Florida CPA Exam Requirements are relatively straight forward: You’ll need 120 credit hours to sit for the exam, but the full 150 hours and at least 1 year of working experience to get the Florida CPA license.
To international candidates: please note that Florida State Board requires a Social Security Number (SSN) to sit for the CPA exam and getting the CPA license. If you have no clue what it is, skip Florida.
Florida CPA Exam Requirements
1. Education Requirements To Sit For The Exam:
- Bachelor degree or above
- 120 semester hours from an accredited university or educational institution
- Accounting courses: 24 semester units in upper (i.e. intermediate/advanced) level**
- Must include accounting taxation, auditing, cost/managerial,
financial, and accounting information systems - Accounting courses for non-accounting majors or elementary accounting courses for MBAs will NOT be counted
- Must include accounting taxation, auditing, cost/managerial,
- Business courses: 24 semester units in upper level **
- One microeconomics, one macroeconomics, one statistics, one business law, and one introduction to computers course may be lower division
- Intermediate/advanced accounting courses can be used to meet business course requirement
- Other courses: 6 semester unites of business law; must include contracts, torts, and the Uniform Commercial Code
2. Additional Requirements To Get CPA Certificate:
Education:
- 150 semester units from an accredited university or educational institution.
- Accounting courses: 36 semester units (30 hours in upper level **)
- Business courses: 39 semester units including at least 6 units in business law
- For those who study at an non-accredited colleges, you can still get qualified and details can be found in the Florida CPA licensing page (FAQ #8)
- If 2 years have passed since the passing of the Uniform CPA Exam, 80 CPE hours (20 in accounting and auditing; <20 in behavioral subjects) are required.
Experience:
- 1 year of relevant work experience supervised by active CPA licensee in the US; or
- 5 year of experience supervised by active Chartered accountants in Canada or CA/CPAs in Australia
- Experience can be public ornon-public accounting in both cases
- For candidates who passed the Uniform CPA exam before the “new rule” (prior to 1984), 1-5 years of experience is required. Please check with Florida’s CPA licensing information for details.
Ethics Qualifications:
- None
3. Residency & Age Requirements:
- US citizenship not required
- Florida residency not required
- Minimum age: none
4. Fees:
- First-timers: standard CPA exam fees + $50 initial application fee
- Repeaters: exam fees + $60-105 repeat application fees
5. Other Useful Information
6. Contact:
Florida Board of Accountancy
240 NW 76 Drive, Suite A
Gainesville, FL 32607
- Email: Call.Center@dbpr.state.fl.us, cpaes-fl@nasba.org
- Phone: 850-487-1395
- Fax: 850-921-6636
Can’t Get Qualified In Florida?
Don’t give up, as you may well be qualified to register through other states and sit for the same CPA exam. With the recent Substantial Equivalency (CPA reciprocity) rule CPAs from most states can practice across the country.
- Feel free to check out the general CPA Exam Requirements here.
More Questions?
Please feel to drop me a note on my Facebook page and I will be happy to answer your questions.
* Note: 1 semester = 1.5 quarters
** Upper level class means course intermediate/advanced courses designed for junior and senior (i.e. third and fourth year students at the university)
Photograph courtesy of anonymonk @ flickr
