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Texas CPA Requirements (Rules on Exam and Licensing)

Texas CPA requirementsFor Texas CPA requirements, the State Board requires the full 150 credit hours 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.

Please also note the AICPA ethics exam requirement is replaced by 4 hours of ethics class and the Texas Code of Professional Conduct exam.

Texas CPA Requirements

1. Education Requirements to Sit for the Exam

  • Bachelor degree or above.
  • 150 credit hours from an accredited university or educational institution.
  • Course requirement:
    • Accounting: 30 credit hours (upper division above principles level), including 2 credit hours of accounting or tax research and analysis
    • Business: 24 credit hours, including 2 credit hours of accounting or business communications
    • Ethics: 3 credit hours
    • For details on each course please refer to this page.

Note to international candidates

If your education is gained outside the US, TX State Board either performs the evaluation or outsources it to trusted third parties own their own. Please request for an evaluation of international credentials form.  Do NOT send your transcript to third-party foreign credential evaluation agencies.

2. Additional Texas CPA Requirements for the License

What is typically called “CPA license” in this site is called “CPA certificate” by the State Board. This is not to be confused with the CPA certificate mentioned in the rest of my site. For simplicity I will use the term “CPA license” throughout this page.

Education

  • No additional requirements.

Work Experience

  • 1 year of full-time “non-routine” accounting work experience: By non-routine, it generally means:
    • Attest services including audits, compilations, reviews, and other assurance and engagements, in accordance with professional standards;
    • Professional accounting services e.g. issuing reports on financial statements, providing management or financial advisory or consulting services , preparing tax returns, providing advice in tax matters, providing forensic accounting services, providing internal auditing services.
  • The experience must be accumulated under the direct supervision of a licensed US CPA.
  • Part-time work is allowed as long as 2,000 hours are accumulated over a 1-3 year period.

*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

  • 4 hours of Ethics course approved by the Texas State Board.
  • Passing of the examination on the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct. This is an open-book exam and passing score is 85%. The examination is mailed to you when you pass the CPA exam.

3. Texas CPA Requirements Residency & Age

  • US citizenship not required
  • Texas residency not required
  • Minimum age: none

4. Fees

  • First-timers: $774 + fee for application of intent

*** Special note on the NTS***

You will only have 90 days to pay the fees, schedule your exams at the prometric center AND take those exams. In other words, for Texas your NTS is only valid for 90 days counting from the application date. For details please read this page from TX Board of Accountancy.

5. Continuing Education

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

6. Other Useful Information

7. Contact

Texas State Board of Public Accountancy
333 Guadalupe
Tower III, Suite 900
Austin, TX 78701-3900

  • Email: exam@tsbpa.state.tx.us
  • Phone: 512-305-7851
  • Fax: 512-305-7875

What if the Texas 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 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!

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