Requirements to sit for the CPA Exam (Colorado)

by Megan Taylor on March 25, 2013

Today I finally was able to get a straight answer out of someone about the education requirements necessary to sit for the CPA Exam in Colorado.

The first thing I learned

The education requirements to sit for the CPA exam in Colorado are different than the education requirements to get the CPA license in Colorado.

The Colorado CPA License education requirements are here: www.colorado.gov/DORA (Rule 2.5 explains the Education Requirements before July 1, 2015, and Rule 2.6 explains the requirements after July 1, 2015.)

The Colorado CPA Exam education requirements are here: www.nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/colorado/

The Cliff’s Notes version of the CPA Exam Requirements:

  • 27 semester hours in accounting, including 3 in Auditing
  • 21 semester hours in “other areas of business administration,” but not more than 6 semester hours in any one section can apply toward the total.

The second thing I learned

If you take any accounting classes above the 27 semester hours required to meet the CPA Exam education requirements, you can count 6 of them (2 classes) toward the 21 semester hours you need of “other business administration” courses.

So, if we look at the requirements I need to meet to get the Masters in Accounting from CU Denver:

  • Accounting Prereqs (BUSN 6550, ACCT 6030 & 6070 — 9 semester hours)
  • Common Body of Knowledge Classes (BUSN 6530 & 6620 — 6 semester hours)
  • Accounting Core (12 semester hours, 3 for BUSN, 9 for ACCT)
  • Accounting Capstone (6 semester hours)
  • Accounting Electives (6 semester hours)
  • Free Electives (6 semester hours)

How that stacks up with what I need to sit for the CPA Exam:

I have to have 45 semester hours (15 classes) in order to complete the Masters in Accounting Program.

  • 9 of those classes have to be Accounting classes, so that satisfies the 27 semester hours in accounting required to sit for the CPA exam.
  • 4 of those classes (12 semester hours) have to be Business classes
  • That leaves 3 classes (9 semester hours) that I have to take to meet the “other business admin” classes requirement.
  • 2 of those remaining classes (6 semester hours) can by met by my free electives, and can be accounting classes and still count toward to the 21 semester hour total.

So that just leaves one additional business class of some kind that I have to take (either at CU Denver or elsewhere) before I am eligible to sit for the CPA exam in Colorado.

This is much better than the extra classes I thought I was going to have to take in order to sit for the CPA exam.



Just as a note: If you apply to sit for the CPA exam after July 1, 2015 (as I will have to do), the number of “other business administration” classes you have to take may change. The CPA license education requirement is certainly changing on that date, but if the requirements for the exam aren’t changing, then you can finish the extra hours of business administration classes after you take the CPA exam, so long as you do it within 5 years of taking the CPA exam.


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