Indiana CPA requirements
Indiana lets you sit for the exam at 120 credit hours, but you still need 150 hours and 1 year of qualifying experience before the board will license you.
Education
You need a bachelor’s degree or higher and 150 total semester hours to be licensed in Indiana. You can sit for the exam earlier, at 120 hours.
| Requirement | Indiana | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total semester hours | 150 | Required to be licensed; 120 to sit |
| Upper-level accounting | 24 semester hours, covering financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and managerial accounting | |
| Upper-level business | 24 semester hours of business administration and economics coursework | |
| 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
Foreign-educated candidates can use NASBA International Evaluation Services or other accepted evaluators (ECE, FACS, Josef Silny & Associates) to convert their credentials into US semester-hour equivalents.
Sitting versus licensing
Indiana is one of the states that has adopted the newer 120-hour pathway: you can sit for the exam well before you finish your degree’s final 30 hours, then complete the rest while you work toward licensure. That timing flexibility is real, but don’t mistake “eligible to sit” for “eligible to be licensed” — plenty of candidates finish all four sections and then wait months to hit the full 150-hour threshold.
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
1 year of qualifying experience, verified by any actively licensed CPA (not necessarily a direct supervisor). Qualifying settings include government, industry, academia, and public practice, all counted equally.
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
Indiana does not require a separate ethics exam. Ongoing CPE requires 4 hours of ethics every 3-year renewal cycle.
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 Indiana Board of Accountancy. Unofficial or self-submitted transcripts are not accepted.
Filed with Indiana Board of 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.
1 year of qualifying experience, verified by any actively licensed CPA (not necessarily a direct supervisor). Qualifying settings include government, industry, academia, and public practice, all counted equally. This can run before, during, or after your exam sections.
Indiana does not require a separate ethics exam. Ongoing CPE requires 4 hours of ethics every 3-year renewal cycle.
With your experience verification and ethics requirement on file, submit the final application and initial license fee.
Fees
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Application | $100 | Before anything else |
| Exam fee, per section | $268.59 | Paid to NASBA (national rate) |
| Initial license | $50 issuance fee (in addition to the $100 application fee) | On approval |
| Renewal | $105 every 3 years | Ongoing |
After you’re licensed: staying current
Getting licensed is not the end of the paperwork. Indiana requires ongoing continuing professional education to keep your license active, and it is easy to lose track of once you’re working full time.
120 hours of CPE per 3-year cycle, with a minimum of 20 hours each year, including at least 12 hours in accounting/auditing and 4 hours of ethics. No more than half the hours may be self-study.
What changed recently
Indiana enacted HB 1143 in 2025, which will replace the flat 150-hour licensure rule with three pathways effective January 1, 2027 — including a bachelor’s degree (120 hours) plus 2 years of experience. Until then, the current 120-to-sit/150-to-license structure remains in force. The same law already reduced the experience requirement from 24 to 12 months and extended the exam credit window to 36 months, both effective April 2025.
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 Indiana if I studied out of state?
Usually yes — most states, including Indiana, 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 Indiana?
No Indiana residency or US citizenship requirement. A Social Security Number or acceptable alternate taxpayer ID is required for the license.
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 Indiana, 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 Indiana's process?
Indiana skips the standalone ethics exam most states require, folding ethics entirely into ongoing CPE instead. Its 36-month exam credit window is longer than the 30-month standard most states use. A 120-hour full-licensure pathway is already law but doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2027.
Next step
Indiana Board of Accountancy — 402 W. Washington Street, Room W072, Indianapolis, IN 46204 — (317) 232-2960.
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