Getting a CPA license typically takes six to eight years from the start of college. If you already hold a bachelor’s degree, you can usually finish in two to three years. How long it actually takes you to get a CPA license depends on four separate stages — education, the exam, supervised work experience, and final board approval — and each one runs on its own clock.
The Education Stage: One to Five Years
Nearly every jurisdiction requires 150 semester hours of college credit before it will issue a CPA license.1NASBA. What Is the Uniform CPA Examination A standard bachelor’s degree runs about 120 hours, so most candidates spend a fifth year in school — often through a master’s program in accounting — to close the gap. Boards also require a specific distribution of coursework, typically 24 to 30 semester hours in accounting subjects and around 24 hours in business courses.
Roughly 29 jurisdictions let you sit for the exam at 120 credit hours with a bachelor’s degree, even though you still need 150 to receive the license. That matters for your timeline: you can start testing while finishing coursework. In jurisdictions that require 150 hours before you sit, you have to finish school first.
Community College Credits
Many boards accept community college credits toward the 150-hour total, but upper-level accounting courses often must come from a four-year institution. Check your jurisdiction’s rules early. An unofficial transcript evaluation before you commit to a schedule can prevent losing months later.
The Experience, Learn and Earn Program
For graduates with 120 hours who want an alternative to a traditional fifth year, NASBA and the AICPA launched the Experience, Learn and Earn program. Participants complete up to 30 university credits through self-study online courses while working at an accounting firm, folding the education and experience phases together.2AICPA & CIMA. AICPA and NASBA to Launch Learning Program Designed to Ease Path to CPA Licensure Availability depends on your location and employer partnerships.
The Exam Stage: 12 to 18 Months
The Uniform CPA Examination is a 16-hour, four-section test. Under the CPA Evolution model that took effect in 2024, every candidate sits for three Core sections — Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation — plus one Discipline section: Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning.1NASBA. What Is the Uniform CPA Examination Each section is four hours. You can take them in any order.
Most candidates study 80 to 150 hours per section, putting total prep time in the 400 to 600 hour range. Combined with full-time work, testing usually stretches over 12 to 18 months. Pass rates explain why: in 2025, cumulative pass rates ran from about 42 percent on FAR to around 78 percent on TCP, with most Core sections near 48 percent.3AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates Retakes are common. Build them into your plan.
Scheduling and Score Release
You apply through your state board or NASBA’s online system. After approval and payment, you receive a Notice to Schedule by email and book a seat at a Prometric center.4NASBA. CPA Exam Candidate Guide – Section: Receiving Your Notice to Schedule Each NTS is generally valid for six months; miss that window and your fees are forfeited.
The exam runs year-round at Prometric centers.5NASBA. CPA Exam FAQ Core section scores post on a rolling schedule, typically within one to three weeks after the AICPA receives your data file. Discipline sections work differently: they’re administered during the first month of each quarter, and scores follow roughly six to ten weeks later.6AICPA & CIMA. Find Out When You’ll Get Your CPA Exam Score Sequencing your sections around those windows can shave weeks off your timeline.
Retakes
If you fail a section, you can retake it as soon as you receive your score, reregister, get a new NTS, and find an open date.5NASBA. CPA Exam FAQ There’s no mandatory waiting period beyond those administrative steps, but each failed section can still add weeks or months in practice.
The 30-Month Clock You Can’t Ignore
Once you pass your first section, a 30-month clock starts. You must pass the remaining three sections before it expires, or your earliest passed credit is voided and you have to retake that section.7NASBA. NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record Exposure Draft Response This replaced the old 18-month window that had been in place since 2004.
The 30 months begin on the score release date of your first passed section, not the date you sat for it. Test in January and get your score in February, and February is when the clock starts. Once you’ve passed all four sections within the window, those credits never expire.7NASBA. NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record Exposure Draft Response
The Work Experience Stage: One to Two Years
After passing the exam — or, in many jurisdictions, while you’re still testing — you need supervised work experience. Most boards require around 2,000 hours of qualifying work, roughly one to two years of full-time employment, performed under the direct supervision of an actively licensed CPA. The work has to involve substantive accounting tasks: auditing, tax preparation, financial analysis, advisory services. Clerical work doesn’t count.
You document hours on a verification form from your state board. The supervising CPA signs it, provides their license number, and describes what you did. Accurate, prompt paperwork prevents delays at final review.
Part-Time Hours
Part-time work still counts, but the calendar stretches. Jurisdictions generally define full time as at least 30 hours per week. Weeks below that convert to full-time-equivalent weeks by dividing part-time hours by 30. Someone averaging 20 hours a week needs roughly 18 months of calendar time to hit the equivalent of one full-time year.
Ethics, Application, and Board Review: A Few Weeks to a Few Months
Many boards require an ethics exam before or alongside your license application. The most widely accepted option is the AICPA’s Professional Ethics: Comprehensive Course for Licensure, a self-study program covering independence rules and professional conduct. It awards 8.5 CPE credits, costs $250 for AICPA members or $320 for nonmembers, and ends with an open-book exam you must pass at 90 percent or higher.8AICPA & CIMA. Professional Ethics: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Comprehensive Course (For Licensure) Most candidates finish it in a weekend. Some states require their own course instead, so confirm with your board before buying materials.
Once education, exam, experience, and ethics are done, you submit a formal license application through your state board’s portal with transcripts, exam scores, signed experience verification forms, and proof of your ethics exam. Board review typically runs four to eight weeks, though it can take longer during high-volume periods or if documents are missing. A criminal background check is standard in most jurisdictions. A past conviction isn’t an automatic disqualifier, but the board won’t consider your application while you’re actively serving a sentence, including probation or parole. If your record includes issues, expect the review to stretch beyond eight weeks.
Using the CPA designation before the board issues your license is prohibited and can trigger disciplinary action. Wait for the license number.
Putting the Full Timeline Together
A realistic timeline for someone starting from scratch:
- Bachelor’s degree: four years of full-time study (120 credit hours).
- Additional coursework to reach 150 hours: one to two years, or concurrent with the bachelor’s if planned early.
- Exam preparation and testing: 12 to 18 months for most candidates, closer to two years if you retake sections.
- Supervised work experience: one to two years of full-time work, which can overlap with the exam phase in many jurisdictions.
- Ethics course and final application: a few weeks, often done while waiting on board processing.
- Board review: four to eight weeks after a complete application arrives.
Overlapping the exam and experience phases — taking sections while working full time — compresses the post-college portion to roughly two to three years. Add the five years of education, and most candidates hold a CPA license seven to eight years after starting college. If you already have a bachelor’s degree and study aggressively while working full time, you can finish in as little as two years.
One thing worth knowing before you plan around a specific finish date: getting licensed isn’t the end of the work. Most jurisdictions require around 40 hours of continuing professional education per year, or 80 hours over a two-year renewal cycle, with a portion in ethics. Miss a deadline or fall short on hours and your license can lapse, which means a reinstatement process and additional fees before you can practice again.