To become a CPA in Florida, you need 150 semester hours of college credit with specific accounting and business coursework, a passing score on all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam, one year of supervised work experience, and two separate applications filed with the Florida Board of Accountancy. The Board sits inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and reviews every step. Plan on roughly $1,200 in fees if you pass each exam section the first time, and budget closer to $1,500 for breathing room.
Education Requirements
Florida requires 150 semester hours of college credit, including a bachelor’s degree or higher with an accounting concentration from an accredited institution.1MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Education Requirements Those 150 hours break into three parts with firm minimums.
You need at least 30 semester hours of upper-division accounting coursework, and four specific subjects must each account for at least three of those credits: auditing, financial accounting, taxation, and either cost and managerial accounting or accounting data analytics. You also need 36 semester hours of upper-division general business courses, and at least three of those hours must be in business law grounded in U.S. federal and state law. Whatever remains to reach 150 can come from any discipline.
Community college credits count if they transfer to an accredited four-year school. If a senior institution reclassifies a lower-division course as upper-division, the Board treats it that way too. Applicants with foreign transcripts have to submit an evaluation from a Board-approved service before the Board will look at their credentials.1MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Education Requirements
Passing the Uniform CPA Exam
Since January 2024, the exam follows the “CPA Evolution” model. Every candidate takes three core sections: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Taxation and Regulation (REG). You then choose one discipline section from three options: Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC), or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). The license is the same whichever discipline you pick.
Florida requires a minimum score of 75 on each section.2National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Florida Information for First-Time Applicants for the Uniform CPA Examination Credit for a passed section is valid for 30 months from the testing date of your first pass. Miss that window and your earliest scores start expiring, so plan the sequence of sections before you register for the first one.
Completing the Work Experience
You need one year of qualifying work experience totaling at least 2,000 hours, spread over no fewer than 52 weeks and no more than 104 weeks. You cannot compress a year’s worth of hours into a few months of overtime.3MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Initial Licensure Requirements
The work has to involve accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting services. Government, corporate, academic, and public practice roles all qualify as long as this work was a substantial part of your duties. A CPA who holds an active license in any U.S. state or territory must supervise and verify the hours.3MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Initial Licensure Requirements
One detail trips candidates up: your experience hours can only start counting after you have completed at least 120 semester hours of college education. Work done before that threshold does not count, even with a CPA supervising. If you do not have direct access to a CPA supervisor, NASBA’s Experience Verification Service can pair you with a licensed CPA interviewer to validate your qualifications.
Filing Two Separate Applications
Florida’s path involves two applications filed at different stages, each with its own form and fee. Mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes.
The Exam Application (DBPR CPA 1)
Before you can sit for the exam, submit Form DBPR CPA 1 with a $50 non-refundable fee and official transcripts from every college you attended.4Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. DBPR CPA 1 Examination Application for CPA Examination Board staff reviews the transcripts against the education rules. You must also demonstrate good moral character under Florida Statute 473.306. If you have already sat for the exam in another state, you must file an Authorization for Interstate Exchange form so the Board can pull your prior scores.
Once the Board approves you, it issues a Jurisdiction ID number. You then create a CPA Portal account through NASBA, link your Jurisdiction ID, and register for individual exam sections. Each registration covers one section and produces a Notice to Schedule (NTS) that is valid for a limited time. Do not register for a section until you are ready to take it, because fees are forfeited if the NTS expires.5National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Florida – Applying for the Uniform CPA Examination
The Licensure Application (DBPR CPA 2)
After you have passed all four sections and finished the work experience, file Form DBPR CPA 2 with another $50 non-refundable fee.3MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Initial Licensure Requirements Your supervising CPA submits a completed Verification of Work Experience form attesting to your 2,000 hours. You also complete electronic fingerprinting through a Livescan vendor approved by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and DBPR; vendors typically charge $50 to $80.
What It All Costs
The fees land with different payees, which obscures the total until you add them up:
- Exam application (DBPR CPA 1): $50 to the Florida Board.4Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. DBPR CPA 1 Examination Application for CPA Examination
- Exam sections: $262.64 each to NASBA, or $1,050.56 for all four.
- Licensure application (DBPR CPA 2): $50 to the Florida Board.3MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Initial Licensure Requirements
- Fingerprinting: roughly $50 to $80 to the Livescan vendor.
Minimum total: about $1,200 if you pass every section on the first try. Each retake is another $262.64, and some candidates face additional state registration fees, so $1,500 is a safer budget.
After You Are Licensed
Florida CPA licenses renew every two years. The biennial renewal fee is $105, which covers a $100 renewal charge and a $5 surcharge funding enforcement against unlicensed practice.6Legal Information Institute. Florida Admin Code Ann R 61H1-31.003 – Renewal of Active and Inactive Status Licenses
You must also complete 80 hours of continuing professional education during each two-year cycle.7MyFloridaLicense.com. Certified Public Accounting – Continuing Professional Education Within that total, at least four hours must be in Board-approved ethics related to accounting practice, and at least eight hours must cover accounting and auditing topics.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 473.312 – Continuing Education Miss the deadline or fall short on CPE, and your license moves to inactive status, with extra paperwork and fees to reactivate.