Maryland requires 150 credit hours to earn a CPA license, however you may sit for the CPA exam after earning a bachelor’s degree and meeting the requirements below. The courses required by the state are very specific so it is important to pay close attention them. The work experience requirements are straightforward and require 1 year (2,000 hours) of work verified by an active US CPA.
To be eligible to sit for the CPA exam students must first fulfill these qualifications and requirements:
- Minimum age: 18
- U.S. Residency NOT Required
- State Residency Required
Education Requirements
- Bachelor degree or above with accounting concentration or substantial equivalent.
- 120 semester units from an accredited university or educational institution.
- General 27 semester hours of accounting and a minimum of 21 hours in related subjects plus 3 hours of ethics.
- Specific course requirement — there are two options known as Group I and Group II:
- 3 semester hours (credits) in each of these classes: 1. auditing, 2. cost accounting or managerial accounting, 3. U.S. Federal Income Tax, and 4. Ethics
- At least 9 hours in financial accounting courses
- At least 9 hours in elective accounting courses
- Please review the specific State Board Academic curriculum
- Courses in quantitative methods and computer information may be used to fulfill the requirements for business related courses.
- 21 undergraduate semester hours in 5 of the 9 subject areas: statistics, economics, corporation or business finance, management, marketing, U.S. business law, business communication, quantitative methods, and computer science/information systems.
- Please review the specific State Board Academic curriculum
MD CPA License Requirements
Education
- 150 semester hours
Work Experience
- 1 year of accounting experience (2,000 hours) verified and signed off by an active licensed CPA
*Please Note: All experience must be accumulated within 3 years of the license application
Ethics Exam
- Passing of the AICPA Ethics Exam (Cost of course is $149 or $119 for AICPA members)
Maryland CPA Exam Fees
The cost to take all four sections of the CPA exam in Maryland is $895 plus the initial $60 application fee.
| Auditing and Attestation (AUD) | $249 |
| Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) | $198 |
| Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) | $237 |
| Regulation (REG) | $211 |
| Application Fee: | $155 |
**Important Note: You should not apply and pay for exam sections that will not be taken within six months because your Notice to Schedule (NTS) in Maryland expires 6 months after issuance.
Additional CPA Requirements
- Pass all 4 sections of the CPA exam with a score of 75% or higher
- Complete verified accounting work experience
- Pass AICPA Ethics Exam
- Fill out and submit all required CPA license application paperwork
- Pay the CPA license application fee
MD Exam Information and Resources
Common Maryland CPA Application MistakesMaryland CPA Exam Application
For more details, please contact:
Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy
500 N. Calvert Street, Room 308
Baltimore, MD 21202-3651
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 410-230-6258
Fax: 410-333-6314
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Sydnie
Posted at 15 January, 2018 07:00 AM[* Shield plugin marked this comment as "trash". Reason: Failed GASP Bot Filter Test (comment token failure) *] Hello, For Maryland, does Graduate credits counts 1=1.5 credits? Since I only have 21 credits for my master program, I would like to confirm the rule if it is still the same as before. Thank you! Looking forward to your reply Best, Sydnie
Michael
Posted at 14 December, 2015 17:59 PMFor maryland what does the accumlated working within 3 years of application mean? I finally passed the CPA exam after 18 months of hard studying and didn't relaly have time to work. Now that I passed I'm looking for a job, but what happens if I don't get the relative experience within 3 years. Does my 4 exam scores expire. Do I have to retake the whole CPA exam over again?
Alex
Posted at 24 December, 2014 19:23 PMMaryland is one of the only states I have found that requires work experience to be accumulated within 3 years of application. If this work experience is not accumulated within that time frame, must applicants simply reapply for their CPA license or actually retake the entire CPA exam? Thanks so much for your help!