News on Youtube Oct 10 2017

You have passed all four sections of the CPA exam and are ready to become a licensed CPA

in Washington State.

The Washington State Board of Accountancy will work with you on applying for your initial

CPA license.

In order to become an individually licensed CPA, an applicant must first meet the 3 E's:

education, exam and experience.

Passing the four-section CPA exam is just one part of becoming licensed.

If you passed the exam as a Washington Candidate, you do not have to submit your exam scores

and education to the Board.

If you passed the exam in another jurisdiction, you will need to transfer your exam scores

and submit official transcripts to the Board.

Applicants must have at least 150 semester hours of education with a baccalaureate degree

or higher which includes accounting and business administration.

Experience may be obtained through the practice of public accounting and/or employment in

industry or government.

In certain situations, employment in academia may also provide experience to obtain some

or all of the competency requirements.

Applicants must complete a minimum of 2,000 hours and a minimum of 12 months, which must

be verified by a licensed CPA who holds a license to practice public accounting for

a minimum of 5 years.

The experience must be obtained no more than 8 years prior to the date the Board received

your license application.

Applicants must complete a course covering the complete content of the AICPA Code of

Professional Conduct Course with a passing grade of 90%.

Applicants must also complete the board approved initial course covering the Washington State

Public Accountancy Act, related Board Rules, and Board Policies with a passing grade of

90%.

Once the 3 E's of licensure are met, the applicant will visit our website, log into

My Account and create a Secure Access Washington account to apply for a license.

The link can be found on the right hand side of our home page.

The initial license application fee is $330.

After completing the online application, the applicant can either upload or submit supporting

documentation regarding education and exam requirements, experience qualifications, ethics

exams and continuing professional education, if applicable.

Once your Washington State individual license has been granted and posted in the Board's

licensee database, you can start using the CPA

to the public and the principle place of business in which those services are provided is in

Washington State.

Do you still have questions about licensure, please contact the Board directly by phone

or email.

We are here to help you.