South Carolina

1. Official transcript(s). Submission by you or school to CPAES.
2. International Evaluation with foreign transcripts, if applicable. Submission by you or evaluation agency to CPAES. Please submit a copy of your international transcript translated into English in a sealed envelope, along with your international evaluation report.
3. Notarization Form. Submission by you to CPAES.
4. ADA Accommodation Form, if applicable. Submission by you to CPAES.

Please allow up to four to six weeks from your file completion date (when application, fees and all additional required materials have been received) for your application to be processed. Acknowledgment of receipt of application will be sent to you via email, unless otherwise indicated. This notice is sent only as acknowledgment of receipt of application.

Applicants with Disabilities

In accordance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, examination administration accommodations are available, should you qualify. Please download the ADA Modification Form for more information.

Credit for any section passed shall be valid for 18 months from the actual date the examination sections were taken. Examination credit expires by section. You will lose credit for each section passed outside the 18 month period, and will have to retake those sections.

Requirements to be Licensed as a CPA

Complete details of required experience may be obtained by visiting the South Carolina Board of Accountancy website.

You are able to apply for one or more sections of the examination at a time; however, you are advised to only apply for a section of the examination if you are ready to take it within the next six months.

Examination Fees

Registration Fees

Refund Policy

There is no provision for withdrawing from the examination and/or requesting an extension of your current Notices to Schedule (NTS). Application and/or examination fees are not refundable. If you have an extreme circumstance, you may request an NTS extension or a partial refund of your examination fees under specific circumstances utilizing the Exception to Policy Form.

• Have a Social Security Number or have a Lawful Permanent Resident Number (Green Card) assigned to you prior to submitting an application; AND
• Meet the following:
  • have attended a regionally accredited college or university approved by the Board; and
  • have completed a minimum of 120 semester hours credit, which must include:
  1. at least 24 semester hours of accounting in courses that are applicable to a baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degree and which cover:
     • financial accounting,
     • managerial accounting,
     • taxation,
     • auditing;

     Note: In order to license, you must have at least 36 semester hours, of which 24 must be taught at the upper level.

  2. at least 24 semester hours of business courses that are applicable to a baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degree and which may include:
     • economics,
     • finance,
     • business law,
     • management,
     • computer science,
     • statistics,
     • ethics,
     • marketing, and accounting hours not counted in item (1).

All educational documents, including educational transcripts and foreign evaluations with foreign transcripts, are required to be submitted to CPA Examination Services. You may submit these documents separately or included with the first-time application. All education requirements must be met at the time of application.

Transcripts

If you have completed all educational requirements at the time of application, you must:

• submit to CPA Examination Services relevant official transcript(s) from each institution at which original credit toward the educational requirement has been earned.
• The official transcript(s) may be submitted by you in a sealed envelope.
• Photocopies of transcripts are not acceptable.
• Transcripts “Issued to Student” are not acceptable.
• If required documentation is not received, the application will be determined to be incomplete and you will not be permitted to take the examination and will forfeit the application fee paid.
• Please Note: If you have not yet applied, education documents received will be kept on file for one year. After that time, these documents will be destroyed, and you will need to resubmit new education documents at the time of application.

If you have completed educational requirements at institutions outside the U.S., you must:

• have your educational credentials evaluated by NASBA International Evaluation Services.
• obtain the form to request this service from the evaluation service agency.
• submit your foreign transcript(s) from each institution at which original credit toward the educational requirement has been earned to the evaluation service agency.
• The evaluation of the foreign transcript(s) must be a course-by-course comparison to South Carolina requirements.
• Completed original evaluations must be submitted to CPA Examination Services. The original evaluation may be submitted by you. Photocopies are not acceptable. Note: Please submit a copy of your international transcript translated into English in a sealed envelope, along with your international evaluation report.
• If required documentation is not received, the application will be determined to be incomplete and you will not be permitted to take the examination and will forfeit the application fee paid.
• Please Note: If you have not yet applied, education documents received will be kept on file for one year. After that time, these documents will be destroyed, and you will need to resubmit new education documents at the time of application.

Course Requirements

• Commercial CPA review courses are not acceptable.
• Correspondence and online courses are acceptable when you receive credit for the courses at a regionally accredited university. These courses must appear on an official transcript.
• CPA Review Courses and/or commercial review courses are not acceptable.
• Course descriptions of all accounting and business courses taken at academic institutions outside South Carolina not clearly identified by titles, are required.

Residency

You are not required to be a resident of South Carolina in order to qualify for South Carolina candidacy. However, if you intend to seek licensure in South Carolina and you are a South Carolina resident, you are required to take the Uniform CPA Examination as a candidate of South Carolina. If you are a resident of South Carolina and elect to qualify in another jurisdiction, you will not be able to transfer your records to South Carolina at a later date.