1) Examination Qualifications
A) From July 1, 2013 through December 31,
2020, an applicant must provide proof of successful completion of:
i) 150 semester credit hours, as defined, of
college or university study;
ii) a
baccalaureate or higher degree; and
iii) the requirements set out in subsection
(c)(3).
B) Applicants
who have taken the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination at least
once before July 1, 2013, may take the examination under the qualifications in
effect when the examination was first taken.
2) Definitions
A) "Board" or "IBOE" - Illinois Board of
Examiners.
B) "Semester Credit
Hours" or "SCH" - accredited college or university semester credit
hours.
C) "150 SCH" - minimum
number of credit hours earned and posted to the applicant's official college or
university transcripts.
D)
"Conversion of Quarter Credit Hours to SCH" - quarter credit hours may be
converted to SCH by multiplying quarter credit hours by two-thirds.
E) "Internship" - faculty approved and
appropriately supervised short-term work experience, usually related to
student's major field of study, for which the student earns academic credit as
posted to the applicant's official college or university transcripts.
F) "Life Experience" - college level life
experience posted on a college or university transcript as academic credit that
has been assessed by appropriate faculty and/or staff of that institution as
earned competence. Those areas addressed in the review of life experience
should, at a minimum, contain the context of the experience in relation to work
and studies and a detailed description of the experience.
G) "Colleges" or "Universities" -
Board-recognized institutions of higher education accredited by a national or
regional accrediting association recognized by the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation (CHEA), the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and/or any
accreditation organization approved by the Board. Recognition means the
accrediting organization is certified as legitimate and competent. An
individual program within a larger accredited institution may be separately
accredited by a professional or specialized organization. Business schools
recognized by the Board are accredited by AACSB - The International Association
of Management Education or the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and
Programs (ACBSP).
H) "Integration
of Subject Matter" - program of learning in which certain subjects that may be
discrete courses in some colleges or universities are integrated or embedded
within related courses. Colleges or universities that use an integrated
approach to cover multiple course subjects will need to provide evidence of the
required coverage. Acceptance of integration of any subject matter is subject
to Board approval. Proof of coverage may be provided through specific
evaluation by a national accrediting organization recognized by CHEA, such as
AACSB or ACBSP, in which evidence is provided to assure the Board that the
respective subjects adequately cover the desired content.
I) "Ethics" - program of learning that
provides a framework of ethical reasoning, professional values and attitudes
for exercising professional skepticism and other behavior that is in the best
interest of the public and profession. At a minimum, an ethics program should
provide a foundation for ethical reasoning and the core values of integrity,
objectivity and independence.
J)
"Graduate Accounting Credit Hours" - hours earned in courses classified by the
college or university as post-secondary level courses leading to a master's
degree. For purposes of meeting the accounting hours requirement, one graduate
SCH is equivalent to 1.6 SCH earned at the
undergraduate level.
K) "Applicant"
- person who has applied to sit for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant
Examination.
L) "Research and
Analysis in Accounting" or "R&A" - may be a stand-alone course or
integrated into a related course or courses. If integrated in a related course
or courses, colleges and universities will determine the amount of R&A that
will be credited within the related course toward satisfying the R&A
requirement.
M) "Business
Communication" or "BC" - may be a stand-alone course or integrated into a
related course or courses. If integrated in a related course or courses,
colleges and universities will determine the amount of BC that will be credited
within the related course toward satisfying the BC requirement.
N) "Authorization to Test" or "ATT" - issued
to candidates approved by the Board of Examiners to take the Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) Examination.
O)
"National Association of State Boards of Accountancy" or "NASBA" - the national
organization for all State Boards of Accountancy.
3) Examination Admittance
An applicant will be deemed to have met the educational
requirement (see subsection (c)(4)) if, as part of the 150 SCH of education, or
equivalent as determined by the Board, the applicant has met any one of the
following three conditions:
A) Earned a
graduate degree from an accounting program that is accredited in accounting by
an accrediting agency recognized by the Board (see subsection
(c)(2)(G));
B) Earned a graduate
degree from a business or accounting program that is accredited in business by
an accrediting agency recognized by the Board (see subsection (c)(2)(G)) and
completed at least 30 SCH in accounting as described in subsection (c)(4) at
the undergraduate or graduate level;
C) Earned a baccalaureate or higher degree
(except as defined in (c)(3)(A) or (B)) from an accredited education
institution recognized by the Board (see subsection (c)(2)(G)) and:
i) completed 30 SCH in accounting, as
described in subsection (c)(4), at the undergraduate level, or the equivalent
at the graduate level; and
ii)
completed at least 24 SCH in business other than accounting, as described in
subsection (c)(5), at the undergraduate or graduate level.
4) Accounting Course Requirements
A) Research and Analysis in accounting
courses are those courses commonly included in the accounting curriculum. The
required 30 SCH in accounting must include:
iv) Management accounting; and
v) Research and Analysis (at least two
SCH).
B) Internships and
life experience credits included in the 30 SCH in accounting are limited to a
maximum of three SCH.
C) A maximum
of three SCH of accounting internships and/or life experience credit hours may
be included in the 30 SCH in accounting. Additional business internship and/or
life experience credit hours may be used to meet a maximum of three SCH in
business internships or life experience. An additional six SCH of internship
and/or life experience credit hours may count toward satisfying the
non-accounting or non-business hours required to sit for the CPA
examination.
5) Business
Course Requirements
A) Business courses are
those courses commonly included in the business curriculum.
B) Internships and life experience credits
included in the 24 SCH in business are limited to a maximum of three
SCH.
C) A maximum of three SCH of
business internships and/or life experience credit hours may be included in the
24 SCH in business. An additional six SCH of internship and/or life experience
credit hours may count toward satisfying the non-accounting or non-business
hours required to sit for the CPA examination.
D) The 24 SCH in business must include two
SCH in business communication and three SCH in business ethics. The subject
matter may be discrete courses or integrated throughout the undergraduate or
graduate accounting curriculum or business curriculum. For example, if a three
SCH course in accounting includes one SCH in business ethics, two SCH may count
toward accounting requirements and one SCH may count toward the business ethics
requirement.
6)
Evaluation of International Credentials
NASBA is the only organization authorized by the Board to
conduct international credential evaluations on behalf of the Board.
Evaluations of international credentials completed by outside agencies other
than IBOE or NASBA are not accepted. Factors that are considered when
evaluating foreign educational credentials are:
A) The official status of the institution
that issued the credentials;
B) The
type of education that the credential represents: secondary, tertiary,
academic, technical, vocational, pre-professional, in-service, or part of a
certificate, diploma or degree program;
C) The authenticity of the
credential;
D) The role the
credential plays in the educational system of the country from which it
came;
E) The recognition of the
credential in the country where the candidate is from; and
F) The U.S. equivalent of the quantity and
quality of education the credential represents.
7) Authorization to Test
A) Except as otherwise provided in subsection
(c)(7)(B), proof of satisfactory completion of all educational requirements
must be approved by the Board before the Board will issue an authorization to
test.
B) First time candidates who
apply for the examination in their final term will be granted provisional
approval of in-progress courses taken at domestic institutions. The Board must
receive all final transcripts from provisional candidates, including degree
posted (if required), within 150 days after the date of taking the first
section of the examination. If final transcripts verifying completion of all
courses for eligibility to sit are not received by the Board within 150 days
after taking the first examination section of the computer-based examination,
grades for all examination sections authorized with provisional approval will
be voided.
C) Provisional
Candidates
i) Provisional candidates
completing required courses in the spring term must complete at least one
section of the CPA examination by October 1 of the same year or the provisional
status will be revoked.
ii)
Provisional candidates completing required courses in the summer term must
complete at least one section of the CPA examination by January 1 of the
following year or the provisional status will be revoked.
iii) Provisional candidates completing
required courses in the fall term must complete at least one section of the CPA
examination by April 1 of the following year or the provisional status will be
revoked.
iv) Provisional candidates
completing required courses in the winter term must complete at least one
section of the CPA examination by July 1 of the same year or the provisional
status will be revoked.
D) Only one provisional ATT will be issued
per candidate and no changes to the courses in progress may be made once
received and approved by the Board.