Minnesota CPA requirements
Minnesota 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.
Education
Minnesota 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 | Minnesota | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total semester hours to sit | 120 | Bachelor’s degree with required coursework |
| Upper-level accounting | 24 semester hours of accounting above the elementary level, required under all pathways | |
| Upper-level business | 24 semester hours of business-related coursework, required under some (but not all) of the available education pathways | |
| 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 Educational Credential Evaluators, with reports sent directly to the board.
Sitting versus licensing
Minnesota 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.
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 of qualifying experience with just a bachelor’s or graduate degree, or 1 year with a master’s degree — both options are currently available during Minnesota’s multi-year transition period. The older, still-valid alternative is 150 total hours plus 1 year of experience. Experience must be verified by a licensed CPA and can be earned in government, industry, academia, or public practice.
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 need to pass a professional ethics exam with a score of at least 90% — in practice, the AICPA’s comprehensive ethics course, completed around the time of your license application.
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 Minnesota Board of Accountancy. Unofficial or self-submitted transcripts are not accepted.
Filed with Minnesota 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.
2 years of qualifying experience with just a bachelor's or graduate degree, or 1 year with a master's degree — both options are currently available during Minnesota's multi-year transition period. The older, still-valid alternative is 150 total hours plus 1 year of experience. Experience must be verified by a licensed CPA and can be earned in government, industry, academia, or public practice. This can run before, during, or after your exam sections.
You need to pass a professional ethics exam with a score of at least 90% — in practice, the AICPA's comprehensive ethics course, completed around the time of your license application.
With your experience verification and ethics requirement on file, submit the final application and initial license fee.
Fees
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Application | $96 (education evaluation, paid to NASBA) | Before anything else |
| Exam fee, per section | $268.59 | Paid to NASBA (national rate) |
| Initial license | $150 | On approval |
| Renewal | $100 annually | Ongoing |
After you’re licensed: staying current
Getting licensed is not the end of the paperwork. Minnesota 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 over a rolling 3-year period, with a minimum of 20 hours each year, including at least 8 hours of ethics within the 3-year period.
What changed recently
Minnesota is currently in a multi-year transition (through June 30, 2030) during which BOTH the traditional 150-hour/1-year pathway and a new bachelor’s-plus-2-years (or master’s-plus-1-year) pathway are simultaneously valid. After June 30, 2030, only the new degree-plus-experience model will remain — the 150-hour option is being phased out entirely, not just supplemented.
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 Minnesota if I studied out of state?
Usually yes — most states, including Minnesota, 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 Minnesota?
No US citizenship requirement, though Minnesota has historically applied some residency-type conditions tied to where you study or work. A Social Security Number is required for licensure.
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 Minnesota, 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 Minnesota's process?
Minnesota’s reform is unusual in running a long, explicit multi-year transition window (through 2030) where old and new licensure models coexist, rather than a hard cutover on a single date. The new pathway also explicitly recognizes experience at the Office of the Legislative Auditor or Office of the State Auditor as automatically qualifying.
Next step
Minnesota Board of Accountancy — 85 E 7th Place, Suite 125, St. Paul, MN 55101 — (651) 296-7938.
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