California Is One Little Pen Stroke Away From a Non-150 Hour CPA Pathway (UPDATE)

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
trail in the forest with two paths to represent alternate CPA pathways

Ed. note: This article was originally published on September 8, 2025 and updated on October 8, 2025 after the bill was signed into law.

Update: Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 1175. Bill author Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) said the legislation “addresses workforce challenges by addressing barriers and opening the door wider for talented students—while maintaining the integrity and trust the public depends on.” The new rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Original unedited article follows below.

As mentioned in today’s Monday Morning Accounting News Brief, aspiring CPAs in the state of California will soon have an alternate, non-150 hour pathway to take to licensure as long as Governor Newsom decides to sign the bill sitting on his desk. From CBA:

Alternate pathway bills in the California legislature racked up zero no votes as they made their way through this year, though it’s worth noting California lawmakers tend to shy away from noes in favor of “No Vote Recorded” abstentions if unwilling to give up a yea. AB-1175 received two such NVRs on the Assembly floor in May, one from Dr. Jasmeet Bains of the 35th District and one from Stan Ellis of the 32nd (which includes Malibu and a bunch of other Zip codes you probably can’t afford).

MNCPA continues to maintain and regularly update a graphic showing the states that have already added alternate pathways to CPA licensure, are working on changing laws, and/or are expected to make changes soon. The below graphic was updated a few days ago with a footnote mentioning the change in California requires the governor’s signature.

Source: MNCPA

Just because a state is grey on the map doesn’t mean they aren’t monitoring or discussing potential licensure changes. For example, MNCPA says the Nebraska Society of CPAs (NESCPA) formed a CPA licensure task force in May 2025 to review potential changes and task force recommendations will be presented to the NESCPA board and the State Board of Accountancy. And the Society of Louisiana CPAs “is monitoring pathways and mobility discussions, according to the society,” which means they could be peer pressured into a change if this whole map turns blue by next year.

Related Posts

Is Pulling a No-Show a Good Move If You’re Completely Unprepared for the CPA Exam?

Do you guys ever read Yahoo! Answers? It’s awesome. Especially the posts that revolve around asking the Internet at large if the asker could be pregnant based on some risky behavior like, say, hanging out topless in a hot tub with a guy with a boner.

But useless drivel aside, sometimes good questions are asked. Given that it’s CPA exam score time once again and some of you who got bad news might not feel like talking about scores, I wanted to share this with you all and see what you think instead of discussing that.


Way back in my CPA review days, when asked this question by our students, I’d almost always tell them to go anyway. Even if you aren’t prepared, you’ve already spent the money on your exam and aren’t getting it back so why not go so you can at least get familiar with the questions?

Here’s the question:

I am scheduled to take the auditing section of the CPA exam tomorrow morning. Problem is, I haven’t studied at all. I also am now in private accounting, but still would like the certification. I have passed one already. I can’t reschedule the test because my Notice to Schedule expires next week.

So I was curious… the money I spent (about $200) is non-refundable- fine. It’s my fault for not studying. But canceling it altogether is $35. My question is, why would I cancel? Can I just not go? I realize going and failing would go on the record, but at least I could see how it is. So I have three options.

First of all, to what “record” is this person referring? I know some of you who have tried and failed over EIGHTEEN times. After the 7th or 8th time, most people learn to keep their mouth shut at work when they are headed to Prometric once again (though all those “personal days” can get a bit suspect), and by the 17th or 18th they have gotten so good at the action of sitting for the exam they actually pass. Your firm doesn’t keep a permanent file with your numerous exam failures in it, though your cattier colleagues might keep a mental one so they have some bullshit to hold over you next time they’re trying to outshine you in front of the partner. Big deal.

Anyway – what’s the benefit of paying more for a no-show over just not going? Assuming you’ve got some time left on your NTS, you will not have to reapply for a new one to take that section. We think. Check out this thread on the Another71 forums for more info on that option, plus yet more commentary on the confusing labyrinth that is dealing with the CPA exam authorities.

Apparently, if you no show, NASBA will allow you to re-apply for a new NTS within 48 hours of your no show exam (see this thread, also from Another71), which could work in your favor if your NTS is going to expire at the beginning of the window but your first passing exam expires at the end and you need the extra time to study.

Your best bet in this situation is to cram in a few days of as much studying as you can and just go. Granted, cramming is pretty useless when it comes to the CPA exam but you never know.

Anyone taken either of these paths? Better yet, has anyone shown up for the exam completely unprepared and actually passed?

5 thoughts on “California Is One Little Pen Stroke Away From a Non-150 Hour CPA Pathway (UPDATE)”

  1. Real Time – there seem to be a lot of 5-year accounting students still looking for jobs and internships are also not readily available. Cutting the education requirements to 4 years should increase the available and unemployed accountants keeping starting salaries in check. The work continues to flow to India as well.

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    1. Why would employers hire in the US when all the compliance can be done in India (at 1/3 the price)? The 4-year CPA pathway should keep US salaries low – great for owners/partners.

      So why go into accounting when engineering, finance and other degrees pay considerably more? It is certainly not for guaranteed employment as it was just a few years ago. A lot of graduates are sitting on the bench looking for employment.

  2. There is softness in the job market for all graduating students. We still place 100% of our domestic graduate accounting students but no longer the international students – we still place many, but not all. The previous two or three years we placed 100% of our international students as well. Three years ago, we were losing students to other majors, like finance, because their starting salaries were higher. No more. Finance students are having a harder time finding jobs now. AI is changing the landscape more in other business fields than in accounting.

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  3. Initially I was excited about the push for alternative pathways to CPA Licensure.

    But thinking about it for a while, I guarantee there is not coincidence that this is being pushed while a record % of work is being offshored.

    What is probably the larger plan at play is to push for the 2 year experience across the board so that the Big4 can dangle a carrot to their offshore workers and bring them stateside while paying them less than their US equivalent here. This is a common practice in tech roles in the US.

    I think it’s common knowledge that US staff are burning out more commonly under 2 years so the Big4 doesn’t want to rely or pay for a college pipeline when they can pay pennies on the dollar to burn through offshore candidates and then bring stateside the offshore team members that survive the gauntlet. Those that survive the gauntlet then only have to survive another 2 years…the Big4 never changes, it just changes its tactics and the strategy stays the same.

    Seems like a conspiracy theory, but it increasingly seems clear any changes to CPA Licensure has been against the interest of US CPAs while overwhelming in favor of increasing partners’ compensation.

  4. doing all this when the CBA still takes PAPER CHECKS for CPA application fees in 2025 is kind of crazy tbh

    what will it take for california to enter the 21st century

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