C.P.A. Readiness

Requirements to Sit for C.P.A. Examination

C.P.A. exam preparation is incorporated directly into the MAcc program, and students are required to enroll and demonstrate their progress completing an approved third-party C.P.A. review program. In addition to required coursework and participating in the C.P.A. review program, MAcc students are required to sit for at least two sections of the C.P.A. exam to graduate with a MAcc degree. Students are responsible for the cost of the C.P.A. exam review program and any fees associated with sitting for the C.P.A. exam, which are not included in the cost of tuition.

The specific requirements to sit for the Uniform C.P.A. Examination vary with each state board of accountancy. Some states (or other jurisdictions such as the District of Columbia or Guam) require candidates to have a bachelor’s degree with a specified distribution of accounting and business courses as the minimum educational requirement to take the examination, whereas others require a bachelor’s degree and the completion of 150 semester hours of academic credit (including a specified distribution of courses) as the minimum. These standards are subject to change; thus, students should review the requirements (including the distribution of courses) of the board in the jurisdiction in which they plan to sit for the examination. Incidentally, these are the requirements to sit for the examination, not to be certified. Most boards of accountancy require 150 semester hours of academic credit for certification.

For the specific requirements to sit for the C.P.A. examination in West Virginia, visit the Board’s website at https://www.boa.wv.gov/ or call (304) 558-3557. For requirements in other jurisdictions, visit the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s website at http://www.nasba.org.

Content specification of the C.P.A. examination and related information may be found at https://www.aicpa.org/becomeacpa/cpaexam.html.