Illinois Accounting Requirements

To be admitted to take the examination for the first time after January 1, 2001, a candidate for the Illinois CPA examination must have successfully completed at least 150 semester hours of acceptable credit including a baccalaureate or higher degree. The semester hours accepted by the Board must include an accounting concentration or its equivalent. A candidate will be deemed to have met the education requirement if, as part of the 150 semester hours of education as determined by the Board, he or she has met any one of the four conditions listed below.

Acceptable credit recognized by the Board is:

a) credit earned from a college or university which is a candidate for or is accredited by a regional accrediting association which is a member of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)

b) credit earned at a business school or college of business within the educational institution that is accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), or

c) Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). With each of the conditions listed below, accounting hours do not include business law, and no more than six semester hours of accounting may be obtained through internships or life -experience credit posted on a college transcript.

1) Earned a graduate degree with a concentration in accounting from a program that is accredited in accounting by an accrediting agency recognized by the Board.

2) Earned a graduate degree from a program that is accredited in business by an accrediting agency recognized by the Board and completed at least 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate level or 15 semester hours at the graduate level or equivalent combination thereof, including courses covering the subjects of financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting.

3) Earned a baccalaureate degree from a program that is accredited in business by an accrediting agency recognized by the Board and completed 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate or graduate level, including courses covering the subjects of financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting; and completed at least 24 semester hours of business courses, or substantially equivalent (other than accounting) courses, at the undergraduate or graduate level.

4) Earned a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited educational institution or other institution recognized by the Board, including at least 24 semester hours of accounting at the undergraduate and/or graduate levelwith at least one course each in financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting and at least 24 semester hours in business courses or substantially equivalent (other than accounting) courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.
All candidates must satisfy all educational requirements at the time the application for the exam is submitted to the Board of Examiners.

For all purposes above, the formula for conversion of quarter hours to semester hours is as follows. This conversion only applies to domestic institutions. Credit equivalencies of international schools vary from institution to institution.
1 quarter hour = 2/3 sem. hour; 2 quarter hours = 1-1/3 sem. hours; 3 quarter hours = 2 sem. hours; 4 quarter hours = 2-2/3 sem. hours; 5 quarter hours = 3-/13 sem. hours

Courses acceptable toward the 24 hours in business are:
Economics, Business Law, Marketing, Finance, Business and Technical Communication, Business Ethics, International Business, Legal and Social Environment of Business, Management, Business/Management Information Systems, Quantitative Methods and Statistic courses taught by the accounting department.

Other courses are subject to review by the Board of Examiners.

The additional 30 hours beyond the bachelor’s degree can be at the graduate or undergraduate level at two- or four-year schools acceptable to the board.

If a candidate wrote the exam as an Illinois candidate before January 1, 2001, he has locked in the current educational requirements provided his status to write the exam does not change due to non-completion of courses in progress. He
does not need to condition or pass before that date to lock in the current requirements. On the paper and pencil examination, a candidate had unlimited tries to pass the CPA exam in Illinois until which time he conditioned (passed two
or three parts with a minimum of 50 in failed sections). After the exam at which he conditioned, he had three years to write all failed parts and pass the exam.

In addition, a candidate who wrote for another jurisdiction before January 1, 2001, who met Illinois’ educational requirements at the time he wrote the exam would also be grandfathered under the current requirements. A candidate will
have to meet the Illinois’ 150-hour requirement if: 1) he writes the exam for the first time in any jurisdiction after January 1, 2001 or 2) at the time of writing the exam in another jurisdiction before 2001 did not meet Illinois’ 120-hour total educational/27 hour accounting requirement.

For more information, click here to visit the Illinois State Board of Accountancy.

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