Given the current public health situation a lot of CPA candidates wondering if they can take the CPA exam in different states. Many students and young professionals are on the move. Some are moving back to their home towns and others are moving to the suburbs.
One question that I’ve received a lot lately is if you can take the CPA exam in different states? What happens if you take one section of the CPA exam in one state and take another section in another state? How does that change your CPA licensure requirements?
First of all, CPA exam scores from one state transfer to another state for license purposes. The scores are totally transferable across state lines. For example, maybe you wrote the FAR exam in Michigan and the BEC exam in Ohio and you plan to work in Florida. What would be of paramount importance are the license requirements in Florida. The CPA exam scores from MI and OH would transfer to FL.
You must get familiar with the CPA requirements for the state that you want to become licensed in. Most importantly, the education requirements can vary greatly from state to state. The range is usually 120-150 semester hours of education. States also have minimum number of education hours devoted to accounting. You can find the different state requirements on the NASBA site.
If you are serving clients in multiple states you need to be aware of “Mobility Privileges” that allow a CPA to perform certain duties in multiple states.
If you are planning to move and study for the CPA exam in the coming year, you do not need to worry about your CPA exam scores transferring to the new jurisdiction. You can take the CPA exam in different states and the scores will transfer. You simply need to be aware of the CPA exam license requirements across the different states.