Washington CPA Exam Requirements

1. Education Requirements To Sit For The Exam:

• Bachelor degree or above
• 150 semester units from an accredited university or educational institution
• Accounting courses: 24 semester units, of which 15 should be in “upper division” (i.e. 3rd and 4th year classes):
  • Introductory/Elementary Accounting
  • Intermediate Accounting
  • Advanced Accounting
  • Cost/Managerial Accounting
  • Audit
  • U.S. Federal Taxation/ Accounting law (this does not include business law)
  • Accounting Information System
• Business courses: 24 semester hours, which can include the following:
  • Macro- and Micro-economics
  • Budgeting
  • Investments
  • Business law
  • Statistic (no more than 6 undergraduate semester hours)
  • Money & Banking
  • Finance course
  • Management and administration,
  • Accounting courses in excess of the required 24 semester hours

Special note: May sit 180 days prior to meeting educational requirements.

2. Additional Requirements To Get CPA License:

Education:

• Same as the exam requirement

Work Experience:

• 1 year of public accounting work experience
• At least 2,ooo hours of work experience
• Role can be in accounting, attest, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, tax advisory or consulting
• The experience has to verified by:
  • A CPA in Washington; or
  • A CPA qualified for practicing privileges for a min of 5 years prior to the verification
  • Note that the verifier does not need to be your supervisor
• Part-time and even volunteer work can be counted
• Additional CPE courses are required if the license application has passed the CPA exam for more than 4 years.

Ethics Qualification:

• Passing of the CPA Ethics Exam administered by the AICPA

3. Residency & Age Requirements:

• US citizenship not required
• Washington residency not required
• Minimum age: none

4. Fees

• First-timers: $724 (CPA exam fees) + $155 (initial application fee)
• Repeaters: exam fees + $72-131 repeat application fees

5. Continuing Education Requirement:

CPE is required for license holders. Please click here for Washington CPA CPE requirements.

6. Other Useful Information:

• Washington CPA Exam Application Instruction
• Useful info on educational requirement from Washington State Board website
• WA CPA Licensing Information

7. Contact:

Washington State Board of Accountancy
PO Box 9131
Olympia, WA 98507-9131

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (360) 753-2586
• Fax: (360) 664-919