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West Virginia CPA Requirements for Exam and Licensing

West Virginia CPA requirements

The West Virginia CPA requirements do not insist that candidates have 150 credit hours to sit for the CPA Exam. But like many states, this requirement has to be fulfilled in order to get the CPA license.

The CPA work experience requirement in West Virginia is standard, too, with 1 year of public or non-public accounting work. However, some flexibility is offered on part-time work. Plus, your experience can be verified but not necessarily supervised by an active CPA licensee.

West Virginia CPA Requirements

1. Education Requirements to Sit for the CPA Exam

A candidate is required to fulfill the following:

  • Bachelor’s degree or higher
  • At least 30 semester hours in accounting courses (you can’t count intro courses, though)
  • Business courses: 27 hours
  • Business law: 3 hours
  • Ethics: 3 hours

If you have a Master’s or PhD in Accounting, though, you automatically meet the WV education requirements and can sit for the CPA Exam.

2. Additional West Virginia CPA Requirements to Obtain the License

Education

  • Have at least 150 semester hours (basically, a bachelor’s degree plus 30 extra hours or a master’s degree)

Work Experience

  • 1 year of full-time experience in public or non-public accounting.
  • Part-time work is accepted (as shown in the application form).
  • Other types of work e.g. volunteer work – the Board would need to consider the length of time and scope of duties as well as the complexity and diversity of work performed.
  • The experience must be verified but not necessarily supervised by an active CPA licensee.
  • Experience gained within 4 years of making application for licensure can be counted, both before and after sitting for the exam.

Ethics Qualifications

  • None required.

3. West Virginia CPA Requirements on Residency & Age

  • US citizenship is not required to become a CPA in West Virginia
  • WV residency not required, either
  • Social security number requirement: W.Va. Code§ 30-1-6(d) requires one to provide an SSN
  • Minimum age: none

4. CPA Exam Fees in WV (for 2026)

  • Initial application fee: $10 for all sections
  • Intent to sit fee: $40 per section
  • NASBA section fee: $30 per section
  • AICPA section fee: $135 per section
  • Prometric section fee: $93.60
  • Prometric security fee: $6.96
  • Initial Application for Initial Certification/License: $120

Please note: If you might struggle to pay your CPA Exam fees in West Virginia, the state board may waive fees for low-income people. You can contact the board for an application.

5. Continuing Education

CPE is required for license holders. Please click here for the West Virginia CPA CPE requirements.

6. Contact

WV Board of Accountancy
405 Capitol Street, Suite 908
Charleston, WV 25301-1744

  • Email: wvboa@wv.gov
  • Phone: 304-558-3557
  • Fax: 304-558-1325

What if the WV CPA Requirements Don’t Work for Me?

You may want to check out these pages to learn about the educational and experience requirements, with my recommendations at the end of these posts:

If you have questions, feel free to drop a note in the comment section.

About the Author Stephanie Ng

I am the author of How to Pass The CPA Exam (published by Wiley), and I also passed all 4 sections of the CPA Exam on my first try. Additionally, I have led webinars, such as for the Institute of Management Accountants, authored featured articles on websites like Going Concern and AccountingWeb, and I'm also the CFO for the charity New Sight. Finally, I have created other accounting certification websites to help mentor non-CPA candidates. I have already mentored thousands of CPA, CMA, CIA, EA, and CFA candidates, and I can help you too!

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