Get Your First CPA License

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Your application must be complete at the time of submission. Incomplete applications may be denied.

Licensure Requirements – Education and Experience

You will choose one of the following options to licensure when you submit your online application. The education and experience requirements for each option vary. Select the appropriate option for your level of education and experience.

Option A:

  • A baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration or equivalent; and
  • 2 years of experience consisting of a minimum of 24 months and 4,000 hours.

Option B:*

  • A post-baccalaureate degree (master’s degree or higher) with an accounting concentration or equivalent; and
  • 1 year of experience consisting of a minimum of 12 months and 2,000 hours.

Option C:* (This option expires December 31, 2035.)

  • A baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration or equivalent plus 30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) of college education; and
  • 1 year of experience consisting of a minimum of 12 months and 2,000 hours.

*If you sat for the CPA Exam as a Washington State Exam candidate through Option A and wish to apply for CPA licensure through Option B or C, you must complete the additional education indicated and submit your official transcript(s) to CPAES for evaluation. You must be notified by CPAES that your education evaluation is complete prior to applying for licensure.

To apply for your first Washington State CPA license as a Washington CPA Exam candidate, you will need to:

  1. Pass the CPA Exam.
  2. Meet the experience requirements.
    • Upload a complete Experience Affidavit to your online application.
      • Read and complete the experience affidavit carefully. If any information is incomplete or incorrect, you will be required to submit a new experience affidavit with new signatures.
      • The experience affidavit must be signed with a handwritten signature by both the applicant and the verifying CPA. Typed or electronic signatures are not accepted.
      • If you are listing more than 2 employers, complete and submit Experience Affidavit – 1B (Additional Experience) with your experience affidavit.
  3. Complete a course covering the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and achieve a score of 90% or better on the examination.
    • The course must be the specific course for licensure and be a minimum of 8 hours.  
    • The course completion certificate with a score of 90% or better must be uploaded to your application.
  4. Watch the video, Washington CPA Essentials.
  5. Complete the required Continuing Professional Education (CPE), only if it has been more than four years since you passed the CPA Exam.
    • Upload the following CPE documentation to your online application.
      • A course listing which includes the course title, course provider, date completed, and CPE hours earned for each completed course. You may use this template or create your own course listing.
      • The CPE course completion certificates or other acceptable CPE documentation, as described in WAC 4-30-138, for each course included on your course listing.
  6. Review the example of your first CPE reporting period.
  7. Verify that you have met the good character requirements by answering the questions on your CPA license application.
  8. Complete and submit the license application through our online services. ***We strongly suggest you use a personal email address to set up your SecureAccess Washington account.***

CPA licenses will not be issued between November 1 and December 31.

A portion of your CPE renewal requirements is the completion of a minimum of 20 hours of CPE annually (calendar year). With only a couple weeks left in this year’s CPE reporting period, holding your application for approval until the beginning of January is the best option to ensure you will be in CPE compliance for your first renewal.

Applications can be submitted and will be reviewed but will not be approved until the beginning of January.

If you submit licensing documents and do not apply for initial licensure within two years, your documents will be administratively destroyed per our records retention schedule.