How to Become a CPA in Massachusetts - CPA Exam Requirements

Do you aspire to become a CPA and are currently living or working in Massachusetts? In fact, even if you live outside of MA, you can consider to sit for the exam through Massachusetts because of its uniquely favorable CPA exam requirements. I am going to provide a step-by-step explanation in the following article.

The 3 Requirements To Become A CPA

You may have realized that the granting of the CPA license is actually done by individual states instead of the federal US government. In other words, there are altogether 55 jurisdictions in the US that can grant the CPA qualification, and each of them have slightly different rules and exam requirements.

In the old days, the CPA exam requirements varied widely from state to state which led to many challenges for CPAs who wanted to practice out of their licensed territory.

Since 2000s, the AICPA and NASBA have worked hard to standardize the CPA exam requirements, and nowadays 45 out of the 50 states have essentially adhered to the Uniform Accountancy Act.

In a nutshell, aspiring CPAs need to fulfill the "3Es" to become a CPA:
1. Education
2. Exam
3. Experience

1. CPA Licensing Requirement #1: Education

In Massachusetts, you'll need to have at least a bachelor degree, preferably a master's degree in accounting and/or business to sit for the exam. In any case you will have to fulfill at least 21 semester units of accounting (including financial accounting, cost accounting, auditing and taxation) as well as 9 semester units of business courses, including business law, finance, information systems.

Some states allow you to take the exam when you are "almost" done with your courses, but for Massachusetts you will have to complete all courses before getting qualified.

All in all, you'll need to fulfill 120 semester units to sit for the exam, but in order to get the full license you'll have to get 150 semester units but you can get it done after the CPA exam.

1. CPA Licensing Requirement #2: Exam

Studying and passing the CPA exam is probably the toughest part in your CPA journey. This is a grueling 14-hour exam decided into 4 sections: Financial accounting, Auditing, Regulation (Tax), and Business Law & Ethics. You can take the 4 sections separately within the 18-month window.

Most candidates, especially those who aim to pass on their first attempt, take CPA exam review courses to increase their chance of passing success. Statistics has shown that the students from various CPA exam review courses have almost double the passing rate of the overall CPA candidate pool.

CPA Licensing Requirement #3: Experience

Once you have passed the CPA exam, you will have to take an Ethics Exam (which is much easier in comparison), and the next challenge is to fulfill the working experience requirement.

One thing special about the Massachusetts CPA licensing is that CPA candidates are given two choices: you can either get a reporting license or a non-reporting license. The difference between the two is that for non-reporting license holders, they cannot sign audit reports and thus can't be owning a CPA firm as a sole owner or partner. They may also have restrictions in practicing in other states.

However, the benefit of having a non-reporting license is that you don't need any working experience if you have a graduate degree. For under-graduate degree holders, you'll have to fulfill one year of public accounting experience or 3 years of non-public accounting experience.

Please note that Massachusetts or Colorado are the two remaining states that allows candidates to become a CPA without working experience, and these rules are likely to be phased out in a few years for the states to fully comply with the Uniform Accountancy Act.

Your Next Step

If you would like to become a CPA in Massachusetts, or if you are an out-of-state candidate who wants to take advantage of the unique CPA exam requirements, then please check out this page on Massachusetts CPA Exam Requirements where you can get more details on what is required, how to apply, together with useful links and important contact information.

If you are looking for general information on breaking into the accounting profession in the US, please take a look at this guide on How to become a CPA. Good luck in your CPA journey and future success!

Stephanie shares her experience in planning, studying and passing her CPA exam on her first attempt at http://IPassTheCPAExam.com