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CPA Eligibility in 2008

For foreign educated candidates the best state for CPA registration is New Hampshire (NH).

New Hampshire requires candidates to have a four-year university degree with at least 120 total US semester hours (equivalent of four years). Of this 120 hours, 12 semester hours must be in accounting and 12 semester hours must be in related business courses.

If a candidate does not meet the NH requirements, they will need to take additional tests in order to become eligible, as outlined below.

Evaluating your Education

In order for a foreign educated individual to demonstrate their eligibility for the exam, their foreign education must be evaluated. The education evaluation that needs to be done must include the Supplemental CPA Report that includes the number of accounting and business hours earned.

We recommend that you have your education evaluated as soon as you have decided that you would like to take the CPA exam. This process generally takes about 10 days. With the evaluation, you will know if you are eligible to take the CPA exam, or if you need to gain additional hours.

Though there are a number of companies that provide this service, HOCK recommends Josef Silny & Associates, Inc. (JS&A). Applications and instructions are available on the JS&A web site. The evaluation that you need is Course-by-Course evaluation and costs $140. If you have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to contact Galina Matveeva. HOCK has prepared a document outlining the requirements and necessary procedures for filling out the JS&A application form.

Gaining the Necessary Hours

If you are found in your evaluation to be missing some of the required hours for NH, this does not mean that you will never be able to take the CPA exam in NH. Rather, this means that you will need to obtain the missing hours before you are eligible to take the exam in NH. HOCK, working with Bisk, will require the candidate to take an exam for four parts of the CPA Exam. Successful completion of all of these exams will provide the candidate with 12 credit hours. For a candidate with 0 hours prior to joining the program (and no experience under a CPA), all 12 hours can be obtained through these exams.

There are a number of on-line programs that will enable you to obtain the necessary hours while starting your preparations for the exam. Please contact Galina Matveeva if you are interested in the program that will be available through HOCK.

If you currently do not have the necessary hours, it is possible that you will not be eligible in time for the next exam after you start the registration process, but you will be able to be eligible for the following exam. This delay may be caused by the necessary time for you to complete your studies and then to get the necessary credit hours in your evaluation.

In any case, the first step is getting the education evaluation done as soon as possible so that you can determine what additional hours you will need, if any.