Mississippi is one of the few states that require both residency status and 150 credit hours of college courses in order to sit for the exam as well as obtain a CPA license.
These rules are pretty strict compared with other state requirements because the 150-hour rule includes at least a bachelor’s degree in accounting along with specific courses.
Let’s take a look at what you need to do to take the exam and get licensed.
Mississippi CPA Exam Requirements
Contents
In order to be eligible to sit for the exam in Mississippi, candidates must meet the following personal qualifications and educational requirements.
- No minimum age limit
- Not Required to be a US citizen
- Must be an MS resident
- Valid Social Security Number required
- MS does not participate in the International Examination Program
Educational Requirements to Sit
Mississippi enacted a full 150-credit rule that does not allow candidates to sit for the exam until they have completed at least a bachelor’s degree and other courses. Students usually accomplish this by either double majoring or getting a master’s degree after their undergraduate. Here’s what you will need to do:
Bachelor’s Degree (at least 120 semester hours) or higher including:
- 24 credit hours of upper level Accounting including:
- 3 hours in financial accounting
- 3 hours in auditing
- 3 hours in cost accounting
- 3 hours in taxation
- 24 credit hours of General Business courses including: Management, Finance, Business Law, and Computer Information Systems
Unfortunately, MS does not currently allow student candidates to sit for the exam until all of the CPA educational requirements and colleges courses have been completed.
Exam Fees
The total cost to take the CPA exam in Mississippi is $879.08 including an initial one-time $150 application fee. The cost for each section is listed below.
| AUD – Audit | $192.03 |
| FAR – Financial Accounting and Reporting | $192.03 |
| BEC – Business Environment and Concepts | $172.51 |
| REG – Regulation | $172.51 |
The fees are typically based on the duration of the exam. That’s why the FAR and AUD exams cost the most.
IMPORTANT – Don’t try to get ahead of yourself and register for all four sections at once. Your notice to schedule will expire if you don’t take the exam in 6 months and you will have to re-register. The bummer is you will have to pay again in order to register. Re-registration application fees are $100 and varied depending on how many you register for, so only sign up for the exams that you are ready to sit for in the next 6 months.
CPA License Requirements
The whole exam process can be kind of overwhelming when you first start looking into it. It’s okay! You can make it. Applying and registering for the test is just the first step in becoming a CPA in MS. Once you pass the exam, there are a few simple things you have to do before you can legally call yourself a Certified Public Accountant.
It’s important to know that you must obtain your license within 5 years from passing the exam. Here is the basic process.
Pass the Exam
You’ll have to pass all four sections of the exam with a score of at least 75 in an 18-month period.
Paperwork
Submit all the required paperwork to the state board usually includes transcripts, license application, and proof of work experience.
Fees
Pay the license/certification fees with your application.
Ethics Exam
Take and pass the AICPA Professional Ethics exam (found on the AICPA website). Currently, the Ethics exam is a CPA license requirement for most states.
Additional Education
Since MS requires that you complete 150 hours before you are eligible to take the exam, there are no more additional courses that you need to take.
Continuing Professional Education
After you become a licensed CPA, you will need to complete continuing education each year to keep your license current. Mississippi requires active CPAs to complete at least 80 hours of CPE every two years. This continuing education can include self-study CPA courses as well as online training course offers by approved CPE providers.
Work Experience Requirements
Mississippi requires CPA candidates to complete a one-year work experience requirement before they are eligible to become licensed. The work experience must be completed after you pass all four sections of the exam and include:
1-year or 2,000 hours of general accounting and auditing skills in Public Accounting, Governmental Accounting, or Private Industry supervised and verified by a CPA in good standing.
Note: Universities and academic settings will not fulfill the work experience requirements. You cannot use teaching experience as part of your work experience because teaching at a college level does not involve performing accounting procedures and your work is not supervised by another certified public accountant.
More Mississippi CPA Exam Resources
I know gathering your paperwork to be mail to the state, the application process, and taking the exam can be pretty involved. It can be even worse if you transferred to multiple colleges during your undergraduate program. Yes, the Mississippi state board needs proof of all of your education. This means so you’ll need to send in transcripts from every college you’ve attended. This can be a pain. I know.
This is why I think it’s always a good idea to contact the state board directly. You can find out what they already have on file and more importantly what they need to complete your application. Nothing is worse than finding out they need something after the fact.
For example, sometimes the state doesn’t receive your test scores from Prometrics. Unfortunately, most state boards rarely notify you that something is missing. Directly contacting the board is the fastest way to confirm that they have everything they need before you get too far along in the process.
Here is the contact info for the state board.
