Licensure & Exam Requirements

Requirements for Examination [Section 2.2.1]

• Education  Effective February 1, 1995, a first-time examination candidate must have completed at least 150 semester hours of college education including a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a regionally accredited four-year college or university or the equivalent acceptable to the Board, with an accounting concentration determined by Board rule to be appropriate. Candidates who first sat before February 1, 1995, must have met the requirements in effect at that time.
  
  Minimum 48 semester hours upper division or graduate level accounting and business related courses. Accounting courses must be a minimum 24 of the 48 hours and include at minimum, three semester hours in:

  • Financial Accounting
  • Auditing
  • Taxation
  • Management Accounting
  • Government/Not for Profit Accounting

• Residency The candidate must be a resident of the State of Mississippi, except when proctored by another jurisdiction as outlined in Section 2.2.

• Good Moral Character

Licensure Requirements [Section 2.1]

• Residency The applicant must be a resident of the State of Mississippi or have a place for regular transaction of business within this state.

• Good Moral Character

• Passing the CPA Exam Applicant must make application for licensure within 5 years of passing the CPA examination.

• Experience The candidate must have at minimum, one year meaningful experience gained by full time employment within five years of application, under the supervision and direction of a CPA such as:

  • Accounting and Auditing
  • Management Advisory
  • Financial Advisory
  • Preparation of Tax Returns or Tax Advice

Reciprocity [Section 2.6]

• Required when other states' CPAs are performing public accounting for a Mississippi client or holding-out as a CPA in Mississippi and all of the following exemptions are not met: 

  • Principal place of business is not in Mississippi, and

  • Hold a valid CPA license from a substantially equivalent state, and 

  • Satisfy the mobility (practice privilege) requirements of Miss. Code Section 73-33-17. 

• Qualifications: 

  • Experience - four out of last ten years in practice
    of public accounting as a licensed CPA; or

  • Substantial equivalence with Mississippi conditions for licensure.

• Shall comply with all of the same Rules and Regulations as holders of original Mississippi licensees.

Retirement of a License [Section 2.5]

• Qualifications

  • 55 years old or older and no longer engaged in activities regulated by the Board

  • Permanently disabled as affirmed by a notarized affidavit of a physician and no longer engaged in activities regulated by the Board

• Available only at license renewal

• Must use the title "CPA (retired)"