Georgia CPA Requirements: Education, Exam & License Guide

To become a CPA in Georgia, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:

Education: 24 semester hours of accounting to sit for the exam; one of three pathways to license, depending on your degree
Exam: Pass all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam, within a rolling 30-month window
Experience: 1 or 2 years of qualifying work experience, depending on your licensure pathway
Ethics: No standalone ethics exam required
Immigration status: Georgia requires US citizenship, legal permanent residency, or qualified alien/non-immigrant status for licensure – a requirement not found in most other states
International candidates: No citizenship or SSN required to sit for the exam, but see immigration note above for licensure
Licensure & CPE: Apply through NASBA on behalf of the Georgia State Board of Accountancy, then maintain your license with 80 hours of CPE every 2 years

Georgia introduced three CPA licensure pathways from 1 January 2026, removing the previous single 150-hour route and making the path to licensure more flexible.

The sections below cover education, the exam itself, experience, ethics, international candidates, ongoing CPE, and answers to frequently asked questions in detail.

Georgia CPA requirements: Quick summary

CPA Requirement	Georgia
Hours to sit for exam	No total hour requirement – 24 accounting hours above introductory level
Hours to license	150 (Pathway 1) or master’s degree (Pathway 2) or 120 (Pathway 3, new)
CPA exam	Pass all 4 sections (AUD, FAR, REG + 1 discipline)
Work experience	1 year (Pathways 1 and 2) or 2 years (Pathway 3)
Ethics requirement	None – no standalone exam required
Credit window	30 months, rolling
CPE	80 hours per 2 years
Tier system	One-tier
Immigration status for licensure	US citizen, legal permanent resident, or qualified alien required

Georgia is one of the few states with an immigration status requirement for CPA licensure. To be eligible for a Georgia CPA license, you must be a US citizen, a legal permanent resident, or a qualified alien or non-immigrant under the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

There is no such restriction just to sit for the exam – but you cannot be licensed without meeting this requirement. See NASBA’s Georgia page for further details.

What are the CPA education requirements in Georgia?

Georgia has a single requirement to sit for the exam, and three separate pathways to get licensed afterward.

To sit for the CPA exam:

Requirement	Detail
Accounting coursework	24 semester hours (36 quarter hours) in accounting above introductory level
Total credit hours	No minimum total hours required just to sit
Degree	Bachelor’s or higher from an accredited institution

Georgia considers your first two college-level accounting courses to be introductory courses, so all 24 qualifying hours must come from courses beyond those first two. CLEP courses, commercial CPA review courses (like Becker, UWorld/Roger, Gleim etc.), and FEMA courses are not accepted.

Online and correspondence courses are acceptable if credit is awarded by a regionally accredited institution and appears on an official transcript. A maximum of 3 semester hours of accounting internship credit may count toward the accounting requirement.

Three pathways to licensure (effective 1 January 2026):

Detail	Pathway 1	Pathway 2	Pathway 3 (new)
Total credit hours	150 semester hours	No minimum total	120 semester hours
Degree	Bachelor’s	Master’s	Bachelor’s
Accounting concentration	30 hours above introductory level	Accounting or taxation concentration	30 hours above introductory level
Business coursework	24 upper-division hours	Included in master’s	24 upper-division hours
Work experience	1 year	1 year	2 years

Under Pathway 1, you can sit for the exam with just 24 accounting hours and complete the remaining coursework before applying for your license – you don’t need all 150 hours upfront.

Coursework completed as part of a Chartered Accountant or similar program is considered professional training and not accepted toward Georgia’s education requirements.

What are the CPA exam requirements in Georgia?

Accounting candidate viewing exam structure

Detail	Georgia
Education evaluation fee	$96 (one-time)
Registration fee per section	$96
Exam section fee	$268.59
Total exam fees, 4 sections + fees	$1,554.36 ($268.59 x4 + $96 eval + $96 x4)
Credit window	30 months, rolling from first passing score
Citizenship/residency required to sit	No
Citizenship/immigration required for licensure	Yes – US citizen, LPR, or qualified alien
Social Security Number required	Yes (licensure application)
Minimum age	18

Georgia’s exam application and processing is handled by NASBA’s CPA Examination Services on behalf of the State Board. To apply:

Sign up for an Okta account through NASBA’s CPA Portal (dashboard.nasba.org)
Submit an education evaluation application ($96) with official transcripts from every institution you attended – transcripts must be sent directly from your school, not by you
Once approved, apply for each exam section separately ($96 per section application fee) and receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS)
Book your exam through Prometric using the NTS

You should only apply for a section if you are ready to take it within the next six months, as NTS fees are non-refundable. Once you pass your first section, your 30-month rolling credit window begins from that section’s score release date.

License fees

Fee	Amount
Initial licence	$140.00
Annual license renewal	$100.00

What are the CPA experience requirements in Georgia?

Detail	Georgia
Pathway 1 or 2 experience	1 year, 2,000 hours
Pathway 3 experience	2 years, 4,000 hours
Supervision requirement	Licensed CPA (except government/college teaching roles)
Acceptable experience types	Public accounting, business, industry, government, or college teaching
Experience timing	Must have been earned no earlier than 1 year prior to application
Break allowance	Breaks in service up to 1 year in duration are permitted

Your experience must be supervised by a person holding a live CPA permit, with two exceptions:

Government: supervision required, but supervisor doesn’t need a CPA license
College teaching: supervision required, but supervisor doesn’t need a CPA license; must teach at a 4-year college or university in at least two different accounting courses above the introductory level

Georgia requires all work experience to have been earned no earlier than one year before your license application date. Experience earned more than a year before you apply won’t count, even if it otherwise meets the requirements.

What are the CPA ethics requirements in Georgia?

Georgia does not require a standalone ethics exam for CPA licensure – one of a small number of states with no pre-licensure ethics exam requirement.

Ethics is instead covered through your ongoing CPE: 4 hours of ethics CPE are required every two-year renewal period, including 1 hour specifically covering Georgia Board laws, rules, and policies.

This Board-specific hour must come from an approved provider – national ethics courses alone don’t satisfy the Georgia-specific component.

What are the CPA requirements for international candidates in Georgia?

Detail	Georgia
Residency required to sit for exam	No
SSN required to sit for exam	No
Immigration status required for licensure	Yes – US citizen, LPR, or qualified alien/non-immigrant
Foreign transcript evaluation	Required via NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES)
Chartered Accountant coursework accepted	No – considered professional training, not academic coursework

Georgia is one of the few states that restricts CPA licensure based on immigration status. While there is no citizenship or SSN requirement to sit for the exam itself, you must be a US citizen, a legal permanent resident, or a qualified alien or non-immigrant under the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act to obtain a Georgia CPA license. See NASBA’s Georgia page for the most current guidance on this requirement.

If your education was completed outside the US, your transcripts must be evaluated by NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES) specifically – the evaluation must be directed to CPAES and include:

An equivalency summary showing the analogous US academic degree
A credential analysis (country, degree, year, awarding entity)
A course-by-course listing
A course credit analysis (total credits, accounting credits, business credits)

Coursework completed as part of a Chartered Accountant program is considered professional training by Georgia and will not count toward the education requirements.

What are the CPE requirements for CPAs in Georgia?

Detail	Georgia
Total CPE	80 hours per 2-year reporting period
Annual minimum	20 hours per year
Technical fields minimum	50% of total (40 hours)
Ethics CPE	4 hours (including 1 hour Georgia Board-specific)
Non-technical carry-forward	Up to 15 hours from previous period
First year of licensure	No CPE required
Licensed 1-2 years at first renewal	40 hours (including 4 hours ethics with 1 hour GA-specific)
Age 70+ exemption	Fully exempt from CPE
License renewal fee	$100
Renewal cycle	Biennial, expires 31 December of odd-numbered years

At least half of your 80 CPE hours must be in technical fields of study – accounting, auditing, business law, economics, finance, information technology, management services, regulatory ethics, specialized knowledge, statistics, or taxes.

Up to 15 hours of non-technical CPE from one period can carry forward to the next, but carry-forward hours can’t be used to satisfy the technical field requirement. CPE records must be kept for 5 years and submitted to the Board if audited.

FAQs

Can you become a CPA without a degree in Georgia?

No – Georgia requires at least a bachelor’s degree (or master’s) from an accredited institution to sit for the exam and get licensed. There’s no work-experience-only route to CPA licensure in Georgia.

Under the new Pathway 3, candidates with a bachelor’s degree and 120 semester hours can now license without 150 total hours, in exchange for 2 years of experience instead of 1 – but a degree remains essential.

How long does it take to become a CPA in Georgia?

Most candidates take 5-7 years total: around 4 years for a bachelor’s degree, 6-18 months to pass all four exam sections, and 1-2 years of work experience depending on your pathway.

Georgia’s new Pathway 3 can save candidates significant time previously spent completing extra coursework to reach 150 semester hours.

Does Georgia have CPA reciprocity?

Yes – Georgia recognizes reciprocal licensure for CPAs from substantially equivalent states, processed through NASBA. However, Georgia requires reciprocal applicants to meet Georgia’s own education requirements, even if already licensed elsewhere – a stricter condition than many states.

If you live in Georgia, you must hold an active Georgia license to use the CPA designation. Apply through NASBA’s licensing portal rather than directly with the State Board.

What does the average CPA make in Georgia?

CPA salaries in Georgia vary by region and specialization, with Atlanta generally offering the most competitive salaries given the state’s concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters and major accounting firms.

Georgia’s Department of Labor has projected over 4,250 annual job openings for accountants and auditors through 2032. For a full breakdown, see our CPA salary guide.

Do I need to be a US citizen to become a CPA in Georgia?

You don’t need to be a US citizen just to sit for the CPA exam in Georgia – there’s no citizenship, residency, or SSN requirement for the exam itself.

However, Georgia is one of the few states that requires US citizenship, legal permanent residency, or qualified alien/non-immigrant status to obtain a CPA license.

If you’re an international candidate without qualifying immigration status, you can sit for the exam but may not be able to license in Georgia – check with the Georgia State Board or NASBA for current guidance.

Can a Georgia CPA practice in other states?

Generally yes – Georgia is one of 55 jurisdictions recognized as substantially equivalent under the Uniform Accountancy Act, so a CPA licensed in good standing in Georgia can typically practice in other states without a new license, as long as Georgia remains your principal place of business. This is mobility, distinct from reciprocity, which you’d need if you permanently relocated your practice.

Always verify specific rules with NASBA’s CPA Mobility Tool before practicing in a new state.

For the most current information, visit the Georgia State Board of Accountancy and NASBA’s Georgia page.

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