How do you get a Michigan cpa license (Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA))?
To be licensed as a certified public accountant in Michigan you apply to the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which sets the education, examination, experience and ethics requirements. The national structure applies: an education requirement built around accounting and business coursework, passing all sections of the Uniform CPA Examination — the same examination everywhere, developed by the AICPA and administered through the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy — a period of experience verified by a licensed CPA, and an ethics requirement. The 150-semester-hour education requirement is the long-standing national standard adopted in statute across the states, but it is actively in motion: a number of states have enacted an additional pathway allowing licensure on a bachelor's degree plus additional documented experience, and the AICPA and NASBA have amended the Uniform Accountancy Act model to support it. Enactment dates and effective dates differ, and some states have passed a law that has not yet taken effect. Confirm which pathways are currently available with the board itself rather than relying on a national summary. Michigan licenses CPAs through LARA, which regulates health, occupational and commercial licensing together, and Michigan is one of the states where the CPA licence and the firm licence renew on separate cycles that practitioners routinely conflate. The state's CPA market reflects its industrial base — automotive supply chains, manufacturing and the associated tax credit and cost accounting work — alongside a large public sector and municipal audit practice. Michigan requires firms performing attest work to hold a firm licence and participate in peer review, and LARA enforces the firm requirement independently of individual licensure. Coursework composition, the experience definition, ethics requirements and continuing education are set by the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) and revised, so verify current requirements with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs before choosing a degree programme or accepting a role you intend to count as qualifying experience.
- Complete the accounting and business coursework the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) requires within an accepted degree.
- Apply to the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) (or its designated evaluator) for eligibility to sit the Uniform CPA Examination.
- Pass all sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, including your chosen discipline section.
- Complete the experience requirement, verified by a licensed CPA.
- Satisfy the ethics requirement, apply for the licence, and renew with continuing professional education.
Governing law: Michigan Accountancy Act
Michigan cpa license at a glance
This guide is general information about Michigan licensing, not legal advice. Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA)rules, fees and deadlines change — confirm your own position with the board, or with a licensed attorney, before you rely on anything here.
Michigan cpa license types: the full Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) ladder
Accountancy's ladder runs through eligibility, examination and experience rather than through seniority grades, and in Michigan the firm licence is a genuinely separate tier that employed CPAs often overlook until they go into practice.
Accounting graduate
Holds the degree but no credential. Employable in accounting roles across Michigan, but may not use the CPA title, sign reports, or hold out as a certified public accountant.
CPA examination candidate
Approved by the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) or its designated evaluator to sit the Uniform CPA Examination. Candidacy is an eligibility status, not a credential, and confers no right to use any title.
Certified Public Accountant — the licence
The credential this page covers, issued by the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs after education, examination, experience and ethics requirements are met. It authorises use of the CPA title in Michigan and the practice privileges the state's accountancy act defines.
Attest and report-signing authority
Authority to perform and sign audit and other attest engagements, which most states tie to specific supervised attest experience rather than granting automatically with the licence. Michigan requires firms performing attest work to hold a firm licence and participate in peer review, and LARA enforces the firm requirement independently of individual licensure.
CPA firm licence or permit
A separate registration for the practice entity itself, normally with ownership requirements and mandatory peer review for firms performing attest work. An individual licence does not authorise a firm to practise, and a firm registration does not license its staff — Michigan enforces the two independently.
Practice privilege under mobility
The substantial-equivalency framework that lets a CPA licensed in one state serve clients in another without a second licence, subject to that state's notification rules and to consenting to its jurisdiction. It applies to individuals; firms performing attest work in another state usually still need a firm registration there.
Specialty credentials
Voluntary designations such as the AICPA's ABV, CFF, CITP and PFS, or CFE and CIA from other bodies. They sit on top of the CPA licence, are issued by professional bodies rather than the state, and confer no additional statutory authority.
Exact experience hours and fees vary by license type and can change, confirm current requirements on the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) CPA program page.
Michigan CPA candidate vs Michigan licensed CPA CPA in Michigan, what is the difference?
How do you get a Michigan CPA licence CPA license?
- 1
Meet the Michigan education requirement
Complete a degree containing the accounting and business coursework the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs specifies. The 150-semester-hour education requirement is the long-standing national standard adopted in statute across the states, but it is actively in motion: a number of states have enacted an additional pathway allowing licensure on a bachelor's degree plus additional documented experience, and the AICPA and NASBA have amended the Uniform Accountancy Act model to support it. Enactment dates and effective dates differ, and some states have passed a law that has not yet taken effect. Confirm which pathways are currently available with the board itself rather than relying on a national summary. The composition matters as much as the total: boards specify minimum accounting hours, minimum business hours and often particular subjects such as auditing, taxation and, in some states, ethics. Have your transcripts evaluated against the current Michigan rule before you assume you qualify, because remedial coursework taken after graduation is the most common and most avoidable delay in this process.
- 2
Apply for eligibility and sit the Uniform CPA Examination
Apply through the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) or the evaluator it designates, receive your notice to schedule, and sit the examination at Prometric centres. Under the current examination structure candidates take 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. Each section is scored on a scale where 75 is the passing score, and that is the same in every jurisdiction. Credit windows and retake rules are set by board policy and have changed in recent years, so confirm the current window with the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) rather than planning around older guidance.
- 3
Complete the experience requirement
Michigan requires a period of accounting experience verified by a licensed CPA, and the rule defines what counts — the boundary between public accounting, industry, government and academic experience is drawn differently by different states, and attest experience is frequently treated separately from general experience. Michigan requires firms performing attest work to hold a firm licence and participate in peer review, and LARA enforces the firm requirement independently of individual licensure. Confirm with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs that a role will qualify before you take it, and get the verification signed while your supervisor is still reachable; chasing a verifying CPA years later is a well-known and entirely preventable problem.
- 4
Satisfy the ethics requirement
Most states require an ethics examination or course in addition to the Uniform CPA Examination, commonly the AICPA's professional ethics course, and several states administer their own examination on state rules of professional conduct instead of or alongside it. Michigan licenses CPAs through LARA, which regulates health, occupational and commercial licensing together, and Michigan is one of the states where the CPA licence and the firm licence renew on separate cycles that practitioners routinely conflate. The state's CPA market reflects its industrial base — automotive supply chains, manufacturing and the associated tax credit and cost accounting work — alongside a large public sector and municipal audit practice. Confirm with the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) which ethics requirement applies in Michigan and whether it must be completed before or after the licence application, because the sequencing differs.
- 5
Apply for the licence, then maintain it
Submit the licence application with transcripts, examination results, verified experience and ethics documentation, and pay the current fee. After licensure, renewal runs on the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA)'s cycle with continuing professional education, normally including a specified ethics component and, for those in attest practice, accounting and auditing subject requirements. If you practise through a firm, remember that the firm has its own registration and, where it performs attest work, peer review obligations — enforced separately from your individual licence.
Does a Michigan cpa license transfer to other states?
Accountancy has one of the strongest mobility frameworks of any licensed profession. Under substantial equivalency, a CPA licensed in one state may generally serve clients in another without obtaining a second licence, provided the home-state licence meets the substantially equivalent standard and the practitioner consents to the other state's jurisdiction and enforcement. That is why a Michigan CPA can take on work across state lines in a way an engineer or a nurse cannot. The limits matter, though: mobility covers individuals, and a firm performing attest work in another state normally still needs a firm registration there; some states require notification or a fee; and mobility does not apply where you establish a physical office in the other state, which triggers full licensure. The additional education pathways now being enacted also raise substantial-equivalency questions that NASBA and the states are working through. Where you want a second licence rather than a practice privilege, Michigan offers licensure by reciprocity to CPAs licensed elsewhere, with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs publishing the route. Confirm the current position with the board before relying on either.
Reciprocity agreements change, always confirm the current list and requirements on the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA) CPA program page before applying.
How much does a Michigan cpa license cost, and how long does it take?
The degree dominates, and beyond it the lines to budget for are the Michigan Board of Accountancy (LARA)'s application and evaluation fees, the Uniform CPA Examination section fees published through NASBA, review course materials, the ethics course or examination, the licence application fee, and continuing professional education at each renewal. Review courses are frequently the largest discretionary item and are commonly funded by employers, particularly in public accounting where firms also pay examination fees and give study leave. Every fee is set separately and revised, so take current figures from the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and from NASBA rather than from a third-party total.
Michigan Uniform CPA Examination requirements and license verification
What is on the CPA examination, and how do you verify a Michigan CPA?
The Uniform CPA Examination is developed by the AICPA and administered through NASBA, and it is the same examination in every jurisdiction — which is why the CPA credential travels as well as it does. Under the current structure candidates sit three core sections covering auditing and attestation, financial accounting and reporting, and taxation and regulation, then choose one discipline section from business analysis and reporting, information systems and controls, or tax compliance and planning. Sections are scored on a scale on which 75 is the passing score; it is a scaled score rather than a percentage of questions answered correctly, which is why comparing raw question counts is meaningless. Testing is at Prometric centres, and score release follows NASBA's published schedule. What Michigan controls is not the examination but eligibility to sit it and everything around it: education composition, the experience definition, and the ethics requirement. Michigan licenses CPAs through LARA, which regulates health, occupational and commercial licensing together, and Michigan is one of the states where the CPA licence and the firm licence renew on separate cycles that practitioners routinely conflate. The state's CPA market reflects its industrial base — automotive supply chains, manufacturing and the associated tax credit and cost accounting work — alongside a large public sector and municipal audit practice. Confirm current credit windows and retake policy with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, because these have changed in recent years.
How to verify a Michigan cpa license
Verify a Michigan CPA through the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs's licence lookup and through CPAverify, the NASBA-operated national database drawing on participating state boards. Check three things rather than one: that the individual licence is current, whether the person holds the attest or report-signing authority Michigan recognises, and — if you are engaging a practice rather than an individual — whether the firm itself is registered and current on peer review. Michigan requires firms performing attest work to hold a firm licence and participate in peer review, and LARA enforces the firm requirement independently of individual licensure. Where a CPA is serving you from another state under mobility, verify the licence in their home state and confirm they have complied with Michigan's notification requirements. GlobalCybers verifies individual and firm status before every accounting placement.
How do you become a CPA in Michigan?
Complete the accounting and business coursework the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs requires, obtain eligibility to sit the Uniform CPA Examination, pass all four sections at a scaled score of 75, complete the experience the board requires verified by a licensed
CPA, satisfy the ethics requirement, and apply for the licence. Michigan licenses CPAs through LARA, which regulates health, occupational and commercial licensing together, and Michigan is one of the states where the CPA licence and the firm licence renew on separate cycles that practitioners routinely conflate. The state's CPA market reflects its industrial base — automotive supply chains, manufacturing and the associated tax credit and cost accounting work — alongside a large public sector and municipal audit practice. The examination is the same in every state; what makes Michigan different is the education composition, the experience definition and the ethics requirement.
Does Michigan require 150 credit hours for a CPA license?
The 150-semester-hour education requirement is the long-standing national standard adopted in statute across the states, but it is actively in motion: a number of states have enacted an additional pathway allowing licensure on a bachelor's degree plus additional documented experience, and the AICPA and NASBA have amended the Uniform Accountancy
Act model to support it. Enactment dates and effective dates differ, and some states have passed a law that has not yet taken effect. Confirm which pathways are currently available with the board itself rather than relying on a national summary. The 150-hour rule has been the standard for licensure for decades, and in most states it remains the principal route. What has changed is that an alternative built on a bachelor's degree plus additional documented experience is now available in a growing number of states. Because enactment and effective dates differ, and because substantial-equivalency implications are still being worked through, confirm what Michigan currently accepts with the Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs rather than with a national article.
Michigan CPA licenses, Frequently Asked Questions
Michigan Board of Accountancy, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs · National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) · AICPA — Uniform CPA Examination · CPAverify — national CPA licensee lookup · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 (13-2011) · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (Accountants and Auditors). Fees and rules can change, confirm current details at www.michigan.gov/lara/bureau-list/cscl/boards/accountancy before applying.
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