To become a CPA in Hawaii, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:
- Education: A bachelor’s degree and 18 upper-division accounting or auditing hours to sit for the exam; two licensure pathways – the traditional 150-hour route or, from 10 April 2025, a bachelor’s degree with three years of qualifying experience
- Exam: Pass all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam through NASBA’s CPA Examination Services, within an 18-month rolling credit window from the date each section is taken
- Experience: Either 1,500 chargeable audit hours in public accounting (full-time) or 2 years full-time experience under the traditional pathway; 3 years full-time under the bachelor’s pathway; Hawaii places no time limit on qualifying experience
- Ethics: No separate ethics exam required for CPA licensure in Hawaii
- Citizenship and SSN: US citizenship, US national status, or unrestricted US work authorisation is required for the CPA licence; SSN is required once USCIS authorisation is confirmed; no residency, citizenship, or SSN required to sit for the exam
- Licensure and CPE: Hawaii issues a CPA licence and a separate Permit to Practice; licences and permits expire biannually on 31 December of each odd-numbered year; passing the CPA exam earns CPE credit toward the Permit to Practice
Hawaii introduced an alternative licensure pathway on 10 April 2025. Senate Bill 1291 (Act 014), signed into law on 10 April 2025, added a new route to CPA licensure that removes the 30-credit-hour requirement beyond a bachelor’s degree.
Under the new pathway, candidates with a bachelor’s degree can qualify for a Hawaii CPA licence by completing three years of qualifying full-time experience rather than the traditional two years.
This means the experience commitment increases by one year in exchange for eliminating the extra 30 credits. The traditional 150-hour pathway continues alongside the new route.
The sections below cover education, the exam itself, experience, ethics, international candidates, ongoing CPE, and answers to frequently asked questions in detail.
Hawaii CPA requirements: quick summary
| CPA requirement | Hawaii |
|---|---|
| Education to sit | Bachelor’s degree + 18 upper-division accounting or auditing hours |
| Licensure – traditional pathway | 150 semester hours + experience |
| Licensure – new pathway (from 10 Apr 2025) | Bachelor’s degree + 3 years full-time experience |
| CPA exam | Pass all 4 sections (AUD, FAR, REG + 1 discipline) |
| Work experience | 1,500 audit hours OR 2 years full-time (traditional); 3 years full-time (bachelor’s pathway) |
| Ethics requirement | No separate ethics exam |
| Credit window | 18 months from the date each section is taken |
| CPE (Permit to Practice) | 80 hours per 24-month biennial period, 4 hours ethics |
| Tier system | Two-tier – CPA licence + Permit to Practice (PTP) |
| Minimum age | 18 |
| Residency | Not required |
| Citizenship / work authorisation | Required for licence; not required for exam |
| SSN | Required for licence; not required for exam |
Hawaii’s 18-month credit window starts from the exam date, not the score release date. Most US states now use a 30-month rolling window that begins when scores are released.
Hawaii retains the 18-month window, and the clock starts from the actual date each section is taken – not from when results arrive.
Candidates who sit in Hawaii should plan their section order carefully; the gap between taking a section and receiving the score can meaningfully compress the time available to pass the remaining sections.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPA education requirements in Hawaii?
Hawaii separates the education threshold for sitting the exam from the requirements for the CPA licence, and offers two routes to licensure.
Requirements to sit for the exam
To be eligible to apply for the CPA Exam as a Hawaii candidate, you must meet one of:
- A bachelor’s degree in accounting from a regionally or nationally accredited four-year institution; OR
- A bachelor’s degree in any subject from an accredited four-year institution, plus 18 semester (27 quarter) hours of upper division or graduate level accounting or auditing courses; OR
- A bachelor’s degree equivalent in accounting from a non-US institution, with an equivalency evaluation from NIES
All education requirements must be met at the time of application, or within 120 days of taking the first exam section. A Certificate of Enrollment form (signed by an authorised college official) must be submitted if you are still enrolled at the time of application.
Two licensure pathways
| Hawaii licensure | Traditional pathway | New pathway (from 10 Apr 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Education | 150 semester (225 quarter) hours including bachelor’s degree + 24 accounting hours (18 upper-div/grad) + 24 business-related hours | Bachelor’s degree |
| Experience | 1,500 chargeable audit hours OR 2 years full-time | 3 years full-time |
| CPA exam | Pass all 4 sections | Pass all 4 sections |
| US work authorisation | Required | Required |
Under the traditional pathway, the 24 semester hours in accounting must include financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and managerial accounting, of which 18 hours are at upper-division or graduate level. The 24 business-related hours cover accounting, auditing, taxation, management services, computer science, economics, business law, finance, functional fields of business, quantitative applications, communication skills, business ethics, and related areas.
Education exemption for experienced out-of-state CPAs: If you have held a valid CPA licence from another US state for at least 10 consecutive years and have been in active public accountancy practice for at least 5 of those years, you may be eligible for a waiver of Hawaii’s education requirements. Submit Form CPA-05 with a signed statement from your home-state Board confirming you meet these conditions.
For a full breakdown of total CPA exam costs including study materials, see our CPA exam cost guide. For help choosing a CPA review course, our guide covers all major providers.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPA exam requirements in Hawaii?
Hawaii is a CPAES state. All exam applications are submitted through the NASBA CPA Portal. Only one section may be applied for per application.
| Detail | Hawaii |
|---|---|
| Education evaluation fee (one-time) | $96.00 |
| Exam application fee (per section) | $96.00 |
| Exam section fee | $268.59 |
| Total exam fees, 4 sections | $1,554.36 ($96 eval + ($96 + $268.59) × 4) |
| NTS validity | 6 months |
| Credit window | 18 months from the date the section is taken |
| Residency required | No |
| Citizenship required | No |
| SSN required | No |
| Minimum age | 18 |
The 18-month credit window: credit for any section passed is valid for 18 months from the actual date the section was taken. All four sections must be passed within a rolling 18-month period starting from the date the first section was passed. Credit expires section by section – not all at once – so a candidate who passes AUD in January has until June of the following year to pass the remaining three sections.
Official transcripts must be sent directly from each institution’s registrar to CPA Examination Services. Photocopies are not accepted. Transfer credits must be evidenced by a transcript from the originating institution; they cannot be accepted from a receiving institution’s transcript alone.
Community college credits are acceptable only when transferred into a regionally accredited four-year institution. Correspondence and online courses are acceptable when credit is received at a regionally accredited university.
The Hawaii Prometric test centre is located at 1132 Bishop Street, downtown Honolulu. Candidates may also sit at any approved Prometric centre in the United States.
For a full breakdown of total CPA exam costs, see our CPA exam cost guide.
What are the CPA experience requirements in Hawaii?
Hawaii’s experience framework has three notable characteristics: full-time employment is required (no part-time), there is no time limit on qualifying experience, and experience gained outside the US qualifies if performed under US GAAP and GAAS.
Experience options
| Experience requirements | Traditional pathway | New pathway (from 10 Apr 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Option 1 | 1,500 chargeable hours in audits using GAAP and GAAS, earned on a full-time basis in public accounting | 3 years of full-time experience (35+ hrs/wk) |
| Option 2 | 2 years full-time (35+ hrs/wk) in public accounting, private industry, government, or education | Same – see note |
| Full-time definition | 35 or more hours per week | 35 or more hours per week |
| Supervision | Licensed CPA (in any of the 55 US jurisdictions during supervision period) | Same |
| Verification | Form CPA-14 from employer/supervisor with specific starting/ending dates and description of duties | Same |
| Experience window | None – experience from any period qualifies | None |
No time limit on experience: Hawaii is one of very few states with no window on qualifying experience. Experience earned many years before applying counts toward the requirement; the Board explicitly states it does not differentiate between recent and earlier experience. Candidates returning to CPA licensure after a career gap should note this.
Combining experience from multiple organisations: permitted. Candidates may draw on experience from one or several employers to fulfil the requirement.
International experience: qualifies provided the work was performed in accordance with US accounting principles and auditing standards.
Combining audit hours and general experience: the two options cannot be mixed (e.g. 750 audit hours + 1 year general experience does not satisfy the 1,500-hour option). However, if the chargeable audit hours can be verified as having been earned in one year, that year can be added to one year of general experience to total two years.
New pathway note: Under the bachelor’s pathway (three years total), any year of qualifying 1,500 audit hours may count as one of the three years. Experience settings and supervision requirements are the same as the traditional pathway.
Licence fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Initial CPA licence – issued in an odd year | $139.00 ($25 application + $64 licence + $50 Compliance Resolution Fund) |
| Initial CPA licence – issued in an even year | $215.00 ($25 application + $64 licence + $100 CRF + $26 half-renewal) |
| CPA licence biennial renewal | $152.00 |
| CPA licence restoration (expired/forfeited) | $204.00 |
| PTP – sole practitioner/partner/principal | $155.00 ($25 application + $130 PTP fee) |
| PTP – staff member | $63.00 ($25 application + $38 PTP fee) |
| Firm PTP – sole proprietorship (odd year) | $89.00 |
| Firm PTP – partnership/LLC/corporation (odd year) | $230.00 |
Biennial renewal: all CPA licences and permits expire on 31 December of each odd-numbered year. There is no grace period; practising without a current licence and permit to practice constitutes unlicensed activity. Renewal forms are sent to the address of record approximately six weeks before the expiration date.
What are the CPA ethics requirements in Hawaii?
Hawaii does not require a separate ethics exam for initial CPA licensure. The certification requirements are education, CPA exam, experience, and citizenship or work authorisation – no AICPA Professional Ethics exam appears among them.
Ethics is addressed through ongoing CPE: 4 hours of CPE in ethics or professional conduct are required to renew a CPA licence, and the same 4 hours are included within the 80-hour CPE requirement for the Permit to Practice. There is no standalone ethics exam at either the initial or renewal stage.
What are the CPA requirements for international candidates in Hawaii?
| Detail | Hawaii |
|---|---|
| Citizenship/work authorisation – exam | Not required |
| Citizenship/work authorisation – licence | Required: US citizen, US national, or alien authorised to work in the US without conditions |
| SSN – exam | Not required |
| SSN – licence | Required once USCIS authorisation is confirmed |
| Residency | Not required |
| Minimum age | 18 |
| Foreign credential evaluation | NIES only – no other service accepted |
| Conditional approval | Available for candidates who meet all requirements except USCIS work authorisation |
International candidates may sit for the CPA Exam as Hawaii candidates without citizenship, residency, or an SSN. However, a Hawaii CPA licence requires US citizenship, US national status, or unrestricted US work authorisation. This requirement has been in effect since 17 June 2003 (Board policy effective under HRS §436B-10 and federal law).
Conditional approval:
- the Board will issue a conditional approval to applicants who satisfy all education, experience, and examination requirements but have not yet obtained the required USCIS work authorisation. The conditional approval is not a licence and does not authorise practice.
- It is valid for two years – applicants must obtain USCIS authorisation within that period or reapply for licensure at the requirements then in effect. Once authorised, applicants must also provide their SSN under federal law 45 U.S.C. §666(a)(13)(A).
For candidates with education completed outside the United States, NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES) is the only Board-approved evaluator – for both the exam application and the licence application. No other evaluation service is accepted at either stage. The evaluation must include an equivalency summary, credential analysis, course-by-course listing, and credit analysis, and must be received by CPAES or the Board directly from NIES.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPE requirements for CPAs in Hawaii?
Hawaii separates CPE requirements depending on whether a CPA holds a Permit to Practice.
| Requirement | CPA with Permit to Practice | CPA without Permit to Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Total hours per biennial period | 80 hours | Not required beyond ethics |
| Ethics | 4 hours | 4 hours |
| Earned within | 24 months prior to permit application/renewal | Per biennial renewal period |
| Annual minimum | 20 hours in each year of the biennial period | Not specified |
| Maximum carryover | 40 hours | 40 hours |
| CPE credit for passing CPA exam | 80 hours (if PTP filed within 2 years of passing); 40 hours (if filed within 3 years) | N/A |
| Biennial renewal deadline | 31 December of odd-numbered years | 31 December of odd-numbered years |
CPE prorating for new PTP holders: the Board prorates the CPE requirement for initial PTP applications based on the time remaining in the biennial period. The rate is 10 CPE hours per full quarter remaining. The biennial reporting period runs from 1 January of even-numbered years to 31 December of odd-numbered years.
CPE credit for passing the CPA exam: Hawaii uniquely credits CPE hours for passing the Uniform CPA Examination, but only when applying for the Permit to Practice. If you apply for your PTP within two years of being notified of passing, 80 CPE hours are credited. If you apply within three years of passing, 40 hours are credited. This credit may be used only once.
Graduate and undergraduate coursework as CPE: each semester credit earned in a qualifying graduate or undergraduate programme counts as 15 CPE hours, provided the subject qualifies for CPE credit and the courses were not previously used toward the CPA licence requirements.
Published articles and books: articles and books on qualifying subject matter earn CPE credit (with proof of publication) for a maximum of 20 CPE hours per biennium.
CPE sponsors: firms providing in-house training must be registered with the Board as a CPE sponsor, unless participating in the NASBA National Registry or approved by another state board of accountancy. Recognised accounting associations and accredited universities do not require registration.
FAQs
Not since 10 April 2025. SB 1291 (Act 014), signed that day, added a second licensure pathway allowing candidates with a bachelor’s degree to qualify for a Hawaii CPA licence with three years of qualifying full-time experience instead of the traditional 150 semester hours.
Under the new pathway the extra 30 credits are replaced by one additional year of experience – the standard two-year experience requirement becomes three years. The traditional 150-hour pathway continues and is not replaced.
Under the traditional pathway, most candidates take 4 to 5 years of education, 6 to 12 months to pass all four sections within the 18-month window, and up to 2 years of qualifying full-time experience.
Under the new bachelor’s pathway, the education phase is shorter but the experience commitment increases to 3 years. Hawaii’s 18-month credit window is tighter than most states, so the exam phase requires more focused planning.
Because Hawaii places no time limit on qualifying experience, candidates whose careers have included eligible accounting work – even years ago – can count that experience toward licensure.
No direct reciprocity – CPAs licensed in other US states must qualify and apply for a Hawaii CPA licence in the same way as initial applicants.
However, if you have held a valid CPA licence from another US state for at least 10 consecutive years and have been in active practice for at least 5 of those years, you may qualify for a waiver of Hawaii’s education requirements. Submit Form CPA-05 with verification from your home-state Board to apply for this exemption.
Use the NASBA Mobility Tool to verify whether a Hawaii CPA can practise in a specific other state without a separate licence.
Hawaii CPAs serve an economy defined by tourism, hospitality, federal government and military spending, healthcare, and real estate. Honolulu is the dominant professional market, home to major hotel groups, hospital systems, construction firms, and the significant federal and state government presence that comes with a capital city. The military installations across Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island generate demand for government contract accounting, audit, and compliance work. Cost of living is among the highest in the US, which is reflected in Hawaii CPA compensation relative to mainland equivalents. For detailed salary benchmarks by experience level and sector, see our CPA salary guide.
US citizenship is not required but US citizenship, US national status, or unrestricted US work authorisation is. International candidates can sit for the exam in Hawaii without any citizenship or work status requirement.
For the licence, candidates who meet all other requirements but are still awaiting USCIS authorisation can obtain a conditional approval from the Board, valid for two years, while they resolve their immigration status.
Once work authorisation is confirmed and an SSN is provided, the full licence will be issued. Foreign-educated candidates must use NIES for credential evaluation; it is the only Board-approved service at both the exam and licence stages.
In most cases, yes. Hawaii CPAs in good standing may be able to practise in other states under NASBA’s mobility framework, provided Hawaii is their principal place of business.
Candidates who licence under the new bachelor’s degree pathway should verify education requirements with target states before providing services there, as many still require 150 credit hours for reciprocal purposes.
Because Hawaii does not have direct reciprocity with other states, out-of-state CPAs who establish Hawaii as their principal place of business will generally need to apply for a Hawaii licence directly. Use the NASBA Mobility Tool to check specific states.
For the most current requirements, application forms, and Board meeting schedules, visit the Hawaii Board of Public Accountancy.
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