re: Accounting Education

If you already have most of the non-accounting hours the CPA requires, you might consider an online certificate program. Some very well-regarded schools offer them, such as UVA (one of the top accounting programs in the US and where I did mine), plus many others.

Also realize that just having a CPA doesn't mean you're automatically doing auditing or tax work. Plenty of CPA's do completely different things such as internal controls, business formation, ERP consulting (this is what I do), plus many other areas. It's a very versatile area.

You may also want to look into nonprofit and/or government accounting. These are often overlooked and not covered well by most accounting programs but the money can be just as good and there's often less competition coming out of school.

It's a good field, go after it!