hybrid and on campus,” Dominguez said. “We’ll continue to offer all of the options to give the choice to students.”
With a staff of two full-time and six adjunct accounting professors, the faculty hopes to see “these programs… be successful and that attendance will continue to grow,” Smolin said.
