In the State of Arkansas,* CPA eligibility is broken into two parts: CPA Exam and CPA License.
CPA Exam Eligibility in Arkansas
Exam candidates must 18 hours of upper-division accounting to sit for the CPA Exam in Arkansas. Candidates may sit before completing a Bachelor’s Degree. Guidance by UCA Accounting on when to sit for the various exam sections is below.
| Candidates must pass all 3 of these sections | ||
| FAR: Financial Accounting and Reporting |
REG: Regulation (Taxation and Law) |
AUD: Auditing |
| Take after: Intermediate Acct 1 & 2 Advanced Acct [If pursuing MAcc] Seminar in Financial Acct |
Take after: Indiv & Adv Taxation Legal Env’t of Business [Elective] Bus. Law for Accountants [If pursuing MAcc] Tax Research and Planning |
Take after: Acct Info Systems Auditing [If pursuing MAcc] Graduate Auditing |
| Candidates must pass one of these sections | ||
| BAR: Business Analysis and Reporting |
TCP: Tax Compliance and Planning |
ISC: Information Systems & Control |
| Take after: Intermediate Acct 1 & 2 Advanced Acct Govt/NFP Acct Cost Accounting[If pursuing MAcc] ACCT 6310 Seminar in Financial Acct |
Take after: Indiv & Adv Taxation Legal Env’t of Business [Elective] Bus. Law for Accountants [If pursuing MAcc] Tax Research and Planning |
UCA Accounting recommends that Accounting majors NOT sit for this section unless you have additional coursework in systems and controls |
CPA License Eligibility in Arkansas
CPA Candidates who meet all of the following requirements and pass a background check can become a licensed CPA in Arkansas.
- Pass 4 sections of CPA Exam;
- Earn a bachelor’s degree in any subject with at least 120 hours;
- Complete 24 hours of non-accounting business courses^ with a grade of C or better (1 graduate hour = 1.5);
- Complete 27 hours of upper-division accounting courses^ (beyond principles; 1 graduate hour = 1.5) with a grade of C or better that includes the following topics: financial accounting, taxation, managerial accounting, accounting information systems, and auditing;
- Provide proof of work experience in accounting equal to 1 year or 2000 hours; and
- EITHER
- A total of 150 hours of college credit (consider UCA’s Master of Accountancy to earn an additional 30 hours) OR
- An additional 2000 hours of work experience in accounting.
More about the CPA Exam
Visit the American Institute of CPA’s CPA Exam Tool Kit.
*From the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy. Exam and license eligibility is different in every state. Search for rules in other states on their State Board of Public Accountancy website. After you find that State’s requirements, contact the UCA Accounting Department to see how UCA can help you gain eligibility. Rules are subject to change by a vote of an individual state board.
^Graduates of UCA’s BBA in Accounting will have the accounting and business coursework (provided they have earned Cs in the required courses).