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North Carolina CPA Requirements on Exam and Licensing
For the North Carolina CPA Exam requirements, the #1 rule is that the candidate must be a US citizen or has the intention of becoming one.
The State Board also requires the full 150 credit hours to get the CPA license, but a bachelor degree is good enough to sit for the exam. After passing the CPA exam, you will need to accumulate 1 year of experience under the direct supervision of an active CPA licensee.
North Carolina CPA Requirements
1. Education Requirements to Sit for the CPA Exam in NC
A candidate is required to fulfill one of the following:
- Bachelor’s degree or above.
- Accounting course requirement: 30 semester hours (at least 6 hours of accounting at principals level are allowed, some upper division courses are required).
- May count 1 Business Law class (3 hours) towards this 30-hour requirement.
Note: candidates have 120 days after taking the first section of the Exam to meet the educational requirements.
2. Additional North Carolina CPA Requirements for the CPA License
Education
- Fulfillment of 150 semester hours, including 24 hours in accounting, finance and business related subject.
Work Experience
- 1 year of full-time experience in accounting, directly supervised by an active US CPA licensee.
- If the applicant is not directly supervised by a US CPA, then the experience requirement is four years.
- 4 years of teaching experience in the areas of accounting. By that it means at least 12 semester hours at all times as well as 2 years of teaching above immediate level.
- Please note that unpaid/volunteer work can be counted towards the experience requirement.
3. North Carolina CPA Requirements on Residency & Age
- US citizenship (or having the intent to become one) is **required**
- North Carolina residency not required.
- Minimum age: 18.
4. Fees
- Administrative Fee for a Initial Exam Application: $230.00
- Administration Fee for a Re-Exam Application: $75.00
- CPA Exam Fee (per section): $254.80
5. Continuing Education
CPE is needed for license holders. Click here for North Carolina CPA CPE requirements.
6. Other Useful Information
7. Contact
North Carolina State Board of CPA Examiners
1101 Oberlin Road, Suite 104
PO Box 12827
Raleigh, NC 27605-2827
- Email: phyllise@nccpaboard.gov
- Phone: (919) 733-4224
- Fax: (919) 733-4209
What if These 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 recommendation at the end of the posts:
- CPA educational requirements: Rules, Obstacles and Solutions
- States with more flexible CPA experience requirements
- How to get extra credit hours for the 150-hour rule
If you have questions, feel free to drop a note in the comment section, 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!
