Pennsylvania CPA requirements
Pennsylvania 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 (3,200 hours) of supervised experience, or take the traditional route with a graduate degree and a shorter 1 year (1,600 hours) of experience instead.
Education
Pennsylvania 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 | Pennsylvania | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total semester hours to sit | 120 | Bachelor’s degree with required coursework |
| Upper-level accounting | 24 semester hours in accounting, auditing, business law, finance, or tax subjects to sit; an additional 12 semester hours specifically in accounting, auditing, and tax for the 150-hour pathway | |
| Upper-level business | No separate business-hour bucket — Pennsylvania combines accounting and business subjects into a single 24-semester-hour requirement, with no upper-division distinction specified | |
| 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 need a course-by-course evaluation from a board-approved foreign credential evaluation service, such as NASBA International Evaluation Services, before their coursework counts.
Sitting versus licensing
Pennsylvania 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 (3,200 hours) of supervised experience, or a graduate degree plus a shorter 1 year (1,600 hours) 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 (3,200 hours) of qualifying experience with just a bachelor’s degree, or 1 year (1,600 hours) with 150 total semester hours or a graduate degree. Work can be gained in government, industry, academia, or public practice, and must be verified by a CPA licensed in Pennsylvania or another state.
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
Pennsylvania does not require a separate ethics exam of any kind — no state exam and no AICPA exam. Instead, ethics is addressed entirely through ongoing CPE: 4 hours of professional ethics required 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 Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy. Unofficial or self-submitted transcripts are not accepted.
Filed with Pennsylvania State 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 (3,200 hours) of qualifying experience with just a bachelor's degree, or 1 year (1,600 hours) with 150 total semester hours or a graduate degree. Work can be gained in government, industry, academia, or public practice, and must be verified by a CPA licensed in Pennsylvania or another state. This can run before, during, or after your exam sections.
Pennsylvania does not require a separate ethics exam of any kind — no state exam and no AICPA exam. Instead, ethics is addressed entirely through ongoing CPE: 4 hours of professional ethics required 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 | $65 | Before anything else |
| Exam fee, per section | $268.59 | Paid to NASBA (national rate) |
| Initial license | $65 | On approval |
| Renewal | $100 every 2 years | Ongoing |
After you’re licensed: staying current
Getting licensed is not the end of the paperwork. Pennsylvania 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 annually, including 4 hours of ethics. Licensees performing attest work also need at least 24 hours in accounting and auditing subjects.
What changed recently
Act 27 of 2025, signed by Governor Shapiro and effective June 30, 2025, eliminated Pennsylvania’s single fixed 150-hour licensure rule with no phase-in delay. It added a new pathway — bachelor’s degree (120 hours) plus 2 years of experience — alongside the traditional 150-hour/1-year and master’s/1-year routes, extended the exam credit window to 30 months, and established automatic mobility for CPAs licensed in good standing in other states.
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 Pennsylvania if I studied out of state?
Usually yes — most states, including Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania?
No residency requirement and no US citizenship requirement to sit for the exam or be licensed.
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 Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania's process?
Pennsylvania does not require any ethics exam at all — state or AICPA — relying entirely on recurring CPE, which is more lenient than most states. It also removed its professional reference-letter requirement in the same 2025 reform, and its 24-hour accounting/business bucket has no upper-division or accounting-vs-business split, unlike most states.
Next step
Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy — P.O. Box 2649, Harrisburg, PA 17105 — 1-833-367-2762.
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