Louisiana CPA requirements

Louisiana CPA requirements changed on August 1, 2026: Louisiana no longer ties licensure to a fixed 150-hour credit total. You can become a fully licensed CPA with just a bachelor’s degree (about 120 hours) plus 2 years of supervised experience, or take the traditional route with a graduate degree and a shorter 1 year of experience instead. What has not changed is Louisiana’s unusual entry rules: 120 days of residency and three Louisiana character references before your first exam.

Education

Louisiana no longer ties licensure to a fixed credit-hour total. To sit, the State Board of Certified Public Accountants of Louisiana asks for a bachelor’s degree in any major from a regionally accredited school, with a set mix of accounting and business courses. Accounting programs at Louisiana universities are generally built to meet it, but the board still advises checking with your academic advisor. That same degree qualifies you for full licensure once you’ve completed the matching experience requirement below — no extra 30 hours required.

Community college credits generally count toward the total but not toward the upper-level accounting requirement. Louisiana’s own rule is narrower than most: community-college credit counts only to the extent your four-year school accepts it onto its transcript, and credit taken at a two-year college after you finish at a four-year school needs the board’s advance approval. Introductory management accounting courses do not count toward the nine accounting elective hours. Since 2023, up to nine hours of internship or independent study can count, with no more than three each toward accounting, business and general education.

Foreign-educated candidates

Foreign-educated candidates can use NASBA International Evaluation Services or Foreign Academic Credential Service to convert their credentials into US semester-hour equivalents. The board asks for this evaluation well before you file your exam application.

Sitting versus licensing

Louisiana is one of a small but growing group of states that has eliminated the flat 150-hour licensure rule entirely. There are now two ways to get fully licensed: a bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of supervised experience, or a graduate degree plus a shorter 1 year of experience. Neither route requires you to rack up 30 “extra” credit hours that don’t count toward a degree. The board’s own licensing checklist now says the experience you need is one or two years, depending on the pathway you use.

Residency and character references

These two rules set Louisiana apart. To apply as a Louisiana candidate, you must have kept continuous residence, meaning physical presence, in Louisiana for at least 120 days in the year before your first exam. Students are exempt if they return home when not in classes, such as in summer and holidays. Someone living in another state can still apply as a Louisiana candidate if they meet the 120-day rule.

You also need at least three character references. The board says each must be a Louisiana resident who has known you for 12 months or more, and should be a CPA or a substantial business or professional person. It will not accept references from relatives, roommates, students, more than one member of the same household, or anyone with a financial stake in you; a college instructor counts only if you have had significant contact outside class.

Experience

2 years of qualifying experience with just a bachelor’s degree, or 1 year with 150 total hours or a graduate degree, obtained within 4 years of applying and verified by an actively licensed CPA. Qualifying settings include public accounting, private industry, government, or nonprofit work.

The experience can typically be earned before, during, or after you pass the exam sections. The board counts a year as full-time work or 2,000 hours part-time, or a mix, using accounting, attest, advisory, tax or consulting skills. Because it must fall within the four years before you apply for your license, do not let a gap open between finishing the work and filing the application.

Ethics

Louisiana doesn’t require a separate ethics exam. Instead, a board-approved 3-hour ethics CPE course is required in even-numbered years.

How to apply, step by step

Louisiana has arranged for NASBA’s CPA Examination Services to administer the exam, so your exam application and questions go to NASBA’s Louisiana Coordinator, while the board handles your license. A first-time application can take several days to a couple of weeks while your education is checked.

Fees

After you’re licensed: staying current

Louisiana licenses renew every year, and the CPE rule is measured across two years, which catches people out. Log hours as you earn them rather than at renewal time.

80 hours of CPE over a rolling 2-year period, with a minimum of 20 hours reported each year, plus the required 3-hour ethics course in even-numbered years.

What changed recently

House Bill 548, effective August 1, 2026, replaced Louisiana’s flat 150-hour rule with three pathways: a bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of experience, a bachelor’s plus 30 extra hours plus 1 year, or a graduate degree plus 1 year.

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. Louisiana’s board confirms its window is a rolling 30 months from the date of the first passed section. One older Louisiana rule to check: the board’s page says that if you pass the exam before completing your licensing education, you must finish it by December 31 of the fifth calendar year after passing, or your scores are voided. Confirm with the board how that applies under the new pathways.

Common questions

Next step

Sources: State Board of CPAs of Louisiana: Becoming a CPA and CPA Resources, checked October 14, 2026. Plan your sections with our best order to take CPA sections guide.