Virginia CPA requirements
Virginia 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
Virginia 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 | Virginia | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total semester hours to sit | 120 | Bachelor’s degree with required coursework |
| Upper-level accounting | 24 semester hours of accounting coursework (must include Accounting Information Systems, Auditing, Financial Accounting, and Taxation) | |
| Upper-level business | 24 semester hours of business coursework, up to 6 of which may be additional upper-level accounting courses | |
| 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
Degrees from non-US, non-accredited institutions must be evaluated by a board-approved evaluation firm, such as NASBA International Evaluation Services, before they count toward Virginia’s education requirement.
Sitting versus licensing
Virginia 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 degree, or 1 year with either 30 additional semester hours or a master’s degree. Qualifying work can be earned in academia, industry, government, or public practice, and must be verified by an actively licensed CPA from any US state, not just Virginia.
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 the AICPA’s “Professional Ethics: Comprehensive Course (For Licensure)” with a 90% or better score before initial licensure. After that, an annual 2-hour Virginia-specific ethics CPE course is required at every renewal, counted within your ongoing CPE total.
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 Virginia Board of Accountancy. Unofficial or self-submitted transcripts are not accepted.
Filed with Virginia 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 degree, or 1 year with either 30 additional semester hours or a master's degree. Qualifying work can be earned in academia, industry, government, or public practice, and must be verified by an actively licensed CPA from any US state, not just Virginia. This can run before, during, or after your exam sections.
You must pass the AICPA's "Professional Ethics: Comprehensive Course (For Licensure)" with a 90% or better score before initial licensure. After that, an annual 2-hour Virginia-specific ethics CPE course is required at every renewal, counted within your ongoing CPE total.
With your experience verification and ethics requirement on file, submit the final application and initial license fee.
Fees
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Application | $120 (exam application) plus $75 (initial license application) | Before anything else |
| Exam fee, per section | $268.59 | Paid to NASBA (national rate) |
| Initial license | $75 | On approval |
| Renewal | $60 annually | Ongoing |
After you’re licensed: staying current
Getting licensed is not the end of the paperwork. Virginia 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 CPE hours over a rolling 3-year period, with a minimum of 20 hours per year and an annual 2-hour Virginia-specific ethics course counted within that total. CPAs who release attest, compilation, or financial-statement-preparation reports need an additional 8 hours per year in related subjects.
What changed recently
2025 legislation (effective January 1, 2026) eliminated Virginia’s flat 150-semester-hour licensure requirement, replacing it with three pathways: a bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of experience, a bachelor’s degree plus 30 additional hours plus 1 year of experience, or a master’s degree plus 1 year of experience. Applicants who applied before the change can request a re-review under the new rules.
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 Virginia if I studied out of state?
Usually yes — most states, including Virginia, 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 Virginia?
No state residency or US citizenship requirement, but every applicant must provide a US Social Security Number or a Virginia DMV control number — without one or the other, a license cannot be issued.
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 Virginia, 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 Virginia's process?
Virginia is one of the earliest states to statutorily eliminate the 150-hour mandate outright rather than just adding an alternate track. Its qualifying experience is unusually broad — academia, government, and industry all count equally alongside public accounting — and the supervising CPA can be licensed in any US state, not just Virginia.
Next step
Virginia Board of Accountancy — 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 402, Henrico, VA 23233 — (804) 367-8505.
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