Arkansas Board of Accountancy

To qualify for the CPA Exam in Arkansas, you must meet the following criteria:

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree.
• Complete 30 semester units of upper-level accounting courses and 30 semester units of business courses outside of accounting.
• Earn a grade of C or above in accounting and business classes.

Accounting Coursework must include

• Financial Accounting (e.g., Intermediate Accounting)
• Management Accounting (e.g., Cost Accounting)
• Governmental or Not-for-Profit Accounting
• Federal Taxation (e.g., Advanced Income Tax or Tax Fundamentals)
• Auditing and Attestation
• Accounting Information Systems

To become licensed as a CPA in Arkansas, you must:

Pass Background Checks

• Authorize state and national criminal background checks conducted by the Arkansas State Police and FBI.

Work Experience

• Complete one year of work experience.
• Experience can be in government, industry, academia, or public practice and must involve accounting, attestation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills.

Ethics Exam

• Complete one hour of Arkansas Board Ethics training, which covers Arkansas Accountancy Law and Board Rules.
• This ethics requirement is part of the 4-hour ethics CPE requirement over a three-year period (with 1 hour specific to Arkansas rules).