Alaska CPA requirements
Alaska has removed its 150-hour licensure requirement entirely. A bachelor’s degree (about 120 hours) plus 2 years (at least 4,000 hours total, minimum 2,000 hours each year) of supervised experience is now the only path to becoming a licensed CPA here.
Education
Alaska no longer ties licensure to a fixed credit-hour total. You need a bachelor’s degree or higher (about 120 semester hours) with the required accounting and business coursework to sit for the exam, and that same degree qualifies you for full licensure once you’ve completed the matching experience requirement below — no extra 30 hours required.
| Requirement | Alaska | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total semester hours to sit | 120 | Bachelor’s degree with required coursework |
| Upper-level accounting | 24 semester hours, covering subjects like intermediate accounting, income tax, cost accounting, auditing, and accounting theory | |
| Upper-level business | 9 semester hours covering business law, economics, and one of statistics, computer science, or math | |
| Degree level | Bachelor’s minimum | Regionally accredited institution |
Community college credits generally count toward the total but not toward the upper-level accounting requirement. Get a transcript evaluation from the board before you pay for extra coursework.
Foreign-educated candidates
A foreign college or university’s degree program must be evaluated and determined equivalent by NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES) before it counts toward Alaska’s education requirement.
Sitting versus licensing
Alaska has gone further than most CPA Evolution states: it removed the 150-hour rule outright rather than adding an alternate track alongside it. A bachelor’s degree plus 2 years (at least 4,000 hours total, minimum 2,000 hours each year) of supervised experience is now the only route to a full license here.
Plan the extra hours into your degree rather than bolting them on afterwards. A fifth-year master's or an integrated program is almost always cheaper than taking individual courses later, and it keeps you eligible for student course pricing.
Experience
2 years (at least 4,000 hours) of qualifying accounting experience, verified by a supervising CPA who held an active license at the time. Qualifying work can be earned in government, industry, academia, or public practice — not limited to public accounting firms.
The experience can typically be earned before, during, or after you pass the exam sections. Your supervisor submits the verification directly to the board, so keep the relationship intact — chasing a signature from a former manager years later is the most common avoidable delay at this stage.
Ethics
You must pass “Professional Ethics: The AICPA’s Comprehensive Course For Licensure,” an open-book self-study exam graded by the AICPA directly. The board waives this if you already passed an equivalent ethics exam in another state. Ongoing CPE also requires 4 hours of ethics content every 2-year renewal period.
How to apply, step by step
The order matters less than it looks — experience and exam sections can overlap — but this is the sequence that avoids the most common delays.
At least 120 semester hours, including the required upper-level coursework, to sit.
Have your school send official transcripts directly to Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy. Unofficial or self-submitted transcripts are not accepted.
Filed with Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy along with the application fee. This is the board's first review of your eligibility.
Once the board approves your application, it notifies NASBA, which issues your Authorization to Test (ATT).
NASBA issues one NTS per section you've paid for. Schedule promptly — an expired NTS means paying the exam fee again.
Schedule at a Prometric test center. All four sections must be passed within a rolling 30-month window that starts when you pass your first section.
2 years (at least 4,000 hours) of qualifying accounting experience, verified by a supervising CPA who held an active license at the time. Qualifying work can be earned in government, industry, academia, or public practice — not limited to public accounting firms. This can run before, during, or after your exam sections.
You must pass "Professional Ethics: The AICPA's Comprehensive Course For Licensure," an open-book self-study exam graded by the AICPA directly. The board waives this if you already passed an equivalent ethics exam in another state. Ongoing CPE also requires 4 hours of ethics content every 2-year renewal period.
With your experience verification and ethics requirement on file, submit the final application and initial license fee.
Fees
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Application | $200 | Before anything else |
| Exam fee, per section | $268.59 | Paid to NASBA (national rate) |
| Initial license | $300 | On approval |
| Renewal | $300 every 2 years | Ongoing |
After you’re licensed: staying current
Getting licensed is not the end of the paperwork. Alaska requires ongoing continuing professional education to keep your license active, and it is easy to lose track of once you’re working full time.
80 hours of CPE every 2-year renewal period, with a minimum of 20 hours completed each year and at least 4 hours of ethics. No more than 12 CPE hours may be earned in a single day, and no more than 10 of the 80 hours may come from sessions under an hour long.
What changed recently
House Bill 121, effective January 1, 2026, repealed Alaska’s 150-semester-hour licensure requirement entirely — Alaska did not simply add a 120-hour alternative alongside the old rule, it deleted the 150-hour tier outright, so a bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of experience is now the state’s only path to licensure. The same law added mobility for out-of-state accounting firms with no Alaska office, and introduced a 12-hour daily cap on CPE credit.
Most states have also aligned their credit window with the national thirty-month rule, which gives candidates six more months than the old eighteen-month window to finish all four sections. If you were planning around the old rule, replan.
Common questions
Can I sit in Alaska if I studied out of state?
Usually yes — most states, including Alaska, don’t require residency to sit for the exam. Your transcripts still have to satisfy the upper-level accounting and business hours, which is where out-of-state applicants most often fall short.
Do online courses count toward the credit hours?
They typically do, provided the institution is accredited and the course is genuinely upper-level. Get it confirmed in writing by the board before enrolling — this is one of the most expensive assumptions candidates make.
Do I need to be a US citizen or a resident of Alaska?
No U.S. citizenship requirement, but you do need either a Social Security Number or an exemption on file, and Alaska requires a genuine Alaska “principal place of business or residence” connection to sit for the exam (with an option to explain other qualifying circumstances on the application).
What happens right after I pass all four sections?
Passing the exam doesn’t license you on its own. You still need your experience requirement on file and the ethics requirement satisfied before you can submit a license application. You may be able to complete the experience requirement in parallel with the exam, so there’s often little or no extra wait.
Should I license in a state with easier rules instead?
Rarely worth it. Mobility means a license from another state generally lets you practice in Alaska, but if you live and work here you will eventually want a local license anyway, and transferring adds cost and paperwork.
Is there anything unusual about Alaska's process?
Alaska is arguably the most aggressive state on 150-hour repeal nationally — rather than keeping 150 hours as an alternate, shorter-experience option (as some reforming states have), it removed that tier completely, leaving bachelor’s-plus-2-years as the only route. It also requires a genuine Alaska residence or business connection to sit for the exam, which is stricter than many no-residency states.
Next step
Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy — 550 West 7th Avenue, Suite 1500, Anchorage, AK 99501 — (907) 465-2550.
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