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Effective September 1, You Can Sit For the CPA Exam in Texas With 120 Units

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez
Texas state capitol building

Another state has pushed to allow prospective CPAs to sit for the exam with just a bachelor’s degree worth of units and that’s good ol’ Texas. Effective September 1, future CPAs can sit for the exam with 120 units of education. Before anyone gets too excited, note candidates still need 150 units for licensure. Rules state the 120 units to sit must consist of no fewer than 24 semester hours of accounting, 21 of which must be upper-level accounting courses including two semester hours of accounting/tax research and analysis, and no fewer than 24 semester hours of upper-level business coursework including two semester hours of accounting/business communications coursework. As you’ll see in a minute, many of these requirements are essentially unchanged other than the timing.

Here’s all that information plus some extra details in graphic form for those who prefer visuals:

via this handy Texas State Board of Accountancy PDF that explains everything candidates need to know about this amendment to the Texas Public Accountancy Act

And even more info! This is copy pasted directly from the PDF linked above.

The Public Accountancy Act (effective September 1, 2023) and Board Rules require that you meet the new education requirements to take the CPA Exam. After you have passed all sections of the CPA Exam you are required to submit transcripts showing that you completed at least 150 semester credit hours and completed a three-semester hour, Board-approved ethics course that meet Board Rules to apply for the CPA certificate and license.

  1. Hold a baccalaureate or graduate degree, or its equivalent as determined by Board Rule, conferred by a Board recognized institution of higher education;
  2. Complete at least 120 semester hours or quarter-hour equivalents in Board-recognized courses including at least 24 semester hours of accounting or equivalent courses as determined by Board Rule, and within the 24 semester hours of accounting at least 21 semester hours of upper-level accounting courses as determined by Board Rule, including two semester hours of accounting/tax research and analysis;
  3. Complete at least 24 semester hours of upper level business coursework including two semester hours of accounting/business communications coursework.

The Board states it “is committed to process all Applications of Intent as quickly as possible because we understand your intent to take the CPA Exam prior to January 2024.” p.s. that’s 124 days from today, there are approximately 110 days remaining until CPA exam testing closes prior to the launch of the revamped CPA Evolution in January.

The bills that allowed the rule change — SB 159 and HB 797 — were sponsored in the state legislature by Sen. Charles Perry, a practicing CPA from Lubbock, and Rep. Angie Button, also a CPA. This change was assisted greatly by the efforts of the Texas Society of CPAs in an effort to ease a barrier that may have discouraged potential CPAs from sitting for the exam in their state. TXCPA “has been working for many years to address the CPA pipeline, encourage more students to enter the accounting education path, and ultimately to get more individual licensed as CPAs,” they said in a brief legislative update last year [PDF]. “One way to get there is to have more candidates/students enter the testing and licensure pathway before they move to other professions or occupations.”

Lastly, while we have you, here are some important upcoming dates Texas CPA exam candidates should put on their calendars:

August 31, 2023 – Last day to accept the Application of Intent (AOI) under the education requirements of the Public Accountancy Act of 2019.
September 1, 2023 – Effective date of the Public Accountancy Act of 2023 that includes the new education requirements. First day to accept AOIs under the new education requirements.
September 17, 2023 – Eligibility applications received on this day will have 90 days of eligibility to test.
September 18 through November 13, 2023 – Eligibility Applications received will have less than 90 days to test.
November 13, 2023 –Last day for Board approval of Eligibility Applications for BEC.
November 22, 2023 – First day to apply for the new Discipline sections BAR, ISC, TCP.
December 15, 2023 – Last day to take a section of the current CPA Exam AUD, BEC, FAR, REG.

Here’s hoping Texas gets a few more CPAs out of all this.

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Turns Out You Don’t Have to Go to a “Real” College to Do Well on the CPA Exam

The great thing about accounting is that unlike law, you don’t have to go to a top school to have a successful career. While it helps to be in front of Big 4 recruiters at the major accounting schools if that’s the route you want to take, here’s a little proof that you can easily get through the CPA exam even if your educational background is comprised solely of community college. At least in Texas.

The Texas State Board of Accountancy recently released its list of top CPA exam pass rates among Texas colleges and universities and it turns out a community college is among the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

The University of Texas at Austin had a 75 percent pass rate (it is unclear if that is a first-time pass rate or what) while the Austin Community College came in 10th with 53 percent. Other schools on the list were Texas A&M, Baylor University and Texas Tech.

ACC was the only community college to make the list. Their CPA program currently has about 400 students.

ACC Dean of Business Studies David Quinn told KUT News that ACC has made the list every year except one since the school became accredited in 2002.

“I’m very proud of our faculty and our students in our professional accounting program,” he said. “They’ve proven time and time again that they can do as good of a job as the best universities in the State of Texas.”

If you’re interested, you can dig through the results from the TX Board here.