CPA exam and license
Pennsylvania CPA requirements: two routes measured in hours of work
Pennsylvania licenses CPAs with 150 college credits and 1,600 hours of experience over at least 12 months, or with a bachelor’s degree and 3,200 hours over 24 months. Type your credits and years of full-time work to see which route you meet.
Independent site: not run by, or affiliated with, any body that sets these exams or charges these fees.
Step 1: which licensure route fits you in Pennsylvania
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Route this example fits (120 hours, 2 years): type your own hours and years above
120-hour route
| 150 semester credits and 1,600 hours over at least 12 months | short 30 hours |
| Bachelor’s degree with fewer than 150 credits and 3,200 hours over 24 months | this example fits |
Education content rules (accounting and business hours) apply on top: see the state page.
The Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy lets a candidate sit for the CPA exam with 120 semester credits, including 24 in accounting, and offers two routes to the license. A candidate with 150 credits needs 1,600 hours of experience over at least 12 months. A candidate with a bachelor’s degree but fewer than 150 credits needs 3,200 hours over at least 24 months. Unlike Texas, New York and California, Pennsylvania did not have to open the lower-credit route in 2026: it is already part of its rules. Once licensed, a Pennsylvania CPA completes 80 hours of continuing professional education every 2 years. The board lists $65 for the initial license and $100 for renewal. The exam application fee was not on the snapshot we read and is left out of the totals on this page.
Step 2: what the exam and Pennsylvania board fees cost
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
No retake counted yet: CPA exam and Pennsylvania board fees if all four sections pass the first time, prep not included
$1,139
| Four sections, $268.59 each | $1,074 |
| Retakes you expect: 0 × $268.59 | none typed |
| Pennsylvania board, first CPA license | $65 |
| Pennsylvania, exam application fee | not counted: ask the board |
| Your review course and books | not included: type it above |
Type how many sections you think you will retake to add them. Exam fees $1,074, plus $65 of Pennsylvania board fees we could confirm. One retake costs $268.59, the same in every state. Pass rates for each section are published by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), which writes the exam; this site does not copy them, so retakes are the ones you type.
Fees read and totals checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
The two routes to the license
| Education | Experience | Over |
|---|---|---|
| 150 credits or more | 1,600 hours | at least 12 months |
| Bachelor’s degree, under 150 credits | 3,200 hours | at least 24 months |
The tool converts years into hours at the rate the board uses for its route: one year for the 150-credit route, two for the other. If your work is part-time, count your actual hours against the table rather than relying on years.
Sitting for the exam
The board asks for 120 credits, 24 of them in accounting, before you sit. That is the same bar as a bachelor’s degree with an accounting concentration, so a graduate with enough accounting credits can begin the four sections right away and build experience in parallel.
What the license costs over time
The fees the board lists are modest: $65 for the license and $100 at each renewal. The exam is where the money goes: $1,074 in section fees for the four sections passed the first time, which with the license comes to $1,139 before review materials, and $268.59 more for each section retaken ($1,408 with one retake). Type your retakes in the Step 2 calculator above. Continuing education is a recurring cost after that: 80 hours every 2 years, from providers whose prices this site does not track.
The exam application fee charged by the board or its exam administrator was not on the page we read. The Step 2 calculator marks it “not read” instead of guessing.
Pennsylvania next to its neighbor
New York opens its 120-hour pathway on November 21, 2026, with two years of experience. Pennsylvania’s lower-credit route reaches a similar place in hours: 3,200 hours is roughly two years of full-time work. The five-state comparison sets the routes side by side.
Hours, not years
Counting experience in hours has a practical effect: the pace of your work matters as well as its length. A candidate on the lower-credit route who works fifty qualifying hours a week reaches 3,200 hours in about sixty-four weeks of work, but the board also sets a minimum period of 24 months, so the calendar, not the hours, sets the date. On the 150-credit route, 1,600 hours over at least 12 months works the same way. Part-time workers face the opposite constraint: at twenty hours a week, 3,200 hours take more than three years. The tool counts years of full-time work; adjust what you type if your hours differ.
The board’s snapshot is the reference for both routes; read it again before you apply.