No, you do not need an accounting degree to become a CPA. Every U.S. jurisdiction requires 150 semester hours of college education with a set number of credits in accounting and business subjects, but the name on your diploma is not what matters. A degree in finance, economics, or even English can work as long as you fill in the required coursework. The gatekeepers are credit-hour totals and specific course coverage, not the major you declared as an undergraduate.
What State Boards Actually Require
The Uniform Accountancy Act, developed by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, provides a model that state legislatures use when writing their own CPA licensing rules.1NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. The Uniform Accountancy Act Under that model, candidates need 150 semester hours of college-level education before they can be licensed. A standard bachelor’s degree typically requires only 120 hours, so most people need an additional 30 hours of coursework beyond their four-year degree.
That extra year of study is one of the biggest surprises for people entering the profession. You can accumulate the hours through a master’s program, a graduate certificate, additional undergraduate courses, or a combination of all three. Some candidates start taking extra courses while still finishing their bachelor’s degree so they are closer to 150 hours at graduation.
A number of jurisdictions let you sit for the CPA exam with 120 hours while still requiring 150 hours for full licensure. That means you can begin testing earlier and work toward the remaining credits in parallel. Rules on when you can start the exam vary, so check with your state board of accountancy.
Your credits must come from an institution that holds regional or national accreditation recognized by your state board. Credits from unaccredited schools or certain international institutions may not count, so verify accreditation status before enrolling anywhere.
The Accounting and Business Courses You Need
Hitting 150 total hours is only half the picture. A substantial chunk of those hours must fall into accounting and business categories. Most boards require roughly 24 to 30 semester hours of accounting coursework and another 24 to 30 hours of general business coursework, though exact numbers vary by jurisdiction.
The accounting credits typically need to cover more than introductory bookkeeping. Boards want to see upper-level topics, which generally means courses beyond the introductory level. Expect to need credits in areas like:
- Financial accounting and reporting, covering the rules for preparing financial statements under U.S. standards
- Auditing, covering how independent auditors evaluate a company’s financial records
- Tax, including individual and business taxation at the federal level
- Cost or managerial accounting, covering internal reporting used for business decision-making
- Accounting information systems, covering the technology and processes behind financial data
The business coursework requirement is broader and usually includes economics, finance, business law, and management. If you already have a business-related degree, many of these boxes may already be checked on your transcript.
The single best step you can take early is a transcript review against your state board’s specific checklist. Every board of accountancy publishes the exact courses and credit hours it requires. Identifying gaps before you enroll in additional classes saves time and money.
Filling the Gap Without Starting Over
If your degree is in something other than accounting, several efficient routes will close the missing credits without another four years of school.
- Bridge programs. Many universities offer programs designed specifically for non-accounting majors who want to become CPAs. They focus on the core accounting courses you’re missing and skip anything you’ve already covered, and they’re typically shorter and cheaper than a full degree program.
- Master’s in accounting or MBA with an accounting concentration. A graduate degree is the most common way to reach 150 hours while also picking up the required accounting credits. If you already have 120 hours from your bachelor’s, a typical 30-credit master’s program gets you to exactly 150.
- Post-baccalaureate certificate programs. If you only need a handful of courses, a certificate program lets you target exactly what’s missing. These are often more affordable than a full master’s and can be completed in two to three semesters.
- Individual course enrollment. You can also take courses à la carte at a local university or through accredited online programs. This works well when your gap is small, maybe just intermediate accounting and auditing.
Career changers, liberal arts graduates, and people who discovered accounting late in college all have workable paths forward. The coursework matters; the diploma’s title does not.
Check Your State Before You Enroll
NASBA writes model rules, but each state board decides whether and when to adopt them. Credit-hour breakdowns, the exam-eligibility threshold, and even which specific accounting subjects count differ from one jurisdiction to another. Before spending money on a master’s program, a certificate, or individual courses, pull your state board’s published checklist and match it against your transcript line by line. A course that satisfies the requirement in one state may not in another, and a graduate program that markets itself as CPA-ready is not a substitute for confirming coverage with your own board.
What Comes After the Education Requirement
Coursework is the first hurdle, not the last. Once you meet your state’s education threshold, three more requirements stand between you and a license.
The Uniform CPA Examination
The exam was restructured in January 2024 under a model called CPA Evolution and now works on a core-plus-discipline framework.2AICPA & CIMA. Navigating CPA Evolution’s New CPA Exam Model Every candidate passes three core sections: Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation. You then choose one discipline section from Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning.3National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. What is the Uniform CPA Examination? Each section is four hours, and you need a minimum score of 75 on each to pass.4AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates The discipline choice doesn’t limit what kind of CPA work you can do later; it just shapes the final portion of your exam.
You do not have to pass all four sections on the same day. In 2023, NASBA voted to extend the rolling credit window from 18 months to 30 months.5NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record Exposure Draft Response Once you pass your first section, you have 30 months to pass the remaining three, or your earliest passing score expires. Most jurisdictions have adopted this window, but confirm with your board.
Work Experience
Passing the exam alone doesn’t make you a CPA. You also need supervised professional experience, typically 2,000 hours completed over one to two years depending on your jurisdiction, verified by a CPA who holds an active license.6National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). CPA Exam Candidate Guide Some states require the supervising CPA to have held their license for a minimum number of years, so check that your supervisor qualifies before you start counting hours.
Public accounting experience is accepted everywhere. Many states also accept experience in private industry, government, and academia, though the scope of qualifying activities may be narrower in those settings. The common thread is that the work must involve applying accounting knowledge in a meaningful way, not just processing transactions. You can often begin accumulating experience hours before you have passed all four exam sections, and in some jurisdictions before you sit for the exam at all.
The Ethics Exam
Most states require you to pass an ethics exam before they’ll issue your license. The most widely used option is the AICPA’s Professional Ethics course, an online self-study program that requires a score of 90% or higher for licensure candidates.7AICPA & CIMA. Professional Ethics: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Comprehensive Course (For Licensure) Many states do not accept the AICPA course and instead require a state-specific ethics course or their own ethics exam. Contact your state board before paying for any ethics course to confirm which one your jurisdiction accepts.
None of these later steps care what your undergraduate major was. Once you’ve earned the 150 hours with the right coursework, an English major and an accounting major sit for the same exam, log the same experience, and take the same ethics course.