What is a cpa license, and how do you get one?
A CPA licence is issued by a state board of accountancy, not by the AICPA. The standard requirements are an accounting-focused education meeting your state's credit-hour rule, passing all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination — three Core sections plus one Discipline section of your choosing — a period of relevant experience verified by a licensed CPA, and an ethics requirement in most states. The long-standing model has been 150 semester hours, but several states have introduced alternative pathways, so the education rule is now genuinely state-specific. Accountants and auditors earn a $83,680 median.
- Check your state board's education rule and confirm your transcript meets it.
- Apply through NASBA for your Notice to Schedule and sit the four exam sections.
- Complete the experience your board requires, verified by a licensed CPA.
- Satisfy the ethics requirement your state sets.
- Apply to the board for the licence, then renew with continuing professional education.
How to get a cpa license
- 1
Check your state board's education requirement
Start with the board you intend to be licensed by, because education rules have diverged: many states still apply the 150-semester-hour model with specified accounting and business credits, while others now offer alternative pathways pairing fewer credits with more experience. Have your transcript evaluated before you plan the rest of the route.
- 2
Apply through NASBA and schedule your sections
Submit your application and transcripts, receive your Notice to Schedule, and book sections at Prometric. Plan the order deliberately: sections are passed independently but only stay valid within a rolling window set by your board, so a badly sequenced attempt can cost you a passed section.
- 3
Pass the three Core sections and one Discipline
Sit Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation, plus one Discipline section — Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning. Each requires a scaled score of 75, and the exam mixes multiple-choice questions with task-based simulations that test application rather than recall.
- 4
Complete verified experience and the ethics requirement
Work the experience period your board requires under, or verified by, a licensed CPA, and confirm in advance that the role qualifies under that board's definition. Then complete the ethics examination or course your state requires, commonly the AICPA professional ethics course plus any state-specific rules component.
- 5
Apply for the licence and keep it current
Submit the licence application with exam results and verified experience, and pay the board's fee. Only once the licence is issued may you use the CPA title. Then renew on your state's cycle with the required continuing professional education hours, including any ethics credits the board specifies.
CPA license requirements
The structure is consistent nationwide even though the details are set by each board, and the education rule in particular is now genuinely state-specific. To be licensed as a CPA you generally need:
Education
An accounting-concentrated degree meeting your state board's credit-hour requirement. The long-standing model rule is 150 semester hours including specified accounting and business credits, but several states have introduced alternative pathways with fewer credits and additional experience.
Uniform CPA Examination
Four sections: the three Core sections — Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation — plus one Discipline section chosen from Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning.
Experience
A period of relevant accounting experience — commonly one year, but set by each board — verified by a licensed CPA. Boards define what qualifies, and public accounting, industry and government roles are treated differently in different states.
Ethics
Most states require an ethics examination or course, frequently the AICPA's professional ethics course, and some add a state-specific rules component. It is separate from the Uniform CPA Examination.
How much a cpa license costs
Exam and licence fees are published by NASBA and by each state board and differ between states; the review course is usually the biggest line. Confirm current amounts with your board:
Exam section fees, the application fee and the initial licence fee are all published by NASBA and by each state board, and they differ meaningfully between states. Review courses are usually the largest single expense and are frequently reimbursed by employers in public accounting.
The cpa license exam
The Uniform CPA Examination is written by the AICPA and administered through NASBA at Prometric test centres. Since the CPA Evolution restructuring it consists of three Core sections — Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation — plus one Discipline section, chosen from Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning. The Discipline choice does not restrict what you can practise once licensed; it lets candidates test in their strength. Each section is scored on a 0-99 scale with 75 required to pass, and sections are passed independently within a rolling window whose length is set by your state board. The exam is closed book, tests application through task-based simulations as well as multiple-choice questions, and the ethics requirement is separate from it.
How long it takes to get licensed
Six to eight years from starting the degree is realistic: four to five years of education, the exam typically spread across twelve to eighteen months, and the board's experience period running alongside or after it.
CPA license types: the full ladder
There is no journeyman ladder in accountancy. What matters is the difference between passing the exam and holding a licence, between active and inactive status, and between an individual licence and the firm permit needed to offer attest services.
Accounting graduate / candidate
Working in accounting while completing the education requirement and sitting exam sections. Not a licence and no protected title, but where most of the experience requirement is accumulated.
CPA exam passed, not yet licensed
A real and often misunderstood status: passing all four sections does not make you a CPA. Until the board issues the licence you may not use the title, and using it early is an enforcement matter.
CPA (active licence)
The licence itself, issued by a state board. Authorises use of the title and, critically, the performance of attest and audit engagements that unlicensed accountants may not perform.
Inactive or retired status
A lower-cost status for licensees not currently practising, with reduced continuing-education obligations. The title generally must be used with the status qualifier, and practice is not permitted until reinstated.
Firm permit / registration
A separate registration for the practice itself. Firms offering attest services must be registered with the board, meet ownership rules, and undergo peer review — an individual licence alone does not authorise a firm to practise.
Specialist credentials
AICPA credentials such as the CFF for forensic accounting, ABV for business valuation and CITP for information technology sit on top of the licence. They are certifications, not licences, and require the CPA licence underneath.
Accountant vs CPA: cpa license
CPA license reciprocity between states
Accountancy has a well-developed mobility system, but it is not a single national licence. Most states allow a CPA licensed and in good standing elsewhere to practise across state lines under practice-privilege rules without obtaining a second licence, provided the home-state requirements are substantially equivalent. Establishing a principal place of business in a new state, or performing attest work there, generally does require a licence by reciprocity from that board, and firms performing attest services must register locally regardless of individual mobility. Because states have recently begun diverging on education requirements, substantial equivalence is worth confirming directly with the destination board rather than assumed.
CPAsalary & job outlook
Accountants and auditors earn a median of about $83,680 per year ($40.23/hour), and the CPA licence is the clearest single differentiator within that range — licensed practitioners in public accounting, controllership and partner-track roles sit substantially above it. Employment is projected to grow 4.6%, with roughly 124,200 openings a year, one of the largest openings figures of any licensed profession. See the full cpa salary guide for pay by state, city and experience level.
CPA license requirements by state
Every state licenses CPAs, so what differs is the education rule, the experience definition, the ethics requirement and the continuing-education cycle. Those differences have widened recently as states adopt alternative education pathways.
All 55 U.S. jurisdictions license CPAs through a board of accountancy. Education requirements have diverged in recent years as states adopt alternative pathways to the traditional 150-semester-hour rule, and experience definitions and ethics requirements have always been state-specific. Because these rules are actively changing, confirm the current requirement with your board rather than relying on a national summary.
Browse all state guides
CPA license FAQs
NASBA, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy · AICPA, CPA Exam · NASBA CPAverify licence lookup · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 (13-2011) · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (Accountants and Auditors). Requirements and fees are set per state and change, confirm with your state board before applying.
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