Georgia CPA exam requirement is relatively straight-forward with a bachelor degree and a minimum of 20 credit hours of accounting courses that are beyond the introductory level. Please note however that there are additional educational requirement when you apply for the license.
Georgia CPA Exam Requirements
1. Education Requirements To Sit For The Exam:
- Bachelor degree or above with accounting concentration
- Accounting courses: 20 semester units above introductory level
2. Additional Requirements To Get CPA Certificate:
Education:
- 150 semester units from an accredited university or educational institution
- Accounting courses: 20 semester units in intermediate/advanced level
- Business courses: 24 semester units
Experience:
- 1 year (2000 hours) of public or non-public accounting experience
- Except for government and teaching, all work has to be supervised by an active CPA in order to get counted as relevant experience.
- Breaks between experience is allowed but should not be more than 1 year.
Ethics Qualifications:
- None required
3. Residency & Age Requirements:
- US citizenship not required
- Georgia residency not required
- Minimum age: 18
4. Fees:
- First-timers: $743.2 (4 CPA exam fees) + $135 (initial application fee)
- Repeaters: exam fees + $60-105 repeat application fees
- $100 certification fee
5. Other Useful Information
6. Contact:
Georgia State Board of Accountancy
237 Coliseum Drive
Macon, GA 31217-3858
- Email: cpaes-ga@nasba.org
- Phone: 478-207-2440
- Fax: 478-207-1363
How About Other States?
Check out the other states’ non-Georgia CPA Exam Requirements here.
Your Next Step
Now that you have begun the process of applying for the CPA exam, it’s time to compare the CPA Exam review courses. The earlier you start, the better you can get prepared and pass the exam. You can also drop me a note on Facebook here if you have specific questions regarding CPA exam requirements. Good luck!
* 1 semester = 1.5 quarters
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Dave, let’s continue our discussions here.
I am surprised that no one is able to help you on this despite your very diligent research on the matter… but I understand — I have been there. Neither NASBA nor my state board answered any of my questions.
First of all, going back to getting your CPA after years of experience is doable. That’s what I did. You can sit for the exam and then fulfill the rest of the experience (see below on the last point). But you are doing the right thing to make sure it’s worthwhile at all to sit for the exam in the first place.
Anyway, the sentences with capital letters are straight from the Georgia State board website (the link you included in the comment).
TWO YEARS AND 4, 000 HOURS IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING; FIVE YEARS AND 10,000 HOURS IN BUSINESS, INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT OR COLLEGE TEACHING (TEACHING AT A 4 YEAR COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY IN AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT AREAS OF ACCOUNTING ABOVE THE INTRODUCTORY OR ELEMENTARY LEVEL) OR A COMBINATION OF WORK EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS, INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT OR COLLEGE TEACHING.
It does look like that you have/will have relevant experience, in the business field. So we’ll need 5 years.
ALL WORK EXPERIENCE MUST HAVE BEEN SUPERVISED BY A PERSON WHO HOLDS A LIVE PERMIT AS A CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT OR REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT EXCEPT FOR GOVERNMENT OR COLLEGE TEACHING. IN THESE TWO AREAS YOU MUST BE SUPERVISED, HOWEVER, THE SUPERVISOR IS NOT REQUIRED TO HOLD A CPA OR RPA LICENSE.
And your experience has to be supervised by a CPA. If your CFO isn’t a CPA, how about the controller, or someone who is senior in your department that you have worked for? If you are dealing with accounting and reporting there really should be some CPAs around… but do check whether they are active. If you don’t feel comfortable asking them, you can always check their CPA status on the web.
THE EXPERIENCE MUST HAVE BEEN EARNED NO EARLIER THAN ONE-YEAR PRIOR TO APPLICATION; THE EXPERIENCE MAY HAVE BREAKS IN SERVICE OF NO LONGER THAN 1-YEAR IN DURATION.
That means that you’ll have to plan working in the general accounting field for at least 4 more years.
So, it looks like the biggest problem is the supervision by an active CPA. If you really can’t identify one, maybe you can start looking for states that only requires “verification” vs “supervision” by CPA.
Of course, with an out-of-state CPA license you might not be able to work in public accounting in Georgia, but if you stay in private, there is no problem. You can still use the CPA title in your business cards and so on as long as you get a full CPA license.
If you are ok with getting the CPA qualification outside of Georgia, I can look for the states that requires only verification from the CPA for you. Let me know… Stephanie
hi stephanie
Firstly I must thank you for putting together such detailed info about cpa. I have just landed in US ( Georgia ) with my husband and I plan to do CPA. I have going through numerous sites for the relevant info –
I have a few questions to ask you
1) I am an Indian chartered accountant and hold a B.Com degree also. ( however the issue is that I have lost my degree for my B.Com and have got only the marksheets) do you think only marksheets would suffice for evaluation. If not can i just submit my CA degree would it be sufficient for the hours required as per Georgia state law.
2) Refer to your discussion above with Dave – do you suggest i apply from some other state with less stringent requirements. I plan to do cpa only for adding to my credentials.
Thanks
Hi sugandha,
May I suggest you go to this page for more information for international / H4 visa candidates?
Thanks and good luck!
Stephanie
Dear all,
I have set up a new comment box powered by Facebook to let me answer your questions more efficiently. It can be found right after each article. Thanks! Stephanie
Dear Stephanie,
I really appreciate your efforts for helping the CPA aspirants to achieve their goal and solving their difficulties.
I have completed M.Com from India, have work experience of five years,planning to appear for CPA exams in the US. First of all,which state should I pick and why? Also, how are the job prospects on completion of this course especially for international candidate in this depressed economy?
Thanks for your time!
Dhara.
Dear Stephanie,
I really appreciate your efforts for helping the CPA aspirants to achieve their goal and solving their difficulties.
I have completed M.Com from India, have work experience of five years,planning to appear for CPA exams in the US. First of all,which state should I pick and why? Also, how are the job prospects on completion of this course especially for international candidate in this depressed economy?
Thanks for your time!
Dhara.
Dear Stephanie,
Your efforts are much appreciated.
I am a canadian citizen, live in toronto, I passed all part of CPA examination in 2009. Originally, I applied with New Hampshire under my instructor’s instruction, I found that was a big mistake after I passed part of the examination. I would like transfer my registration information to New York state now, then go to NY to find a firm job, and then finally get my license there. The information from New York state board of accountancy looks not clear enough, so I am wondering if you could tell some advantages or disadvantages about New York?
Thanks
Shuang