To meet the Rhode Island CPA experience requirements and become a CPA, a one-year with a minimum of 1,820 hours experience is required. The candidates must demonstrate to the board that they have obtained experience, verified and supervised by a licensee, consisting of providing any type of service or advice involving accounting, attestation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, and consulting skills.
This article will help you to become a CPA in Rhode Island and is a requirement for you to take the Rhode Island CPA exam.
Table of Contents
Summary of Rhode Island CPA Requirements
| Residency, Regularly employed or have a place of business in Rhode Island required? | Yes |
| Credit Hours to sit for the CPA Exam | 150 |
| Credit Hours in Accounting to sit for the CPA Exam | 24 |
| Credit Hours in Business to sit for the CPA Exam | 24 |
| Bachelor’s Required to sit for the CPA Exam? | Yes |
| Credit Hours to receive a CPA License | 150 |
| Ethics Exam | Yes |
| Work Experience | 1 Year |
| Required CPE Hours Every Three Years | 120 |
Eligibility for Rhode Island CPA Exam Requirements
Education, the CPA exam, ethics, and experience are all required for CPAs in Rhode Island, as they are in most states. The state also demands that:
- You must have a Social Security number in order to apply for the CPA exam.
- You must be a resident of the state. To satisfy that;
- You are either a regular employee or own a business in Rhode Island. However;
- There are no requirements for either U.S. citizenship or age.
Educational Requirements
The very first Rhode Island CPA exam requirement is the Rhode Island CPA educational requirements. For your license, you will need a minimum of 150 semester hours of study, however, you can sit for the CPA exam after completing 120 hours and obtaining a bachelor’s degree. You should meet one or more of the following conditions as part of the 150 semester hours of education:
Option 1
- A graduate degree with a focus in accounting program certified in accounting accredited by a Board-recognized certifying institution.
Option 2
- A graduate degree from a business program accredited by a Board-recognized accrediting agency with at least 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate level or a graduate level which includes 15 semester hours, or an equivalent combination thereof.Accounting courses must cover at least one of the following topics:
- 6 semester hours in fundamental accounting and intermediate financial accounting and reporting,
- 3 semester hours in advanced financial accounting and reporting, tax accounting and auditing.
Option 3
- A baccalaureate degree or higher degree from an institution accredited by a Board-recognized accrediting agency with at least 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate level or a graduate level which includes 24 semester hours in business courses.Accounting courses must cover at least one of the following topics:
- 6 semester hours in fundamental accounting and intermediate financial accounting and reporting,
- 3 semester hours in advanced financial accounting and reporting, tax accounting and auditing.
- Business law
- Economics
CPA Examination Services requires all educational transcripts and/or international evaluations. You may send official school transcripts and/or foreign evaluations individually or as part of your initial application.
Submitting Transcripts
If, at the time of application, you have completed the following educational requirements:
- Each school you attended must provide you with an authentic transcript. Transfer credits are not accepted; instead, a transcript from each institution must be submitted.
- The official transcripts issued by the Registrar’s Office must include the official seal.
- Your official transcript must include your degree.
- Official transcripts can be forwarded either electronically directly to the institution or through etranscript@nasba.org if an email address is needed.
- You can also submit your sealed official transcripts to CPA Examination Services.
- Photocopies of transcripts will not be accepted since they are not official.
If you completed your study at a university or college outside of the United States, an official transcript will be issued by a registrar from a university or college in the United States.
Credentials Evaluation
If you finished your educational requirements at a university or college outside of the United States, you must:
- get your qualifications reviewed by:
- NASBA International Evaluation Services
- Foreign Academic Credentials Service, Inc.
- request a form of service from the evaluation service agency,
- provide a translated copy of each international transcript utilized in the review.
- request the agency to review an equivalence summary indicating the similar academic degrees you possess in the United States.
At the time of application, CPAES must receive completed original evaluations directly from the evaluation service. Photocopies are not acceptable.
For each individual evaluation from the evaluation service, a copy of the foreign transcript must be provided with the report delivered to NASBA. Without these documents, the application will be considered incomplete, and progress will be halted until transcripts are delivered.
Pass the Uniform CPA Examination
The “Uniform CPA Examination”, which is a 4-part exam, is developed by the AICPA – the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and administered by NASBA – the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
The Four CPA Exam Sections are:
Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
The Auditing and Attestation (AUD) section of the Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) tests the essential knowledge and skills a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate when performing audit engagements, attestation engagements or accounting and review service engagements.
Newly licensed CPAs are required to:
- demonstrate knowledge and skills related to professional responsibilities, including ethics, independence and professional skepticism. Professional skepticism reflects an iterative process that includes a questioning mind and a critical assessment of audit evidence.
- understand the entity including its operations, information systems (including the use of third-party systems) and its underlying business processes, risks and related internal controls.
- understand the flow of transactions and underlying data through a business process and its related information systems.
Business Environment and Concepts (BEC)
The Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) section of the Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) tests knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate when performing:
- Audit, attest, accounting and review services
- Financial reporting
- Tax preparation
- Other professional services
The content areas tested under the BEC section of the Exam encompass five diverse subject areas. These content areas are enterprise risk management, internal controls and business processes, economics, financial management, information technology and operations management.
Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
The Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) assesses the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate in the financial accounting and reporting frameworks used by business entities (public and nonpublic), not-for-profit entities and state and local government entities.
The financial accounting and reporting frameworks that are eligible for assessment within the FAR section of the Exam include the standards and regulations issued by the:
- Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (U.S. SEC)
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
- Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
Regulation (REG)
The Regulation (REG) section of the Uniform CPA Examination (the Exam) tests the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must demonstrate with respect to:
- U.S. federal taxation
- U.S. ethics and professional responsibilities related to tax practice
- U.S. business law
Tips for Passing the CPA Exam
The CPA exam covers so many topics that you will need to study specifically for each section, usually for 6-8 weeks per section. Even a master’s degree in accounting doesn’t adequately prepare you to just walk in and pass the 4 CPA exams.
You will need a full review course such as Becker, Wiley CPA, Gleim, Roger, etc, and you will need to dedicate several hours a day over the course of months to even have a chance at getting passing scores.
How to Save Yourself MONTHS of Time and Frustration
Keep in mind that the CPA exam is the one part of getting your CPA license that you can control how long it takes. The education and experience requirements take as long as they take, but the CPA exams can take you as little as 6 months, or as long as multiple years… depending on how effective your study process is from the beginning.
Learn how to study strategically so you can save yourself tons of time and retake fees with this free training…
Rhode Island CPA Exam Cost Breakdown
The Rhode Island CPA exam cost consists of three main fees: an initial exam application fee of $170, a registration fee of $85, and the $238.15 per CPA exam section totaling $952.60 for all four sections.
Rhode Island does not charge a fee for the Initial Practice Unit application or its renewal application.
All first-time applicants are required to pay both an application fee and an examination fee upon submission of the first-time application. All re-examination applicants are required to pay both a registration fee and an examination fee at the time of re-exam registration.
| Application Fee | $170.00 |
| Registration Fee | $85.00 |
| Auditing and Attestation (AUD) | $238.15 |
| Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) | $238.15 |
| Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) | $238.15 |
| Regulation (REG) | $238.15 |
| Total for all 4 CPA Exam Sections | $952.60 |
Please be reminded that examination costs are non-refundable.
Rhode Island CPA Ethics Exam Requirements
To meet the Rhode Island CPA ethics exam requirements, candidates should complete a course from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) titled Professional Ethics: The AICPA’s Comprehensive Course (For Licensure). This is a self-study course and an exam will be administered after finishing the course. A candidate must pass with a score of 90% or higher.
You can take the exam online or by mail using a paper form. If you take the online version, you’ll have three chances to pass the exam.
How to Save Yourself MONTHS of Time and Frustration
Keep in mind that the CPA exam is the one part of getting your CPA license that you can control how long it takes. The education and experience requirements take as long as they take, but the CPA exams can take you as little as 6 months, or as long as multiple years… depending on how effective your study process is from the beginning.
Learn how to study strategically so you can save yourself tons of time and retake fees with this free training…
