To become a CPA in Illinois, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:
- Education: 120 semester hours to sit for the exam; 150 hours to certify
- Exam: Pass all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam, plus the AICPA Ethics Exam
- Experience: 1 year of qualifying work experience
- Certification then licensure: Illinois is a two-tier state, so you’ll first receive certification from the Illinois Board of Examiners (ILBOE), then apply separately for your license through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR)
- International candidates: No citizenship, residency, or Social Security Number required
- CPE: Maintain your license with 120 hours of CPE every 3 years
Illinois is introducing two new education and experience pathways from 1 January 2027, running alongside the existing 150-hour requirement.
The sections below cover education, the exam itself, experience, ethics, international candidates, ongoing CPE, and answers to frequently asked questions in detail.
Illinois CPA requiments: Quick summary
| CPA Requirement | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Hours to sit for exam | 120 semester hours |
| Hours to certify | 150 semester hours (new pathways from 1 Jan 2027) |
| CPA exam | Pass all 4 sections (AUD, FAR, REG + 1 discipline) |
| Work experience | 1 year |
| Ethics requirement | AICPA Ethics Exam, 90% passing score |
| Credit window | 30 months, rolling |
| CPE | 120 hours per 3 years |
| Tier system | Two-tier (certification, then separate licensure) |
| International candidates | No citizenship, residency, or SSN required |
From 1 January 2027, Illinois will offer two additional pathways alongside the current 150-hour requirement:
- a bachelor’s degree with an accounting concentration plus 2 years of experience, or
- a master’s degree with an accounting concentration plus 1 year of experience.
- The existing 150-hour pathway remains available too.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPA education requirements in Illinois?
Illinois separates what you need to sit for the exam from what you need to certify afterward, and evaluates your education under one of four options depending on your degree and its accreditation.
To sit for the CPA exam:
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total credit hours | 120 semester hours |
| Accounting coursework | 24 semester hours |
| Business coursework | 12 semester hours |
| Degree | Bachelor’s or graduate degree from a Board-recognized accredited institution |
To certify (current 150-hour pathway):
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total credit hours | 150 semester hours |
| Accounting coursework | 30 semester hours, including one course each in financial accounting, managerial accounting, tax, and audit |
| Business coursework | 24 semester hours, including 2 hours of business communications and 2 hours of business ethics |
If you hold a graduate accounting degree from an AACSB- or ACBSP-accredited program, you automatically qualify under Option 1, with no additional coursework breakdown required beyond the 150 total hours.
A graduate business degree from a similarly accredited program (Option 2) qualifies you on similar terms. Bachelor’s degree holders and graduate degree holders without that specific accreditation are evaluated under Option 4, where the detailed accounting/business breakdown above applies.
CPA review courses (including Becker) can count toward your education if your school offers them for credit and they’re taught by your institution’s own faculty – up to 6 semester hours toward your accounting requirement, and up to 6 more toward your total hour requirement.
Quarter credit hours convert to semester hours by multiplying by two-thirds, and credits totaling .6 or higher round up, while .5 or lower round down.
If your education was completed outside the US, Illinois relies entirely on NASBA’s evaluation of your transcripts – the ILBOE doesn’t conduct its own foreign credential review.
What are the CPA exam requirements in Illinois?
| Detail | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Pre-evaluation fee (optional) | $50 (not deducted from official evaluation fee) |
| Credentials evaluation fee (domestic, one-time) | $200 |
| Credentials evaluation fee (foreign or mixed) | $200 |
| Initial Exam Request fee | $40 (1 section), $76 (2 sections), $108 (3 sections), $120 (4 sections) |
| Registration fee per section | None (ILBOE sends authorization directly to NASBA) |
| Payment Coupon validity | 90 days from issue |
| Exam section fee | $268.59 |
| Total exam fees, 4 sections (domestic) | $1,434.36 ($268.59 x4 + $200 eval + $40×4 exam request assuming 1 section per request) |
| Credit window | 30 months, rolling from score release date |
| NTS validity | 6 months from Payment Coupon payment date |
| Citizenship/residency required | No |
| Social Security Number required |
To apply, open an account with the ILBOE and submit a credentials evaluation application along with official transcripts from every post-secondary institution you’ve attended.
If you’re still completing coursework, provisional approval is automatically granted as long as you list your current classes on the application.
Once approved, you’ll set up a NASBA account, pay for your exam sections, and receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS) for each one through Prometric.
You can take the four sections in any order, and must pass all of them within a 30-month rolling window starting from your first passing score.
Adding a Social Security Number to your application isn’t required, but it can ease your later licensure application with the IDFPR, since NASBA also charges an identity verification fee with each NTS regardless.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPA experience requirements in Illinois?
| Detail | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Experience required | 1 year, full-time or equivalent |
| Full-time calculation | 12 months, averaging at least 20 workdays/month (1,500+ hours annually) |
| Part-time equivalence | 2,000 hours over more than 1 year but less than 4 years |
| Supervision requirement | Not required to be under a licensed CPA |
| Acceptable experience types | Accounting, attest, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills |
Illinois is notably flexible here: your experience doesn’t need to be supervised by a CPA, and can be gained through government, industry, academia, or public practice.
It does need to come after you’ve completed the education required to sit for the exam, and only work experience reflected on a transcript (such as internship credit) factors into your ILBOE education evaluation – general employment experience is assessed separately when you apply for your license through the IDFPR.
License fees
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Initial licence application | $120.00 |
| Annual license renewal | $40.00 ($120 per 3 year cycle) |
What are the CPA ethics requirements in Illinois?
Illinois doesn’t have its own state-specific ethics exam – instead, certification requires passing the AICPA’s Ethics Exam, taken after completing the AICPA’s Professional Ethics: The AICPA’s Comprehensive Course. You’ll need a minimum score of 90% to qualify for certification.
You can take this exam at any point during your CPA exam journey, and it never expires, with no deadline by which you must complete it. Once you pass, you’ll need to submit your certificate to the ILBOE (electronically or by indicating Illinois as a recipient when you take the exam) before they’ll issue your official certification letter.
What are the CPA requirements for international candidates in Illinois?
| Detail | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Citizenship required | No |
| Residency required | No |
| Social Security Number required | No |
| Foreign education evaluation | Yes, conducted by NASBA (ILBOE doesn’t evaluate foreign credentials directly) |
| Candidates with both foreign and domestic credits | Must apply to both NASBA and ILBOE separately |
Illinois doesn’t require US citizenship, state residency, or a Social Security Number to sit for the exam or get certified, making it a popular choice among Canadian and other international candidates.
The ILBOE relies entirely on NASBA’s evaluation for any foreign academic credentials – if your credits total 12 or fewer domestic semester hours, NASBA’s lower-cost “Evaluation for CPA Exam and/or Licensure” applies rather than its full Credential Evaluation service.
Jump to: Education | Exam | Experience | Ethics | International candidates | CPE | FAQ
What are the CPE requirements for CPAs in Illinois?
| Detail | Illinois |
|---|---|
| Total CPE | 120 hours per 3-year cycle |
| Ethics CPE | 4 hours |
| Sexual harassment prevention training | 1 hour |
| First renewal | Exempt from CPE entirely |
| Non-verifiable CPE cap | 60 hours per renewal period |
| Renewal fee | $40/year ($120 per 3-year cycle) |
| Renewal cycle | Triennial, expires 30 September |
Illinois CPAs renew their license every three years, with all renewals expiring on the same date (30 September) regardless of when you were first licensed. Your first renewal as a newly certified CPA is exempt from the CPE requirement entirely. After that, within your 120 hours, at least 4 hours must be in professional ethics and 1 hour in sexual harassment prevention training, both from a recognized sponsor (AICPA, the Illinois CPA Society, an accredited college, NASBA, or any IDFPR-licensed CPE sponsor).
Illinois caps several CPE types per three-year period: 60 hours if you’re instructing or leading a course, 80 hours combined for interactive and non-interactive self-study, and 30 hours for publishing an article, book, or developing a CPE course. Non-verifiable CPE – things like professional reading or consultation with outside experts – is capped at 60 hours total per renewal period.
FAQs about Illinois CPA requirements
No – Illinois requires at least 120 semester hours of education (a bachelor’s or graduate degree) to sit for the exam, with no work-experience alternative to formal education under the current rules. This will change slightly from 1 January 2027, when new pathways allow certification with a bachelor’s degree plus 2 years of experience, or a master’s degree plus 1 year, instead of the standard 150-hour requirement, but a degree itself remains necessary either way.
Most candidates take 5-7 years total: around 4-5 years to complete 150 semester hours of education, 6-18 months to pass all four exam sections plus the AICPA Ethics Exam, and 1 year of work experience. Illinois’s flexible, unsupervised experience requirement can make this final stage easier to complete alongside your studies or early career.
Yes – Illinois recognizes reciprocal licensure for CPAs already certified or licensed in another jurisdiction. If you’ve passed all four exam sections elsewhere and have never held a license anywhere, you’d apply to the ILBOE for a Total Transfer of Credit; if you’ve already held a license in another state, you can bypass the ILBOE entirely and apply directly to the IDFPR for a reciprocal license.
Illinois also recognizes automatic mobility, letting an out-of-state licensed CPA serve clients in Illinois without obtaining an Illinois license, as long as their home state’s requirements are substantially equivalent to Illinois’s own.
CPA salaries in Illinois vary by region and industry, with Chicago’s financial district generally commanding a premium over the state average, reflecting the city’s concentration of major accounting and financial firms. For a full breakdown by experience level and specialization, see our CPA salary guide.
No – Illinois doesn’t require US citizenship, state residency, or a Social Security Number to sit for the exam or get certified, making it one of the more accessible states for international candidates.
Generally yes – Illinois is one of 55 jurisdictions recognized as substantially equivalent under the Uniform Accountancy Act, so a CPA licensed in good standing in Illinois can typically practice in other states without a new license, as long as Illinois remains your principal place of business. This is mobility, distinct from reciprocity, which you’d need if you permanently relocated your practice to another state.
Always verify specific rules with NASBA’s CPA Mobility Tool before practicing in a new state.
For the most current information, visit the Illinois Board of Examiners and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
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