Pennsylvania CPA Exam Requirements
Pennsylvania CPA Exam Requirements
1. Education Requirements To Sit For The Exam:
- Bachelor degree or above
- 24 semester hours of accounting courses, including accounting and auditing, business law, finance or tax subjects of a content satisfactory to the board, not necessarily as a part of your undergraduate work.
2. Additional Requirements To Get CPA License:
Education (effective January 1, 2012)
- 150 semester units from an accredited university or educational institution
- 24 semester credits of accounting and auditing, business law, finance or tax subjects of a content satisfactory to the board
- additional 24 semester credits in accounting, auditing and tax subjects of a content satisfactory to the board, not necessarily as part of the individual’s undergraduate or graduate work
Special note: the PA State board refers the CPA license as the “CPA certificate”. This is not to be confused with the CPA certificates available in two-tier states.
Work Experience
- 1 year of related relevant work experience counted as 1,600 hours. 400 hours must be in attest activity in public accounting or in internal audit.
- The experience must be supervised and verified by a US CPA.
- Candidates must obtain the license within 60 months (i.e. 5 years) of passing the CPA exam. The time allowed was 10 years before Jan 1, 2012.
Special note: Rep. Gordon Denlinger, CPA, introduced HB 2354 to amend the Pennsylvania CPA Statute to eliminate the attestation portion of the working experience requirements.
Ethics Qualification
- None required
3. Residency & Age Requirements:
- US citizenship not required but Social security number is required
- State residency: none
- Minimum age: 18
4. Fees:
- First-timers: $723 (4 CPA exam fees) + $95 (initial application fee) + $95 registration fee for each part of the exam
5. Continuing Education Requirement:
CPE is required for license holders.
6. Other Useful Information:
- Pennsylvania CPA exam application form and procedure for first-timers
- PA CPA licensing form and information
7. Contact:
Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy
2601 North Third St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
- Email: [email protected], [email protected]
- Phone: 717-783-1404
- Fax: 717-705-5540
