CPA Licensing: The Path, the Test and the Numbers

Barry Bryan of the University of Arkansas lets students who pass the CPA exam sign his Hog hat. (Michael Woods)

Several state accounting boards and accounting societies have announced they will be seeking legislation to offer a way for future CPAs to get their licenses without 150 college hours.

“The 150-hour requirement is not in Arkansas statute like it is in many states, which is why the Arkansas Board could propose” a 120-hour, two-year pathway, Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy Executive Director Tim Montgomery said in an email.

“From my understanding, the process for a rule change includes governor approval, a 30-day public comment period, consideration by the Board of received comments, and approval by the Legislative Rules Committee,” Montgomery wrote. “The length of this process is dependent on several factors, so I am not able to give you a definitive timeline.”

He said the process could take six months, a year or even longer.

With 120 semester hours and two years of certified work experience, candidates face just one major hurdle: passing the multiphase CPA exam.

Montgomery said CPA exam pass rates for Arkansas for the first three quarters of 2024 were 42.2%, 53.1% and 54.6%. The national pass rate, by comparison, was 49.8%, 50.2% and 49.9%.

“Arkansas has fared better than the national average for the last two quarters,” Montgomery said.

Barry Bryan, the University of Arkansas’ CPA adviser, is one of 13 professors in the nation recognized as “academic champions” for increasing enrollment in accounting and improving the number of students passing the CPA exam.

He was in the Razorback pep band in legendary director Jim Robken’s day, and he revs up CPA exam candidates by promising “a place in Hog Hat history” to all who pass.

Successful students get to sign Bryan’s plastic Razorbacks hat.

“If you go to my LinkedIn page, you’ll see where all the students who passed have signed it, just as a way of commemorating that achievement for them.”

Bryan said accounting students in Fayetteville have several advantages. “In northwest Arkansas we don’t have just public accounting firms hiring our students,” he said. “We also have industries providing very attractive opportunities as well. When you have Walmart, Tyson and J.B. Hunt close by, those tend to be very sought-after positions.

“Our students also have the opportunity to do internships, but at most schools, the internships tend to be with public accounting firms, particularly the big four,” Bryan said. “But many of our students’ internships are with industry. We try to sell the fact that being a CPA is a great tool to be whatever you want to be, both in industry and public practice. And passing the CPA exam offers the marketability of being certified, and it’s a mark of commitment to the task at hand, a mark of a student’s self-discipline. It’s a mark of their desire to want to set themselves apart professionally.”