How to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Demanding requirements

The CPA has some of the most demanding requirements of any accounting certification. In the U.S., the states grant the CPA license, so the state boards of accountancy determine the licensure requirements. Most state boards have settled on these three CPA requirements:

1. Pass the Uniform CPA Exam
2. Earn 150 credit hours of education
3. Acquire 1-2 years of accounting experience

Some state boards also expect candidates to meet an additional requirement by passing an ethics exam. While the general requirements are the same across the country, the specifics vary per jurisdiction. Therefore, you must contact the state board to which you would like to apply to find out exactly what it’s going to take to earn the CPA and if you’ve got it in you.

If you attended a college or University outside of the United States, you will have to check to see if your educational institute is accredited and recognized by the AICPA. If it isn’t, you will not be able to take the CPA exam. NASBA has created a resource to help identify approved educational institutes.

Low exam pass rates

The CPA Exam pass rates have a reputation for being fairly low. While the percentages rise and fall from quarter to quarter, the average CPA Exam pass rate is less than 50%. The exam’s purpose includes protecting the public interest, and as long as that’s the case, I expect the exam will always be quite tough. In order to better test the knowledge and abilities required of current CPAs, the AICPA regularly modifies the exam with changes like content updates, new question types, altered question totals, and testing time adjustments. However, you don’t need to be discouraged by the low pass rates. They don’t mean that you can’t pass; they just signify that passing the CPA Exam requires a lot of time, effort, and focus. If you’re ready to commit to that, you can pass it

Challenging exam 

The CPA Exam contains 4 sections that test your knowledge of various accounting topics through a significant number of questions. On top of that, the CPA Exam also uses over 600 tasks representing the work of a real CPA to assess your accounting skills.

Strict exam time limit

One final CPA Exam complication you must overcome is the rolling 18-month window in which you must pass the exam. This time period starts as soon as you pass your first section, so you technically have 18 months to pass the remaining 3 sections. If you don’t pass the rest of the exam in this time, you will lose credit for the first section you passed, and you must pass that section again as well as the other remaining sections in 18 months. The beginning of the 18 months will continue to move back, cutting off credit for your oldest passed section and shifting the start to the time you passed your second oldest section. This time limit may sound intimidating, but it is actually more time than you need, as passing the CPA Exam in a year or less is quite possible. You just need to establish a study schedule, stick to it, and keep moving forward with each exam section.