Becker Professional Education is a company that offers educational resources for professionals in the areas of accounting and finance.
Becker is best known as the largest provider of training for candidates who are preparing to sit for the United States (US) CPA Exam in order to become Certified Public Accountants. Becker offers its CPA Exam Review in the form of traditional self-study through the use of online recorded lectures, textbooks and additional digital study materials as well as live classes in Dallas, TX, and live online virtual classes.[1] Becker no longer offers their course on disc.[2]
As a measure of its influence on the accounting industry, the AICPA's Journal of Accountancy estimated that as many as half of the CPAs in the United States have passed the CPA Exam with the help of Becker's course.[3] Becker is rated by Investopedia as the Best Overall CPA Review course.[4]
In addition to its CPA Exam Review, Becker also offers exam preparation for the international accounting credential Certified Management Accountant (CMA).[5] Becker also provides continuing professional education (CPE) for CPA’s, CMAs, unlicensed tax preparers, independent practitioners and more, delivered in both live webcasts and on-demand, pre-recorded formats.[6]
Originally developed in 1957 by accountant and entrepreneur Newton Becker as a training course for fellow employees of Price Waterhouse, Becker CPA Review was launched as an independent company in Cleveland in 1960. The company grew rapidly, and by the 1980s it had classroom locations in more than 90 cities. Becker eventually sold the company to DeVry in 1996, partly due to changes in the industry.[7]
In 2012, Becker acquired Falcon Physician Reviews and expanded into the healthcare education field. Through Falcon, Becker previously offered review programs for physicians who are preparing for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX).
Becker has since discontinued the USMLE & NCLEX programs as Kaplan acquired it.[8] [9] Becker previously also offered but has since discontinued exam prep offerings for the following internationally recognized accounting and finance credentials: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and Diploma of International Financial Reporting (DiplFR).
In 2022, Adtalem Global Education sold Becker to Colibri Group.[10]