PocketCPA

CPA exam and license requirements in California

California requires 120 semester credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. Licensure requires 150. Administered under the California Board of Accountancy. Last reviewed 2026-08-19.

Credit hours to sit
120
Credit hours to license
150
Exam fee per section
$262.64
Exam credit window
30 months
Notice to Schedule valid
9 months from issue
Transferring scores out
Through the board, $25
State ethics requirement
Regulatory Review Course

How many credit hours do you need to sit for the CPA exam in California?

California requires 120 semester credit hours to sit for the CPA exam. Candidates in California sit under the rules of the California Board of Accountancy.

How many credit hours do you need for a CPA license in California?

California requires 150 semester credit hours for CPA licensure. That is 30 more than the 120 needed to sit, so candidates can begin testing before completing the licensure requirement.

How much does the CPA exam cost in California?

The CPA exam in California costs $262.64 per section, a $100 application fee. Four sections at $262.64 is $1,050.56 in section fees alone. These are California board and NASBA fees and exclude review course costs and any re-take fees.

How long do you have to pass all four CPA exam sections in California?

California gives candidates a 30-month window to pass all four CPA exam sections. The clock starts when the first section is passed.

How long is your Notice to Schedule valid in California?

California gives you 9 months from the date your Notice to Schedule is issued to sit the section it covers. If it expires you forfeit the fees already paid for that section and must reapply.

Checked against 16 CCR 8.1, at https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/16-CCR-8.1.

Can you appeal a failed CPA exam score in California?

California does not offer a score appeal. California is one of the seven jurisdictions where appeals are not available, so viewing the items you answered incorrectly is not an option there. A score review is separate and is available everywhere: it re-checks that the approved answer key was applied correctly to your responses, and it is not a way to have an alternative answer considered. NASBA releases the numeric score for California but not the score notice document, so request the notice from the California Board of Accountancy if you need it.

Appeal availability is listed in the NASBA Candidate Guide, edition 2026-07-16. See also what happens on test day.

How do you transfer CPA exam scores out of California?

Not through NASBA. California does not appear as an origin on NASBA's transfer service, so you request your scores from the California Board of Accountancy directly, which states a fee of $25. You can still transfer INTO California from anywhere; it is only the outbound route that runs through the board.

Route read from NASBA's transfer service and cross-checked against NASBA's Interstate Authorization Fee Schedule, 2026-09-20, and every route claim was handed to a pass instructed to refute it. How exam credit moves between jurisdictions sets out the whole picture, including what moving does to your credit window.

Do your CPA exam credits expire after you pass all four sections in California?

No deadline that costs you exam credit, but California does have a clock worth knowing, and it is not the same thing. Experience more than 5 years old with no exam passed in that period requires 80 hours of CE (16 CCR 12(d)). Missing it costs you extra work before the license is issued, not the sections you have already passed.

Researched against California's own statutes and administrative rules on 2026-09-20, not against the board FAQ alone. What happens to CPA exam credit after you pass all four sets out all 55 jurisdictions and the clocks that are mistaken for deadlines.

Does California require a CPA ethics exam?

California: As of July 1, 2024 the self-study PETH exam is no longer required; newly licensed CPAs complete a CBA-approved 2-hour Regulatory Review Course during their first license-renewal cycle.

What work experience is required for a CPA license in California?

California requires 12 months of general accounting experience (plus 500 attest hours to sign attest reports); under AB 1175 the bachelor's route requires two years, reducible to one with a qualifying master's.

Who regulates CPAs in California?

CPAs in California are regulated by the California Board of Accountancy. Its published requirements are at https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/.

Can you become a CPA in California without 150 credit hours?

Not yet. California has enacted an alternative route to CPA licensure that does not require 150 semester hours, but it does not take effect until 2027-01-01, so 150 hours is still required today. The law is AB 1175 (2025), adding Business and Professions Code sections 5093.2 and 5093.3.

What the alternative route requires: A bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration of 24 accounting units, 24 business related units and 3 ethics units, plus two years of general accounting experience, with a qualifying advanced degree substituting for one year and an approved certificate program for six months.

Worth knowingThe legacy 150 unit section 5093 remains in effect only until January 1, 2029 and covers applications submitted by December 31, 2028, so the two routes coexist only during 2027 and 2028. The bill text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov confirms the operative and repeal dates.

California Board of Accountancy, information about AB 1175: https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/outreach/california-legislation.shtml. Verified 2026-08-19, and independently re-checked against the cited source.

Recent changes and notes for California

The other jurisdictions with a route enacted but not yet in force

California is one of 9 jurisdictions that have passed an alternative route which has not started yet. Each has a dated start.

The full picture, with every statute and the jurisdictions where the published trackers are behind, is on the 150-hour rule tracker.

Studying for the CPA exam

PocketCPA covers all six CPA exam sections with 11,896 questions, each cited to the specific standard or statute it tests, and 1,071 lesson pages written from primary source text. A nine-item sample of every section is open with no account, and a full-length FAR mock exam is free with one.

Source: https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/applicants/ed-requirements.shtml. Requirements change; confirm with the California Board of Accountancy before applying.