If your principal place of business is not in Washington State, you may not have to apply for licensure in Washington. Please review Mobility for out of State CPAs.

There are three different methods to obtain a Washington license through reciprocity: substantially equivalent, 3-5 or 5-10, or education and experience.

Substantially Equivalent Method

To determine if your current license jurisdiction is substantially equivalent to those of the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA), please view the list from NASBA’s National Qualification Appraisal Service (NQAS).

To apply for your first Washington State CPA license using the substantially equivalent method, you will need to:

1. Verify that you hold a license to practice public accounting issued by a state that is substantially equivalent.
2. Verify on your application that you have met the good character requirements.
3. Verify that you completed a course and an examination on materials covering all of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct as part of your initial qualifications in another state or jurisdiction. If you did not complete the course for your other licensing jurisdiction, you will need to complete the course and achieve a passing score of 90% or better prior to submitting your application.
4. Verify that you have met the CPE requirements to qualify for reciprocity.
5. Review the example of your first CPE reporting period.
6. Submit a complete application through our online services. ***We strongly suggest you use a personal email address to set up your SecureAccess Washington account.***

3-5 or 5-10 Method

To apply for your first Washington State CPA license using the "3 of the last 5 years" or "5 of the last 10 years" method, you need to:

1. Verify that you hold a license to practice public accounting issued by a state that is substantially equivalent.
2. Verify on your application that you have met the good character requirements.
3. Verify that you completed a course and an examination on materials covering all of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct as part of your initial qualifications in another state or jurisdiction. If you did not complete the course for your other licensing jurisdiction, you will need to complete the course and achieve a passing score of 90% or better prior to submitting your application.
4. Verify that you have met the CPE requirements to qualify for reciprocity.
5. Verify that you practiced public accounting for “3 of the last 5 years” or for “5 of the last 10 years” by submitting evidence such as:
   • Letter(s) from employer(s) or client(s) that you have been in the practice of public accounting for the requisite time.
   • Business license, state registrations, licensing documents, etc.
     Note: Any documentation submitted may be subject to public disclosure laws of the State of Washington, e.g. personal or business tax returns, business address.
6. Review the example of your first CPE reporting period.
7. Submit a complete application through our online services. ***We strongly suggest you use a personal email address to set up your SecureAccess Washington account.***

Education and Experience Method

To apply for your first Washington State CPA license using the education and experience method, you need to:

1. Verify that you hold a license to practice public accounting issued by a state that is substantially equivalent.
2. Verify on your application that you have met the good character requirements.
3. Verify that you have completed a course and an examination on materials covering all of the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and have achieved a score of 90% or better on the exam. If you did not complete the course for your other licensing jurisdiction, you will need to complete the course and achieve a passing score of 90% or better prior to submitting your application.
4. Meet the experience requirements.
   • Submit a complete Experience Affidavit by upload 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 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.
5. Submit official college transcripts (bearing an official seal) showing that you have meet the education requirements in effect at the time you first sat for the CPA exam.
6. Verify that you have met the CPE requirements to qualify for reciprocity.
7. Review the example of your first CPE reporting period.
8. Complete 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 due to the 20-hour minimum annual CPE requirement. Applications can be submitted, but will not be approved until the beginning of January.

PLEASE NOTE: You may not use the title CPA until your license has been posted in the Board’s licensee search.

If you submit college or university transcripts and/or CPA exam scores and do not submit an application for initial licensure within two years, your documents will be administratively destroyed per our records retention schedule.