Arkansas CPA Licensing
To become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Arkansas, foreign educated candidates must meet specific education, examination, and experience requirements. Below is an organized summary to help you understand these requirements.
Arkansas CPA Exam Requirements
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
Arkansas CPA Licensure Requirements
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).
Important Notice:
State Boards of Public Accountancy may change their requirements at any time. We always strive to keep our information updated but consult the respective Board for confirmation is strongly recommended.