state eligibility guide
North Carolina CPA exam requirements
North Carolina requires bachelor's degree and 120 semester hours, including 30 accounting hours for CPA exam eligibility. North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners 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 required to sit
- Passed-section credit window
- 30-month passed-section credit window
Education requirements to sit
- Degree: bachelor's degree required to sit
- Minimum education to sit: 120 semester hours
- Accounting coursework: 30 semester hours
- Business coursework: Not confirmed in the current official sources
- Degree field: Accounting concentration or Board-defined equivalent
- Accreditation: Degree and concentration must satisfy North Carolina Board standards.
Required accounting subjects
- Undergraduate concentration: 30 semester hours with no more than 6 hours of accounting principles and no more than 3 hours of business law
- Graduate alternative: 20 semester hours of graduate accounting open exclusively to graduate students
A combined undergraduate/graduate concentration is allowed using the Board's 1.5-to-1 graduate-hour conversion. Duplicate courses count only once. Accounting internships and CPA review courses do not count toward the concentration.
Personal eligibility rules
- Minimum age: 18
- 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: An SSN is required
- Character review before sitting: A character requirement applies before sitting
- Applicants must be a U.S. citizen or have declared an intention to become a citizen, be a resident alien, or be a citizen of a foreign jurisdiction offering like or similar examination privileges.
- The Board conducts a background check and requires three moral-character references.
Foreign-educated candidates have an additional North Carolina connection rule: they must live in North Carolina or be a current or former student at a North Carolina college or university.
How to apply
Apply through North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners online through the North Carolina Board portal.
Documents commonly required for this application
- Board examination application
- Official transcripts
- Personal eligibility documentation
- Required fee
Fees shown are the Board's schedule effective August 3, 2026.
Published exam fees
- Initial exam application: $230.00 Charged once for a first-time candidate.
- CPA exam section fee: $268.59 per section Charged for each exam section selected.
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: Yes, subject to the conditions below
- Sit before the degree is awarded: Yes, subject to the conditions below
- Days before graduation: 120 days
- Final transcript deadline: The bachelor's degree must be completed within 120 days after the Board receives the application
The accounting concentration must already be complete or reasonably expected by the end of the school term in which the Exam falls. If the degree is not earned on time, Exam grades are not released.
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)
Board authorization is required before ordering the NIES evaluation. Foreign-educated candidates must live in North Carolina or be a current or former student of a North Carolina institution.
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
- North Carolina does not participate in international administration of the CPA Exam.
- Discipline sections follow AICPA testing windows.
The 30-month period begins when the first passing score is released and ends on the sit date of the final passed section. The Board may extend credit for circumstances beyond the candidate's control.
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.
- Experience: Experience is required
- Ethics exam: Required
- Alternative pathway: enacted and effective
The 150-hour and qualifying master's routes require one year of supervised experience; the bachelor's route requires two years. Alternative four-year experience routes also exist.
Special rules and recent changes
- North Carolina candidates cannot use North Carolina eligibility to register for international administration.
- alternative pathway: Three original-licensure pathways: 150 hours plus one year, qualifying master's plus one year, or bachelor's plus two years. Effective date: 2026-01-01. Read the official change source.
- fee: Initial application $230, re-exam application $75, and section fee $268.59. Effective date: 2026-08-03. Read the official change source.
Official sources used
- CPA Exam Applicants — North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners (accessed 2026-08-09)
- CPA License Applicants — North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners (accessed 2026-08-07)
- North Carolina CPA Exam — National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (accessed 2026-08-07)
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.