Exam Tips

How to Become a Licensed CPA in Rhode Island

Rhode Island is a great state that only requires a bachelor’s degree and 120 college credit hours to sit for the exam. You will however have to complete 150 semester hours in order to become certified. RI offers a few different ways to meet this limit with undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Let’s take a look at what you need to do to take the exam and get licensed.

Rhode Island CPA Exam Requirements

In order to be eligible to sit for the exam in Rhode Island, candidates must meet the following personal qualifications and educational requirements.

  • No minimum age limit
  • Not Required to be a US citizen
  • Must be a RI resident
  • Valid Social Security Number Required
  • RI does participate in the International Examination Program

Educational Requirements to Sit

Rhode Island only requires 120 hours to take the test and even allows a few different ways to complete this rule. Here are your qualifying options:

 

Bachelor’s Degree (at least 120 semester hours) including:

  • 24 credit hours of Accounting including:
    • 6 hours of Accounting Principles
    • 6 hours of Intermediate Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Advanced Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Taxation
    • 3 hours of Auditing
  • 24 credit hours of General Business including:
    • 3 hours of Economics
    • 3 hours of Business Law

OR

Master’s Degree in Accounting (at least 120 semester hours) including:

  • 21 credit hours of Accounting including:
    • 6 hours of Accounting Principles
    • 6 hours of Intermediate Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Advanced Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Taxation
    • 3 hours of Auditing

OR

Master’s Degree in Business or MBA (at least 120 semester hours) including:

  • 24 credit hours of Accounting including:
    • 6 hours of Accounting Principles
    • 6 hours of Intermediate Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Advanced Financial Accounting
    • 3 hours of Taxation
    • 3 hours of Auditing

Exam Fees

The total cost to take the CPA exam in Rhode Island is $874.08 including an initial one-time $145 application fee. The cost for each section is listed below.

 

AUD – Audit $192.03
FAR – Financial Accounting and Reporting $192.03
BEC – Business Environment and Concepts $172.51
REG – Regulation $172.51

 

The fees are typically based on the duration of the exam. That’s why the FAR and AUD exams cost the most.

IMPORTANT – Don’t try to get ahead of yourself and register for all four sections at once. Your notice to sit (NIT) will expire if you don’t take the exam in 6 months and you will have to re-register. The bummer is you will have to pay again in order to register. Re-registration application fees are $65 and varied depending on how many you register for, so only sign up for the exams that you are ready to sit for in the next 6 months.

Registration Fees

Here is the breakdown for the registration fees you will have to pay. As you can see, registering more exams at once will save you some money.

  • 1 section $65.00
  • 2 sections $80.00
  • 3 sections $95.00
  • 4 sections $110.00

CPA License Requirements

The CPA exam process is involved and usually overwhelming for first time applicants. Don’t worry. You can do it! Applying for the test is just the first step in becoming a CPA in RI. We have all done it and know what you are going through. It’s kind of like a right of passage. After you pass the exam, here are the things you need to do before you can truly call yourself a Certified Public Accountant.

Pass the Exam

You’ll have to pass all four sections of the exam with a score of at least 75 in an 18-month period.

Paperwork

Submit all the required paperwork to the state board usually includes transcripts, license application, and proof of work experience.

Fees

Pay the license/certification fees with your application.

Ethics Exam

Take and pass the AICPA Professional Ethics exam (found on the AICPA website)

Additional Education

If you took the exam with 120 credit hours, you will need to take an additional 30 semester hours in order to apply for your CPA license.

Work Experience Requirements

Rhode Island’s work experience qualification of one year must be completed before you can get certified. You are the details:

1-year or 2,000 hours of general accounting and auditing skills in Public Accounting, Private Industry, Government, or Academic teaching supervised and verified by a CPA in good standing.

More Exam Resources and Information

I know that the application process, gathering your paperwork, and taking the exam is extremely involved especially if you attended more than one college. The Rhode Island state board requires evidence of all of your education. You will have to send in transcripts from every college you’ve attended.

Contacting the state board is always a good idea during the application process. You can find out if they need anything to approve your application and what they have on file. There is nothing worse than finding out they need something at the end.

 

Things can get lost or forgotten about. It happens. Unfortunately, most state boards rarely notify you that something is missing. This happened to me. My transcripts actually got lost in the mail. I had to send them twice from one of my colleges! What a pain. I never got a call from the board. It was up to me to contact them.

Directly contacting the board is the easiest way to confirm that they have everything they need before you get too far along in your application.

Here is the contact info for the state board.

Rhode Island State Board of Accountancy

Rhode Island CPA Application Forms

    • 1511 Pontiac Avenue 68-1
    • Cranston, RI 02920

 

  • Phone: 401-222-3185
  • Fax: 401-222-6654