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New Jersey CPA Requirements (Rules on Exam and Licensing)

New Jersey CPA requirementsNew Jersey state board allows candidate to sit for the exam with 120 credit hours, but ultimately, in order to get the license, you need the standard 150 credit hours to complete your CPA journey.

Please note that social security number is strictly required in the license application form.

New Jersey CPA Requirements

1. Education Requirements to Sit for the Exam

In the two options presented below, candidates are required to fulfill the 150 credit hours at the end. I suggest that you aim for “option 2” but you can choose to take the exam before you complete the full requirements.

(a) Option 1 (<150 credit hours)

  • 60 credit hours selected from courses in English, history, foreign languages, mathematics, general psychology, philosophy, biological sciences, physical sciences, economics, sociology, religion, government, political science, geography, fine arts and music; and
  • a minimum of 60 credit hours in professional courses including:
    • Accounting including municipal and government accounting: 24 hours
    • Business law: 6 hours
    • Finance: 6 hours
    • Economics: 6 hours
    • Related business subjects: 18 hours
  • Must complete what is required below (i.e. 150 credit hours ) to obtain the license.

(b) Option 2 (150 credit hours)

150 credit hours plus one of the following:

1. Graduate degree in accounting from schools accredited by AACSB or ACBSP:

  • Automatically qualified

2. Graduate degree in business from schools accredited by AACSB or ACBSP:

  • 24 hours (undergrad level) or 15 hours (graduate level) of accounting
  • An equivalent combination of undergrad/grad coursework can be done based upon a 3:2 ratio
  • Should include financial accounting, auditing, taxation and management accounting

3. Undergrad degree in accounting or business from schools accredited by AACSB or ACBSP:

  • 24 hours in accounting courses including financial accounting, auditing, taxation and management accounting
  • 24 hours in business courses

4. Undergrad degree in general:

  • 30 hours in accounting courses including financial accounting, auditing, taxation and management accounting
  • 24 hours in business courses

2. Additional New Jersey CPA Requirements to Get the License

Education

  • No additional requirement.

Work Experience

  • 1 year of public accounting experience (or equivalent) supervised and verified by a licensed CPA in New Jersey and possibly other states within the US. Please check with NJ state board for details (refer to p. 10 of NJ Accountancy Regulations).
  • Part-time work is acceptable as long as applicant can accumulate 1,750 hours within 2 years.

*Launched in Apr 2016* The NASBA Experience Verification service is now available to those who do not have access to an active U.S. CPA for verification.

Ethics Qualification

  • You don’t need to take the CPA Ethics Exam by AICPA. Instead, you’ll need to take an ethics course offered by these providers.

3. New Jersey CPA Requirements Residency & Age

  • US citizenship not required.
  • NJ residency not required.
  • Minimum age: 18.

4. Fees

  • First-timers: $774 + application fee

5. Continuing Education

CPE is required for license holders. Please click here for New Jersey CPA CPE requirements.

6. Other Useful Information

7. Contact

New Jersey State Board of Accountancy
PO Box 45000
Newark, NJ 07101

Physical address
124 Halsey Street, 6th Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102

  • Email: askconsumeraffairs@lps.state.nj.us, cpaes-nj@nasba.org
  • Phone: (973) 504-6380
  • Fax: (973) 648-2855

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

Check out these pages to learn about the educational and experience requirements, with my recommendation at the end of the posts:

If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below, or visit my Facebook page.

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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