Requirements
What you need to become a CPA
By Joey Arnold, CPA · Last updated August 24, 2026
Most pages about CPA requirements open by telling you that you need 150 credit hours. That’s one of three routes now, and whether it applies to you depends on where you’re getting licensed.
Here’s the structure that holds everywhere, and how to find the version of it that applies to you.
What every state asks for
Four things, in every jurisdiction. The details differ; the shape doesn’t.
Education. A degree plus a defined number of accounting and business credits. This is the requirement that varies most, and the one that changed recently.
Examination. Pass all four sections of the CPA exam — three core sections plus one Discipline. This part is genuinely uniform: the exam is the same everywhere, scored the same way, with the same passing score of 75. How the exam works →
Experience. Supervised professional experience, generally verified by a licensed CPA. The amount depends on which education pathway you took.
Ethics. Most states require a separate ethics exam, usually open-book and taken after you pass the CPA exam.
The three pathways
The AICPA and NASBA approved a three-pathway model for licensure. Which of these your state offers, and when, is up to your state.
| Pathway | Education | Experience |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bachelor’s in accounting (120 credits) plus 30 additional credits — 150 total | 1 year |
| 2 | Graduate degree in accounting | 1 year |
| 3 | Bachelor’s in accounting (120 credits) | 2 years |
The thing worth noticing is pathway 3. It trades the extra 30 credit hours for a second year of experience — which for a lot of working candidates is the difference between “I need another year of school” and “I’m already most of the way there.”
The 150-hour route hasn’t gone anywhere and remains a good option for plenty of people. It’s just no longer the only one.
States adopt these on their own timelines and aren’t required to adopt them as written. That’s why this page doesn’t tell you which applies to you.
How to check your state in five minutes
- Find your state board of accountancy — search “[your state] board of accountancy,” and use the .gov result. Not a review course, not a blog, including this one.
- Read the licensure requirements page, not the FAQ. Look for which pathways they currently accept, the accounting and business credit breakdown, and how experience is verified.
- Check the effective date. If your board recently changed pathways, the rules may differ depending on when you apply.
- If you might move states, check both. Requirements travel less smoothly than people expect, and it’s much cheaper to know now.
- Note your credit window — how long your passed sections stay valid. This also varies, and it also changed in several states recently.
Call the board if anything is ambiguous. They answer the phone, and a ten-minute call beats a wrong assumption you find out about two years in.
What we handle, and what we don’t
Smarter CPA prepares you for the exam. That’s the part we’re good at and it’s the part that’s identical in every state.
We don’t advise on licensure. We can’t tell you whether your credits count, whether your experience qualifies, or which pathway your board will accept — and you should be skeptical of any review course that says it can. Those are your board’s decisions.
What we can do is make the exam itself take less of your life. See how the course works →
Where to start
If your requirements are sorted and it’s the exam in front of you now, start there.
No credit card, full access to Chapter 1 of every section. All six sections — $1,249 · See what’s included.