Most international CPA candidates aim for the credentials only instead of actual practicing in the United States.
This means that international students are free to pick a state with the most favorable CPA exam requirement to them.
Having said that, this flexibility could be overwhelming when there are 54 states and jurisdictions to choose from. How should you start? More specifically, which are the most popular states for international candidates?
Updated: May 2012
Popular States For CPA International Students
Here are a few of the popular states together with the reasons:
1. Colorado — Possibly No Working Experience Required
Colorado used to be one of the most attractive states for international students. Not only that the full 150 credit hour is not necessary, members of ICA (international chartered accountants) and ACCA are automatically qualified for the CPA exam.
Unfortunately, on 9th December 2009, the State Board has restricted this rule. Specifically:
- The State Board is no longer accepting Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) certificates as evidence of having met educational requirement.
- Chartered Accountant (CA) qualifications from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand (part of the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) MRA agreement) is accepted; but those from other jurisdiction (e.g. India) is no longer accepted.
Don’t worry — it’s not the end of the world for you CA Holders. You just need to step an extra step and get your transcripts evaluated.
- I need to double check, but I think CA is evaluated as equivalent to a 4-year accounting degree in the US, so you are qualified at least for the state of Colorado
- A typical Bcom + CA from India can give you a 90 + 39 credits i.e. more than 120 credits you need to sit for the exam. Please don’t take this as a golden rule because it really depends on which university you attend and (I heard) your grades.
- You can submit the transcripts to one of these foreign credential evaluation agencies. Colorado accepts all of them because they are members of NACES, the agencies’ national association.
Working Experience
- Colorado has a rather strict working experience requirement: it has to be supervised by an active CPA in the US or the CA in the “qualified” jurisdiction as stated above.
- But you can go through the “education in lieu of experience” rule which allows you to use 150 credit hours to “exchange” for the working experience requirement. Unlike Illinois, you can actually get the full license without any experience.
You can find the details here in the Colorado CPA Exam Requirement page.
Note: Because of this relatively “loose” rule on experience requirement, Colorado is not considered a “substantially equivalent” state at this stage.
2. California: 150 Credit Hours Not Required
California is another state that allows candidates with less than 150 semester hours to sit for the exam AND get qualified for the CPA license. For people with a typical Bachelor degree (120 semester hours), 2 years of relevant working experience is required.
Please note that While California does not require a SSN to sit for the exam, the state board requires a SSN to grant you the license. If you are not living in the US or if you are a dependent and don’t have the SSN, California will not work for you.
- You can find the details here in the California CPA Exam Requirement page.
3. New Hampshire: 120 Credit Hours Only But…
New Hampshire is yet another state that allow those with less than 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA exam.
Similar to Colorado, they have a strict working requirement: that you have to work under a direct supervision of an active CPA.
What’s different from Colorado is that they do NOT have the “education in lieu of experience” requirement. You can find the details here in the New Hampshire CPA Exam Requirement page.
Note: New Hampshire used to accept CA (India) as educational requirements but they have tightened the rules since early 2012.
4. Illinois — Loved By Those Who Just Want A CPA Certificate (Until July 2012)
Illinois is keeping its 2-tier system until July 1, 2012*, which means that until then candidates can choose to get a CPA certificate vs license to practice (please click the link to find out the difference).
Specifically Candidates who choose Illinois and have the 150 semester hours requirement fulfilled do not need any work experience to get the certificate. You can find the details here in the Illinois CPA Exam Requirement page.
* IL State Board postponed the cancellation of the CPA certificate for 2 years, from the original deadline of July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012. While I will not speculate whether they will be another extension this year, I would advise not to count on it.
5. Other Possibilities
Maine, Massachusetts, Montana are three states that I need to look further into and determine whether they have less restrictive rules in either the educational or working experience requirements. If you know of anything please let me know via Facebook.
States (In My Opinion) That No Longer Works
Delaware
Delaware is the only state that allow Associate degree holder (equivalent to a 3-year Bachelor degree) to sit for the exam. Unfortunately for international candidates, they are going to change this exception effective August 2012. You are starting out the CPA application process I am afraid you won’t have enough time to study and pass the exam before August. You can find the details here in the Delaware CPA Exam Requirement page.
Michigan
Michigan used to be a state that automatically gives out NTS (your CPA exam admission ticket) to sit for the exam if you have a Chartered Accountant membership certificate.
However they have since restricted the rules and are no longer consider CA as an educational requirements. You can find the details here in the Michigan CPA Exam Requirement page.
For Your Further Reading
- Is there any chance still for B.COM or other 3-year degree holder?
- Application process of non-US CPA candidates
- CPA exam requirements by state
Got A Question?
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Hi Aparna,
Sorry to have missed your comment on Aug 5. Let me see…
Yes unfortunately you’ll have to fulfill GA’s requirement which is quite strict. They require 150 semester hours and 2-5 years of experience depending on whether it’s public or non-public accounting.
May I ask why you want to switch to GA? If you just want a CPA license you might as well get it from one of the substantially equivalent states which should allow you to work in GA as a public accountant.
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I was reading about your Illinois 2 tier system. I wanted to know whether if I was eligible to sit for the CPA exam with 120 credit hours from NY and after clearing my exams from NY with 120 hours, Can I transfer my scores to Illinois state and get a CPA certificate with 120 hours?
Thanks
Rohan
Hi Rohan,
No since 2009 New York is no longer accepting 120 credit hours as educational requirements. you’ll have to get the full 150 credit hours to get the license.
And basically, if you want to apply for one of the other states that deem 120 credit hours as sufficient to sit for the exam (listed above) you still have to fulfill the 150 credit hours to get the IL CPA certificate.
In other words, they have closed the loopholes in this aspect.
As far as I know, if you want to get the CPA qualification without any working experience, you can go through either IL or CO but both requires 150 credit hours.
Guess we can’t take advantage of both goodies
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I am in Toronto Canada. I am a CGA and have 4 year experience in a CA accounting firm and supervised by a CA. I am qualified for the requirment of 150 hours.
Is there any way to have CPA exam examption in my case? I would like to have your opinion which state is best for me. IL or CO? However, could I have the title of CPA and put in my business card if I only get CPA certificate? Any additional procedures I should do to transfer my credit to Califonia and get my CPA licence there provided if I get CPA certificate from IL or CO?
Thanks
Grace
Hi Grace,
My understanding is that many Canadians go through IL, so why don’t you try that? IL is better for you in my opinion because it is one of the substantially equivalent states.
By the way, there is a shorter version of CPA exam, IQEX, that you may qualify. Please check out my write up on IQEX for more information, and let me know if this works for you.
I am not too familiar with how IQEX works (because I personally didn’t go through this) so would greatly appreciate if you let me know whether you think it works in your situation. Thanks!
Cheers,
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Reading thru all the correspondence you had with various people, it seems to me that you are a very helpful person! It is encouraging to see the amount of information you have given to help aspiring CPA’s beginners to achieve their goal.
I am one of the aspiring CPA beginners who would like to request your advice on how to go about getting in to the grind of applying and writing the CPA examinations.
I hold a Bachelor in Business Administration from a college in India and then pursued to complete a masters degree in Economics in India. After completing my studies I started working as a missionary for the past 10 years in various parts of the world. I would like to know which state will be ideal for me to apply.
Thank you.
Regards,
Praveen
Hi! Stephanie
I am Bikash from Nepal. I have a 4 year undergrad degree from Nepal. I am looking to apply for California CPA. I have taken Auditing, taxation and Business Law in my undergrad but these courses are general and not specific to United States. Please let me know if I need to take these courses in US again to apply for US CPA.
Thank You
Bikash
Hi Bikash,
Nepal is a beautiful country! I’ve been there 10 years ago
For specific course evaluation, I am afraid you have to go through the foreign credential evaluation agency because they will have to look at your school, grades, and then evaluate on a course-by-course cases. You can go to this page for more info.
By the way, California does not give out CPA license without a social security number. Do you have one? If not, please try another state.
Cheers,
STephanie
Hi Praveen,
I am honored to have a missionary stopping by! If you have a master’s degree, you may be able to fulfill the 150 semester hour requirement, but it really depends on how they evaluate your bachelor degree as I understand it is likely a 3-year degree in India?
Same question for you: do you have a social security number?
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie
i would like to thank you for the great effort and the precious information you sharewith us.
I am ziead from egypt. I have bcom(4years) from egypt. I am looking to apply for CPA.
i am looking for the certifcate only to obtain and gain better jobs in here
what is your advice? which state board i should go with?
i can not have work experince in US , so what it will be the best for me?
many thanks
ziead
Hi ziead,
Thanks for your note. One of my first commenters of this site, Marwan, is also from Eqypt. So nice to see you here!
If you don’t want to go through the working experience, I believe for now Illinois and Colorado are your only choices.
In both cases, you’ll need to fulfill some extra credits to make up to the 150 credit hours.
Between the two I would pick Illinois if you only go for the certificate, because the process is a lot simpler. For Colorado, I *think* you may need a social security number (currently checking with CO State Board). I assume that since you don’t live in the US you don’t have a SSN?
By the way, if your working experience is outside the US but is supervised and/or verified by a US CPA licensee, it works as well. But it’s probably difficult to find such a person in Eqypt to work under though…
Regards
Stephanie
dear Stephanie
thanks for your quick response
i am willing to go through Illinois
so i will send my official paper to
http://www.wes.org
for evaluate my degree
and i will let you know
thanks again
hi Ziead,
If you are going for Illinois, there is no need to contact the foreign credential evaluation agency because Illinois evaluates even the foreign transcripts themselves. Best of luck and let me know how it goes! Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I hold a four year bachelor degree from India. I am currently a missionary in Papua New Guinea. Therefore social security number is out of question.
Hi Praveen,
Since you mentioned you have a master’s degree in Economics… does it mean that you have a 4-year bachelor + 1 year of master? if we have 5 years of tertiary schooling, you could try Illinois which does not require a social security number and doesn’t need working experience if you are only aiming for a CPA certificate (i.e. good for credentials). If you work in the accounting field for 1 year, you can also choose to “upgrade” to a full license.
Please take a look at Illinois CPA exam requirements and click on the links for the various application forms and see if it works for you.
Best of luck! let me know if it works. Cheers, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I really appreciate your guidance for the budding CPAs and wish you good luck. I am a CO CPA from Australia. I am giving a presentation to a group of individuals on the value of US CPA. I am looking for statistics about the number of candidates appearing each year for AICPA exams and the pass percentage (Possibly for the past 10 years) and the current CPA population world-wide.. Do you have any idea where I could get this sort of info? I tried googling and I came across your site..
Cheers & keep the good work,
Sai
Hi Sai,
I have this page on number of CPA in the US (possibly not just US but worldwide) — the data is quite old but this is the best I can gather so far.
As for the number of candidates, I recall one the the latest (or the Spring 2010) CPA exam bulletin mentioned the number to be around 90K+ on the first page… if you can’t find it please come back and I’ll take another look.
For the historical data, cpa-exam.org should have annual data on the site.
Hope at least I can help you for a good start! If you have additional information to share, would appreciate you let me know as well.
Regards, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I am a CIA, B.com and CA (from India). I am based at Dubai nowadays and want to go for CPA. I worked in India and Dubai for since last 7 years as Audit Manager. I am not interested to do practice in USA.
So how should i process further for CPA as international student, Which state is best for me, what is estimated cost of CPA certification, Which study materials is best for this CPA, If i register now but will give exam in 2011 than i have to go with new cpa exam format?, is new exam format more difficult for new students.
This may be not reasonable to ask you so many questions in one go, but pls reply.
Thanks & BR// HSM
Hi HSM,
No problem at all! I will try my best to give you a clearer picture.
An important question for you is whether you have worked under an active CPA licensee in the US? If so, things will be much easier; if not, you might need to take extra courses to fulfill the 150 semester requirement, go through states such as Colorado or Illinois that doesn’t require working experience.
If you may not have the social security number, there are also states that you should avoid because they only grant license to SSN holders.
In terms of the 2011 new format, yes there are uncertainties for sure, but I don’t think it’s going to be a huge issue because it’s more like a small addition of content (on IFRS) and a change in the simulation format, which to you is brand new anyway. In terms of whether it’s more difficult, I think even the examiners won’t know until they look at the passing rate statistics, but my gut feeling is that this is not their intention to make it more difficult. They just want to incorporate new topics as well as changing the exam format.
Hope it helps! stephanie
Hi stephanie,
First things first, I really was desperately searching for a website where I can ask some doubts that I do have. Then I found this website. I heartily thank you.God bless you!!
I am suresh and have a 3yrs graduate degree(commerce) from Indian.After my graduation i was working for JP Morgan chase for around 9 months. I was into Treasury services. And now I want to do CPA. So tried searching all the information but I just wanted to know how many credit hours do i need to attend the exam. As per my knowledge i am eligible to write the exam at Delaware. I also wanted to know what else do i need to do and any other suggestion from you???
Hi Suresh,
I am very glad you find the site helpful!
Do you mean you have 3 years of undergraduate or graduate degree? If it is the former, then yes, Delaware is your choice. Please note however that Delaware’s working requirement has become very strict that for “associate degree” holder or equivalent (your situation), you’ll need to secure 4 years of working experience, working directly under a licensed CPA in the US (yes, has to be US CPA).
An alternative is to check whether your degree can somehow be viewed as a “4 year or equivalent” in the US because it will give you more flexibility. Check out WES’ Indian policy website and see if this applies to you. Please go to this page on foreign credential evaluation for more info.
hope things will work out! Let me know your thoughts and I’ll see if I can be more helpful to your CPA journey. Cheers, Stephanie
Thanks a lot for information Stephanie,
One more clerification, which state is easy, less expensive and less confusing for indian or international students.
Best Regds// HSM
Hi HSM,
Ha ha this is a million-dollar question. The ones listed above are theoretically the “easiest” ones. In terms of the cost, every state costs more or less the same and all of them are very confusing…
Stephanie
Hi stephanie,
Thank you so much for your reply.
Yes, It is a 3 years undergraduate degree. I thought even If this 3 years degree is not eligible I would go ahead and take some courses which would give me the extra 30 hrs learning that i need in order to write this exam. But regarding the Experience just wanted a clarrification that if I dont have a Experience For 4 yrs and complete my CPA will that help me or Is there any other way to get a job without a experience or how does it go?? And what would be your suggestion at this point of time??? I am in a dilemma I really need someone to guide me??
If you need any further Information about me. Please let me know.
Thanks in advanvce
Hi Suresh,
Yes you can certainly take some courses to make up for the credit hours, but you will still be considered having an associate degree unless you go ahead and get another 4-degree degree somewhere. Just want to make sure you get my point.
On the experience, you can certainly get a job without the CPA title — all the first-year associates at Big 4 aren’t CPA yet! If you show that you are taking the CPA exam etc on your CV the employer will at least know you are motivated and theoretically should be easier for you to get a junior accounting job.
But for Delaware you just have to be patient and be careful because they only recognize the experience directly supervised by an ACTIVE CPA licensee in the US (i.e. CPA/CAs from canada, australia, india… don’t count)
Hope it helps! stephanie
Stephanie, 1st of, you are doing a wonderful job helping out a ton of ppl like my self. I have the following problem: I am a bachelor of business administration conc. in finance. This degree is provided by Troy University – Sharjah Campus, the main campus of which is in Alabama. I took SIX accounting credits during my bachelor of 120 credit hours. I have been working for nearly 3 years for one of the big four in the middle east. Could you kindly advice me as to which state do i qualify for? and if i can take one of those a la carte courses, should i not qualify for any of the states, could you suggest any online line providers?
Its been a year since i am banging my head all over the place. your reply would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
hi Sagun,
Thanks a lot for your kind note!
The good news is that you do have a 4-year bachelor degree but with 6 accounting credits you will most likely have to take extra classes in any of the online courses. Sorry I still haven’t got the time to research on the online courses – but this is one of the top priority so hopefully I can do that in a week or so.
In order to pick the best state , can you tell me whether your Big 4 experience is supervised by an active CPA licensee (preferably CPA US, but CAs from Canada and Australia should work for some states). If the answer is yes, then no problem you should be good to go after a few accounting courses.
Just let me know and we can continue the discussion. Cheers, Stephanie
Stephanie, thank you for the valuable information. I think this is the best website I found so far on answering the most popular questions on becoming a CPA.
I have read through most of it and my conclusion is that I don’t stand a chance to get a “certificate” (I am only interested in the certificate -not the licence- as I am an international candidate working in private industry.) I have 120 hours of education and I am working as a finance manager in private industry (not in a public accounting firm). And I don’t have any CPA in my company who can verify my experience. While some states do not require 150 hours, they are strict on the experience requirements. The ones that are not so strict on experience require 150 hours. I hope there is a state that I am missing so that I can officially use the 3 letters once I pass the 2 remaining sections. Can you help me find that state?
Thanks a lot
Ozgur
Hi Ozgur,
Yeah unfortunately the state boards have closed most of the loop holes so you either need 150 hours or some experience (and for most states, both) to get the CPA title.
In your case, I would think that if you don’t mind taking 30 hours worth of online courses Illinois will be a good choice, since the state board doesn’t require working experience (until July 2012). It’s much easier to take those courses than to get the experience under a CPA. What do you think?
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I had already posted comment earlier for ur guidance to apply to Colorado State without SSN and staying in US on H4 visa . In this regard i would like to inform you that my application has been successfully processed.
Now that i have received NTS i need ur assistance. Presently i have NTS for one section (BEC). Can i apply for new sections (AUD, FAR, REG) as a reexamination candidate since i feel i can appear for these sections within next six months or i have to appear for BEC exam and then only i can apply for NTS of new sections?
i thank u in advance for your kind co-operation. Once again you are really doing great job by assisting CPA aspirants. Your site is full of precious information.
Thanks a lot.
Bhumi
Hi Bhumi,
Congrats of getting the NTS! You can apply for the NTS now as long as you plan to schedule the part(s) within 6 months.
By the way, I’ve got the most updated info that Colorado *may* need SSN to ultimately get the CPA license. My readers, who are kind enough to share their info, seem to be getting conflicting info from the CO rep at NASBA so I am in the process of confirming with her via email. Haven’t heard from her yet for more than a week but just want to keep you in the loop.
Anyway just focus on the studying first and let the rest of us figure this out.
Regards, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for the feedback. I guess you are right. I checked Illinois board of accountancy website and I meet their requirements except the 150 hours of education. My only option would be taking some online courses and applying there. Thanks a lot once more.
Regards,
Ozgur
Ozgur you are most welcome! If you gather more information along the way, please let us know. I am always learning, especially from my readers. Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Like others, I have to begin with a thank you for this great service you are doing. All I can say is please continue to do this as long as you can.
Here is my story,
Background-
1) I have SSN
2)I have BCOM and MBA from India currently living in Maryland.
3) I dont have plans to practice CPA. I was planning to include CPA in my resume and purse career as Financial analyst.
4) Currently I do not have any work experience in US.
I had my credits evaluated by Josef and Silny and obtained 160 credits for it. I originally applied for Virginia. Virginia did not approve my application saying even though I have enough credits, my Financial Accounting course which I believe is a core course for Virginia is marked as NOT UPPER LEVEL in the evaluation report. In the report I had 33 total accounting credits but Cost and Financial accounting are marked as NON-UPPER level courses.
Now instead of evaluating with any other agency, I am trying to figure out others state that accept jsilny evaulation. Here is the list of states that accept jsilny and doesnt have citizenship or Residency requirements,
Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin
I know none of the above states come under the Two-Tier system, so no CERTIFICATE for me after the exams. I guess I HAVE to get a license to include CPA in my resume. Is that correct?
As far as the state is concerned, from the above list, I am inclining towards California, Kentucky, Colorado, Washington. Please provide your opinion. I really want to pick the right state this time so that I dont end up paying again for the application fee and credential evaluation.
Thanks,
Vinodhini
P.S. The reason for me to stick with Jsilny is not to delay the process any further (due to 2011 changes) and also because I got pretty good number of credits in the evaluation (160).
Hi Vinodhini,
Thanks for your kind note, and looks like you have done a lot of research yourself. Good for you!
A lot of Indian candidates go through Colorado so it should be a good choice as long as you don’t plan to practice in the US (because CO is not a substantially equivalent state). If you go through the education in lieu of experience you don’t need any experience to get the license.
An alternative is Illinois, where they are still keeping 2-tier status until July 2012. If you have 160 hours you are all set. The problem is that IL does its own evaluation and it takes VERY long… so might not be good if you want to take the exam before 2011.
Hope it helps? Please come back if you have more questions. Cheers, Stephanie
Hi stephaine,
Thanks for your reply.Your post was really helpful. But one more question stephaine. I was checking the website NASBA.org. And in that website I was checking details for New Hampshire requirements and it says”BEFORE JANUARY 1, 2005 In order to sit for the CPA examination in New Hampshire you need to have a Bachelors degree earned from an accredited university or college. You must also have a minimum of 12 credits in accounting and 12 credits in business. If you do not have enough accounting or business within the degree/s you may earn the hours needed at an accredited university or college. AFTER JANUARY 1, 2005 RSA 309-B: 5 III, (b) After January 1, 2005, at least 120 semester hours of college education including a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a college or university acceptable to the board, the total educational program to include an accounting concentration or equivalent as determined by board rule to be appropriate; provided however, that candidates for a certificate may sit for the examination described in paragraph IV if they have at least 120 semester hours of college education including a baccalaureate degree conferred by a college or university acceptable to the board, the total educational program to include an accounting concentration or equivalent as determined by board rule to be appropriate. What this means for candidates applying for the CPA Computerized examination in the State of New Hampshire after January 1, 2005, is that you will have to meet the following conditions. 1) A conferred bachelors degree from a recognized university or college that is accredited; and 2) Either within the bachelors degree or earned outside the bachelors from a recognized university or college that is accredited, a candidate must have a minimum of 120 credit hours; and 3) A minimum of 24 credits in business of which 12 must be in accounting earned either within the bachelor’s degree or earned outside the bachelor’s degree from a recognized university or college that is accredited.” So am I eligible for this state??????
THanks in advance.
Hi Suresh,
Sorry I will have to ask you to summarize this for me because I still have lots of comments to take care of… thanks, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
This is a very useful site and you have been very helpful to everyone who aspires on becoming a US CPA. My name is Ben and I currently reside in Canada. I sat and passed the CPA exam as California candidate. My question is regarding the 150 hrs requirement. When I sat as a California candidate I only have a BS degree in Accounting with 136 hours. I am currently taking up my master’s degree to complete the 150 hrs but is it acceptable to apply for a practicing license (Oregon or Illinios) if I get to 150 hrs. even without completing the whole program?
Thank you so much for your assistance and more power.
Ben
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your note! May I ask whether you have applied for the California CPA license? If you get the license (Pathway II), you will likely be able to use the substantially equivalency to practice in Illinois, Oregon or other states. Also, may I ask why you would like to do that? Just want to understand more to make sure I answer your question correctly.
Thanks, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
I have CA and CWA right after 10+2. I do not have Bachelors or Masters Degree. I took the CPA test in Colorado and passed all 4 parts. I got NACES evaluation and got 198 credits (just for CA & CWA) which includes 80 for accounting.
I am currently working for a CPA in Massachusetts and just completed 4 months. However, I am now trying to get license without public accounting experience.
I want CPA license so that I can start my own practice eventually. Can you please suggest me which State gives me Non-Reporting license based on above credits?
Thank you for your help.
Rajesh
Hi Rajesh,
I believe that all states require at least a bachelor degree (except for Delaware, in which case an associate degree is ok)… so why don’t you get your full license from Colorado first? CO is currently not a substantially equivalent state but it should be after 2015 when it tightens the requirements. So hopefully by the time you start your practice your CO license is recognized throughout the US.
Hope it helps? Stephanie
I have a bachelor degree in Finance and 120.50 credits. Also i do have three years experience in accounting.
I want the CPA license. I live in new york and i m thinking giving the exam in new york.
The problem is that i did my study abroad , i did the evaluation at WES. Do you think i ‘ll get qualify ? And what documents should i sent to them ?is the WES sending them a transcript of my courses or is me?
Thank you so much for your help
Hi Jenny,
I think New York requires 150 credit hours to sit for the exam now… so you might need to pick one of the states mentioned above on this page.
For WES, they specifically ask for original transcripts directly from your school. Is it easy for you to get that? You can refer to this foreign credential evaluation page for more details on the process.
Just come back if you have more questions! Cheers, Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thanks for your suggestion. I infact mailed the application for Colorado this morning, hopefully they provide me the NTS by end of this month. I am planning for FAR during the first week of October and BEC for last week of November.
If I had to retake any of these exams, then most likey it will be next year which could be a tricky thing (new stuff to learn). Also I assume they would provide new NTS for retaking the exam and it doesnt have to fall under the 6 month window of the original NTS. Am I right?
Thanks,
Vinodhini.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for your reply. I did not apply for a California license because they require SSN which I do not have. I am looking at Oregon or Illinois because they don’t require SSN and are accepted for mutual recognition for a Canadian Chartered Accountant license.
Again, thanks in advance.
Thanks Ben. I am quite sure that Illinois is the most popular among Canadians so you should definitely explore that further. Best ot luck! Stephanie
hi stephanie,
I was looking for your reply for the question I posted on 08.29.2010. And thank u so much fr ur reply.
Hi Suresh,
I was asking here if you could kindly summarize your question because the cut and paste is hard to read and is too long…
Thanks, Stephanie
P.S. You can check the box below so you can keep track of the reply more easily.
Dear Steph,
I am a MI candidate, already passed 2 parts. I am from Canada with only 120 hours hence I chose MI. I was originally planning to work in the States but I recently started a very secure and highly paid job. I am thus looking to transfer credit to Illinois. However I am not sure whether it would work?
They say on their website that I have to have met the education requirement at the time of writing the first part. Since I have already written 2 parts with MI without 150 hours, would I be allowed to transfer credit to IL? Is there any solution?
Can you recommend something? I am really frustrated. I have over 3 years of Information Technology Audit and Internal Audit experience. I am also a fully certified CIA and CISA. Is there any possible way for me to get the CPA certificate or license without working in public accounting in US or Canada?
Hi Belal,
May I ask where you read about Illinois requiring candidate to fulfill the 150 hours at the time of writing the first part? I also read the exam credit rules regarding Illinois but the one I found is very ambiguous:
I don’t really understand the part in the italics but there might be a glimpse of hope that maybe this will work for you?
Colorado will let you get the license without working experience (using the in lieu of experience). They also need 150 hours but they might allow you to make up after the exam. Also, you need a social security number which I’m not sure whether you have.
Same for Montana but you’ll need a SSN.
Alternatively, you may be able to transfer to a state where they recognize accounting experience supervised and verified by CPA equivalent, which most likely include CAs from Canada. In any case you’ll likely need to get 150 hours first.
So please let me know if you have plans to get the 150 hours and we can start from there… Stephanie
Hi Stephanie
I have 120 credits .I have almost three years experience in general accounting. Do you think California will fit me? thank you
Is it for sure that new york requires 150 credits?
thank you so much !
Hello Jenny,
If your 120 credit hours include the necessary accounting and business courses, and that the 3 years in accounting is supervised and verified by an active CPA licensee, it should work.
On NY, you can check the State Board website (which you can find here) to confirm, but Yes I am quite sure NY is now requiring 150 credits.
Cheers, Stephanie
hi step!!!
m so confused regarding colorado state, first every one told me that its 120 hours requirement now i heard abt 150 hours …i did my bacholers and Post graduate chartered accountancy from pakistan and have 4 yeras audit experience in big 4 under CPA ..plz suggest me abt state which is suitable for me. i studied International auditig standards so whetehr CO board accepts that or do i need to study GAAS?
thanx
Hi Zarak,
For Colorado, the state board allows you to sit for the exam if you have 120 credit hours. But you’ll need to fulfill the working experience requirement.
If you have 150 hours, then you can go through the education in lieu of experience route which means you don’t need to gain relevant experience to get the license.
Please note that while you can sit for the exam without social security number, you need a SSN to ultimately get the license in Colorado. The website wasn’t clear but the CO coordinator at NASBA has confirmed this with me via email.
Please go to the Colorado CPA exam requirements page for details.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for your reply. Yes I will definitely be completing the 150 credit hours requirement. However, I do not have a SSN.
As for where I heard about the IL transfer credit requiring 150 hours at the time of writing the first part, its from the same sentence that you italicized above….”at the time of initially taking the exam or at the sitting at which the candidate initially conditioned or passed the exam.“
Hi Belal,
I see… another reader, Aslam, is in a similar situation and he will check with the IL board on the exact interpretation of this sentence. (you can find Aslam’s comment in the CPA study lounge for Indian candidates) I will let you know once I hear from him. Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Let me start off by telling you that your page is awesome and i found nothing but useful information. I recently graduated from a 4 year University in California with a degree in Accounting, so therefore i qualify for path number 2 because i definitely have more than 150 units. My transcripts were recently sent to the board of California, do you think i will have enough time to take any of these exams by the end of this year?. I Heard the process is long, also would you recommend taking more than two exams by the end of the year??. In regards to my status in this country I have been living in this country for 10 years and there isn’t a way for me to become legal up until this day. Therefore, i have no SSN and i know that in CAlifornia i will not get my license until i have one, but do you know of any states that does not require a SSN to take the test and to grant the license?? Also could i take two parts of the exam in one state and then in case there’s a state that does grant a license without a SSN could i take the rest of the exams in that state???
I know that i bombarded you with so many questions, and i apologize for that but i really need some advice, What should i do?? help please!!!!!!!
Thanks!!!!!!
Hi Nohemi,
First of all, thanks for your kind words on my site!
May I ask… did you take extra courses beside your 4-year university in California? Because a 4-year degree is typically equivalent to 120 credit hours only. But if you do have 150 semester, you can instead go through Illinois because (1) they don’t require SSN and (2) you don’t need to gain working experience to get the CPA certificate (note: it’s not a full license).
I’m not sure on your residency status, but I guess if you are not a citizen or permanent resident you’ll need to at least have some sort of visas in order to sit for the exam. Hope it’s ok for you?
And on your last question, yes you can take the parts in different state. In fact, you can register through, say, Illinois but physically take the exam in California.
Lastly, on whether you can sit for the exam within this year, it’s hard to tell given it’s already September (last day to take the exam will be November 30)… If you go through Illinois, they take 6-8 weeks (more like 8 weeks) so it’s really close to the “deadline”. Having said that, it’s not the end of the world to take the exam next year with the new format. It’s just a small addition on content (on IFRS) and format changes. If you are new to the exam it really doesn’t matter too much.
Hope I haven’t missed your questions but if I do, or if you have follow up questions, please let me know. Cheers, Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Sorry I forgot the mention earlier. I had actually confirmed with IL board on Friday about this over the phone. Its sad news for ppl like me.
They basically said if you want to transfer exam credits (parts) to IL from another state, you must have had completed the 150 credit hours at the time you passed that exam (part).
The reason they say “at the time of initially taking the exam” OR “at the time…..initially passed the exam”, is to make provision for a situation where you wrote an exam with only 120 hours but failed it and then subsequently you wrote another part which you passed but at the time of writing it you had completed the 150 by then, you are considered OK.
Hope this helps everyone else in my situation.
Given this, is there any other way….other than getting married to my GF who coincidentally is US citizen and thus getting a SSN. The only problem with that is, it sounds too selfish. LOL!
Hi Stephanie,
i actually do have a four year degree college which is equal to 120 credits.I do have three years experience in accounting but in general accounting and its not supervised by an active license cpa. I’m a resident so for me is not problem SSN.So which state should work for me ?
And i have another question about the necessary credits.How many do you need in accounting and business to qualify?
Thank you so much
Hi Belal,
Thanks a lot for sharing…
… maybe destiny has led you to decide whether it’s time to get married (other than the reason re CPA exam of course).
Well do tell me the good news if this is your decision
Stephanie
Hi Jenny,
Since your experience is not supervised by CPA, I am afraid it cannot be counted, at least in California.
As far as I know, no state allows candidates to have 120 semester hours and no qualified experience to get the license (either one is ok, but not both).
I have 2 suggestions for you:
1. Illinois allows you to get a CPA certificate (note: not a full license) if you accumulate 150 credit hours. For CPA certificate you won’t need to get workin experience to get qualified.
2. Indiana recognizes accounting experience (could be non-public accounting) that is not supervised by CPA, but you need 150 credit hours and also a CPA you know to verify your experience.
Please click the links to find out the minimum accounting and business courses you need. Also, you can make up the 30 semester hours by taking courses and the link points to a page with my suggestions on how you can do it.
Hope it helps!
Stephanie
Thanks Stephanie for replying so fast. I do meet all academic requirements to take the CPA examination in California even the 150 units since i was able to complete a second major besides accounting so i have more than 150 units. However, I do not have a SSN, a Visa or anything, i’m basically illegal here, and i’m not sure if the board is going to let me take it since i don’t have any type of State ID, I only have my home country passport and a Consular Registration that is an identification card issued by the Government of my country through its consulate offices that are located in Los Angeles, CA. I also obtained my passport through these offices. Have you heard of any cases like mine? Also i wanted to ask you if there’s a statue of limitations when it comes to the License. For Instance, let’s say i pass all the exams next year but i’m not able to get a SSN until 5 years from now, would i have to re take the exam again??
Thank you so much for taking your time to answer all these questions you’re so sweet and helpful to all of us.
Hi Nohemi,
Interesting case… never heard of this. Let me see…
I guess if you present yourself as an “illegal” resident you will never be able to get the CPA license. But then, maybe you can check out Illinois because IL doesn’t require a SSN. All they need is the 150 semester hours. You get a CPA certificate (not a full license) but this will give you most of the benefits of a CPA. You can check out the difference between CPA cert vs license here.
So the game plan could be to position yourself as a non-resident alien when you apply. You can check out the procedure of credit transfer to Illinois State Board here.
By the way, just strictly out of curiosity, didn’t your university request a SSN when you enroll in their degree program? Stephanie
hi Stephanie,
Thank you so much for your response.It is very helpful to me.
So right now i do have 120 credits . How can i earn the 30 more credits so i can meet the requirements? Do i need to take the GMAT exam or get some accounting classes ?
What about in new york ,if you have the 150credits do you need the experience as well ?
thank you so much !!
Hi Stephanie:
Thanks for replying, yes i know my case is kind of complicated. However, i still have faith that i will fix my status in this country one day, hopefully in the near future. In regards, to school and the SSN, is not required, at least here in California. As long as you can afford tuition anyone could go to school here : )
Hi Nohemi,
Yes I do help you can fix that some day – it will be much more convenient for you to live and work in this country. Best of luck!
In the meantime, maybe you can explore the possibility of positioning yourself as an international candidate with foreign passport… Stephanie
Hi Stephanie
Great Website. I am an Indian Chartered Accountant. I do not have a bachelor’s degree. Do you recommend sitting for the CPA exam from Michigan? I need the credentials only.
Is it possible to transfer credits from Michigan to some other state with lower requirements for licensure?
Thanks and god bless for putting all this information in the public domain.
Hi Stephanie,
Very helpful website. I have an undergrad in Econ. + an MBA with up to 10 credits in accounting (7.5 undergrad and 2.5 grad). I am only looking for a CPA for the resume and my boss, a CPA, can verify that I worked under him in a non-auditing capacity for 2+ years. Would it make sense to take the exam in ME or NH (+ an online course to get to 12 credits) and later transfer the CPA exam credits to another state for licensing?
Any other route to get the CPA in less than a year?
Thank you,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your kind note, and I see that you have done quite a lot of research yourself!
Well, the problem with transfering exam credit is that for most states, they want you to have their requirements fulfilled before (or maybe, during) the sitting for the exam.
And I assume that you wouldn’t want to work in public accounting so NE and NH don’t really work.
The next best option I can think of now is Delaware – 21 credit hours of accounting. The good thing is that introductory courses are accepted, and you can make use of your experience as they accept non-public accounting. But you have to make sure that your boss has an ACTIVE CPA license during the time you work for him, and that he has a CPA US license (not, say, CPA from Australia). Delaware is very strict in that.
What do you think? Just come back if you need another suggestions… Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you for your prompt and insightful response.
After sending you my note I purchased your e-book and am now trying to decide between DE, CA and IL. I sent you a more detailed note with my concerns about DE to your ‘private’ email address, but it bounced back, so I sent it to your ‘support’ email. Please check it out.
Thanks,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your support and the purchase! Sorry that particular email seems to have problems from time to time. Yes I just saw your email and will get back to you today. Stephanie
Thank you so much for your response.It is very helpful to me.
So right now i do have 120 credits . How can i earn the 30 more credits so i can meet the requirements? Do i need to take the GMAT exam or get some accounting classes ?
What about in new york ,if you have the 150credits do you need the experience as well ?
thank you so much !!
Hi Jenny,
Thanks for you kind note! You can take a look at this page on how to get extra credit to fulfill the 150 semester hours.
For New York, yes you’ll need the experience fo licensing – more details in this NY CPA exam requirements page.
Cheers,
STephanie
Hi Stephanie
I would like to know if there is a State that will issue a CPA licence without a SSN or residency. I have a B.Com degree and MBA with many years accounting and finance experience (Australia). I do not intend to live in the USA but would like to get a CPA Licence. My qualifications were assessed by WES with the following summary US Semester Credits = 186.5 and for Required Subject Areas Total = 179.0.
Please advise which will be the best State in my situation.
Regards
Mani
Hi Mani,
Sounds like Illinois will work just fine. Please check out the details here. No SSN and no working experience requirement necessary to get the CPA certificate.
Regards,
Stephanie
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