How to Become a CPA in Florida 2024

To meet the Florida requirements to sit for the CPA exam, the Florida CPA education requirements must be attained first. For Florida applicants, you’ll need a total of 120 semester hours. 24 semester hours of upper-level accounting courses (At least three semester hours of financial accounting and three semester hours of U.S. Taxation), 24 semester hours of upper-level business courses (At least three semester hours of business law based on U.S. Law).

Once you have verified that you meet the education requirements, the first step is to fill out the DBPR CPA 1 Application for CPA Examination form.

After you have filled out the necessary details to apply for the Uniform CPA Examination. You will have to mail the completed application, application fee, and required documentation to:

Department of Business and Professional Regulation
2601 Blair Stone Rd
Tallahassee, FL 32399

Once you obtained approval from the Board, you will receive a Jurisdiction ID number. Then you would have 2 options to pay for your exam fee.

First is by creating a NASBA Exam Candidate account on the portal at NASBA and pay for the exam fees
OR
Contact CPA Examination Services at 800-CPA-EXAM or 615-880-4250 to pay.

Click here to see a breakdown of the Florida CPA exam costs.

Upon payment for the examination fees, you will receive a receipt of your NTS. Make sure that everything is correct as it will be used at the testing centers. If the names do not match, immediately contact the Board to request a correction. You will not be allowed to test if the name on the identification documents does not exactly match the name on the NTS.

With the NTS, then you can schedule your actual exam on the Prometric website at www.prometric.com.
You will have six months to apply and sit for your first portion of the CPA exam.

Once you pass the first CPA exam section, you’ll have 18 months to pass the remaining 3 sections.

After passing the Uniform CPA Examination, you must complete the appropriate education requirements to become a licensed CPA, which totals 150 semester hours. 30 semester hours of upper-level accounting courses (At least three semester hours of financial accounting and three semester hours of U.S. Taxation), 36 semester hours of upper-level business courses (At least three semester hours of business law based on U.S. Law).

To meet the Florida CPA experience requirement, you will need a minimum of 12 months of full-time employment or part-time work which consists of at least 2,000 hours of employment over a period of not more than two consecutive years where 20 hours of work per week is performed on a continuous basis.

When you have met the needed work experience, you will need to fill out the DBPR CPA 32 Verification of Work Experience form.

After you have completed your professional education, passed the exams, and retain the necessary work experience, you have fulfilled a majority of the CPA exam requirements. You will need to fill out the DBPR CPA 2 CPA Licensure Application to be a licensed CPA. The issuance of the CPA certificate costs $50. The completed application, application fee, and required documentation should be mailed to:

Department of Business and Professional Regulation
2601 Blair Stone Rd
Tallahassee, FL 32399

While most states require ethics exam before licensing, Florida candidates can become a CPA without it as there are no Florida CPA ethics exam requirements.

Now that you have completed all the necessary steps to be a Certified Public Accountant in Florida. You will be notified by Florida’s Board of Accountancy of any missing documents in your application. If the application is complete, you’ll be issued a license allowing you to practice.