Financial Management and Accounting

Graduate School of Management and Technology

Planning for State CPA Exams and Licensure

If obtaining CPA certification is one of your goals, early planning is required to determine that your course of study meets the educational requirements established to sit for the CPA examination in your state. Licensure requirements vary from state to state and in addition to education and examination requirements, most states have ethics and experience requirements that must be met prior to licensure. You must stay abreast of the current requirements of the state in which you will sit for the CPA exam and practice professionally.

To access information about CPA licensure in your state, visit the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and select your state from the drop down list to access the state board's Web page.

Using Maryland as an example, (go to State of Maryland Board of Public Accountancy), scroll down to the section that shows the board approved curriculum. The state requires 150 credit hours, including 27 credit hours in Accounting and 30 hours of required Business Education coursework, in areas such as ethics, economics, marketing, statistics, finance, and business law. As part of your course planning you would compare your previously completed undergraduate coursework and anticipated graduate coursework to the required curriculum. If there are deficiencies you should then plan to take the additional courses as part of your graduate program.

To learn more about the content included in the CPA examination and the new computer-based format visit the AICPA's dedicated Web page.

With early planning, upon completion of your degree, you may be prepared to sit for the CPA exam and move ahead with licensure without delay.