[Kikidelivery]

I am curious about if we can take the exam in those states that do not require 150 credits to sit in the exam. I have over 150 credits, but my friend does not. Now I am taking the exam and it makes her feel like she has to take it too. But she does not have 150 credits and still need about 25 credits to make up to 150. She said she can apply in those states like PA ( we live in OH) even though she does not reside there. Does anyone know if she can do that?

[y_u_no_pass]

Generally yes. I know you can do it that way for Florida. She should contact the PA board to confirm.

Florida CPA!
Took final exam 2/25/15.
Sent in Application 3/12/15.
Issued License 3/20/15.
Used CPA Excel solely for all exams.

[Anonymous]

hi guys! I recently passed all my cpa exams and preparing to apply for the cpa license in the state of hawaii. I earned my credentials from a foreign school and in compliance w/ the requirement I had my credits evaluated (by an acceptable agency at that time)ybefore I took the exam and result by then showed that I earned about 200 credit hours, way more over the required to sit for the exam & hawaii license of 150 hours. Unfortunately, after I passed the exam, I received a letter from nasba that there were some changes made regarding the educational process for the Hawaii examination/license. That I was grandfathered in with the foreign evaluation company that had completed my foreign education for the Hawaii CPA Examination, but the Hawaii Board of Public Accountancy has now required only the NASBA Int'l Evaluation Services to confirm educational requirements portion for licensing as a CPA for Hawaii. Therefore, I applied for NIES evaluation. I just received the evaluation from them and it appeared that I only have 125 hours. That means now I didn't meet the 150 credits.

Knowing this, what should I do now?

Should I contact our board of acc? Or do I wait them to call me? Or should I go ahead and enroll to get some credits?

I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks,

[10keyLeah]

Kikidelivery – Hopefully your friend is taking the exam because they want to be a CPA, and not just because you are sitting. I would suggest that you contact the board, like y_u_no_pass said, and find out what they require.

@nn3_hi808 – it sounds like you need to contact the state board.

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Kikidelivery]

@10key, definitely! That's what I keep telling her that she should take it whenever she is ready, not when I am ready!

The fact is we all want a better opportunity and passing CPA is the way to open that door! (is it?)

[Anonymous]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong – if your friend is taking the CPA exam for another state to avoid her own state's requirements, I don't think she'll be able to practice as a CPA in her own state, otherwise we would all be sitting for the easiest state's exams… Is she planning on moving to PA ?

[Anonymous]

What you can do with an out-of-state license varies from state to state. Generally, you can do anything you want in private, but your options in public will be limited differently from state to state. Not saying this is 100% true for all states, just from the states I've seen.

However, you could sit for the exams as a candidate elsewhere (say PA), and then get licensed in your own state (in this case OH), but you'd have to meet your state's educational requirements before you could get licensed in your own state. There's at least one state I've heard of, though, that won't transfer in your scores if you didn't meet their criteria when you sat, so you'd want to make sure OH would accept the scores even if she had 125 credits when she took it. I thought the state that wouldn't accept them was pretty crazy, but there may be more like it (and I can't remember which state it was anyway 😐 ).

[MaLoTu]

Can't she still take the exam without meeting the full licensing requirement?

Here in CA, you only need 24 acct and 24 business to sit. I would think she can take a break from school to finish up the exams and then acquire the rest of the credits needed as she goes.

Does she already meet the work hours requirement?

[Kikidelivery]

I am with Lilla. I think she can sit for the exam in else where, but cannot practice in OH. She has no plan to move. She thinks if she passes, she can transfer scores to OH easily, which I don't think so. If it is that easy, why we have seen many posts saying that they need to get 150 credits. And many CPA firms here require 150 credits to apply jobs in those firms. Is it right?

[MaLoTu]

I *think* if your state requires 150 units that the firms are more likely to have a job requirement that the candidate meet the requirement by the time they are employed. Most the listings here in CA say “meets the 150 unit requirement by (whatever) month”

There are many positions in PA firms that do not even require a CPA, as well.

If she is serious about it she should take the exams in OH and just keep working towards the credit.

I switched majors and am working on my second Masters degree in order to meet the credit requirements (because I had no accounting courses prior to my MBA). Sometimes what you want is worth a little extra effort. If she doesnt know that then I suspect she is not going to be happy/successful in PA.

[Missy]

Some states like MA will let you sit with 120 credits but will need 150 for licensure.

Some states will let you transfer your passed exams to that state (i.e. if I originally sat as a NY candidate but never got licensed then moved to MA, I could transfer the scores to MA and apply for licensure).

However, the rules vary from state to state and I know of at least one state for sure that will not let you transfer exam credit if you did not have 150 credits before you took your first exam.

So your friend would need to be very clear on the rules of transferring credits or transferring licenses if she was to be licensed in a different state. I am shocked by people who can pass these exams and then be blindsided afterwards because they misunderstood the rules of their state.

emparkhurst you'd be surprised how many people get licensed in other states. Most do not practice public accounting, just want to put CPA after their name in industry or other types of jobs. I live in and am licensed in MA but tons of out of state candidates get their license here because if you have a masters you don't need to meet an experience requirement and the only restriction on your license is that you can't sign off on attest services.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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