state eligibility guide
Arizona CPA exam requirements
Arizona requires bachelor's degree or higher and 120 semester hours, including 24 accounting hours for CPA exam eligibility. Arizona State Board of Accountancy makes the final eligibility decision.
Published by Kesler CPA Review, a commercial CPA exam preparation company. This page is educational, not legal advice. The Board or application authority makes the final eligibility decision.
- Minimum education to sit
- 120 semester hours
- Degree rule
- bachelor's degree or higher required to sit
- Passed-section credit window
- 30-month passed-section credit window
Education requirements to sit
- Degree: bachelor's degree or higher required to sit
- Minimum education to sit: 120 semester hours
- Accounting coursework: 24 semester hours
- Business coursework: 18 semester hours
- Upper-level accounting: 12 semester hours
- Accreditation: The degree must be from an accredited institution or a college or university maintaining comparable standards.
Required business subjects
- Business administration
- Statistics
- Computer science, information systems, or data processing
- Economics
- Finance
- Management
- Business law
- College algebra or higher mathematics
- Advanced written communication
- Advanced oral communication
- General ethics
- Marketing
Accounting hours must be nonduplicative, and at least 12 must be upper level. Arizona converts quarter hours cumulatively at 0.67 and rounds the result down. Internship credit is evaluated by course level and content.
Personal eligibility rules
- Citizenship: U.S. citizenship is not listed as an absolute requirement; review any lawful-presence rule
- U.S. residency: No U.S. residency requirement is listed
- Jurisdiction residency: No jurisdiction-residency requirement is listed
- Social Security number: The published exam-eligibility rules do not require an SSN; confirm the application form process with the Board if you do not have one
- Character review before sitting: No pre-exam character requirement is listed
Arizona's current CPA exam statute, exam-application rule, and Board FAQ do not make an SSN, citizenship, residency, or lawful-presence document a condition for sitting. The public application page does not expose the form's individual field validation, so candidates without an SSN should confirm the form-entry process with the Board. Arizona applies lawful-presence documentation later, at CPA certification.
How to apply
Apply through Arizona State Board of Accountancy Board application followed by NASBA section payment and scheduling.
Documents commonly required for this application
- Current Board application
- Official transcripts
- Application fee
- Name-change or accommodation documents when applicable
The $50 fee applies to re-examination applications. NASBA bills section fees after Board approval.
Published exam fees
- Initial exam application: $100.00 Charged once for a first-time candidate.
- CPA exam section fee: $268.59 per section Charged for each exam section selected.
- Re-examination application: $50.00 Use this instead of the initial application fee when applying again.
Before you pay: These figures were verified on 2026-08-09, but fee schedules can change. Confirm the current official fee schedule.
Can you apply or sit before graduation?
- Apply before the degree is awarded: No; the education requirement must be completed first
- Sit before the degree is awarded: No; the education requirement must be completed first
Apply only after the degree, required coursework, and final grades appear on the official transcript.
Foreign education
- Foreign education accepted: Yes, with the jurisdiction's conditions
- Credential evaluation: A credential evaluation is required
- NIES: NASBA International Evaluation Services is required
- Certified translation: A certified translation is required when applicable
Published evaluation services
- NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES)
NIES is Arizona's sole-source provider for foreign transcript evaluations.
NTS and passed-section credit
- NTS issuer: NASBA
- NTS validity: 6 months
- Passed-section credit: 30-month passed-section credit window
- Continuous testing: Available subject to current AICPA scheduling windows
- The 30-month credit period begins on the score-release date for the first passed section.
- An unpaid NASBA payment coupon expires after 90 days.
- Discipline sections follow AICPA testing windows.
The expiration printed on the NTS controls.
Sitting for the exam is not the same as licensure
These examination rules answer whether you can apply and sit. A CPA license can require additional education, experience, ethics, and administrative steps.
- Education for licensure: 150 semester hours under the current pathway
- Experience: 1 year required under the current pathway
- Ethics exam: Required
- Alternative pathway: enacted not yet effective
The new degree-and-experience alternatives begin January 1, 2027.
Special rules and recent changes
- alternative pathway: Three degree-and-experience combinations become available, and the examination education statute changes prospectively.. Effective date: 2027-01-01. Read the official change source.
Official sources used
- CPA Examination Frequently Asked Questions — Arizona State Board of Accountancy (accessed 2026-08-09)
- Certified Public Accounting Act of 2026 — Arizona State Legislature (accessed 2026-08-07)
- Initial Application and CPA Exam FAQs — Arizona State Board of Accountancy (accessed 2026-08-08)
- Implementing Candidate Fee Changes — National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (accessed 2026-08-09)
- A.R.S. section 32-723: Uniform certified public accountant examination; qualifications — Arizona Legislature (accessed 2026-08-09)
- Arizona Administrative Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, R4-1-226.01 — Arizona Secretary of State (accessed 2026-08-09)
Before you apply: Confirm the current application, fees, NTS terms, and testing availability with the Board. This guide only includes details we could verify from published sources, and the licensing section is a starting point—not a complete licensing checklist.
Your application plan
Turn this page into a checklist
Check off each research step as you complete it. This is a planning aid; finishing the checklist does not mean the Board has approved your eligibility.