Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy: CPA Education, Exam, and Experience

To become a licensed CPA in Massachusetts, you need to meet three Massachusetts CPA requirements set by the Board of Public Accountancy: 150 semester hours of college education with specific accounting and business coursework, a passing score on all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, and a documented period of supervised professional experience verified by a licensed CPA. Once those are in place, you apply to the Board for your license and then keep it active through biennial renewal and continuing education.

Education: 150 Semester Hours With Required Coursework

You need at least 150 semester hours of college education, including a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, before you can sit for the exam. A standard bachelor’s degree runs about 120 hours, so most candidates close the 30-hour gap with a master’s program or additional undergraduate coursework.

Within those 150 hours, Massachusetts expects specific concentrations. The accounting component is 30 semester hours at the undergraduate level, or 18 at the graduate level, and it must cover financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting. On top of that, you need 24 undergraduate hours (or 18 graduate hours) in other business subjects, including business law, information systems, and finance, plus at least one course from economics, business organizations, professional ethics, or business communication.¹

A general business degree with a few accounting electives usually falls short. Check your transcript against the specific subject list before you assume you qualify.

The Uniform CPA Examination

The exam changed structure in 2024. You now take three core sections and one discipline section of your choice, for a total of four parts administered by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.

The three core sections are Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Regulation (REG). For the discipline, you pick one of Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC), or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP).² The discipline you choose should line up with where you plan to practice: TCP if you are heading into tax work, ISC if you are moving toward technology-focused audit, BAR for reporting and analysis roles.

All four sections must be passed within an 18-month rolling window, though many jurisdictions are considering extending that to 30 months.

Fees in Massachusetts come to roughly $1,335 for a candidate who sits for all four sections in one go. That breaks down into an education evaluation application fee of $136, an exam application fee of $148, and a per-section fee of $262.64.³ Study materials are separate and often cost more than the fees themselves.

Experience: Two Tracks

Passing the exam alone will not get you a license. You also need supervised work experience, and the track depends on where you work.

If your experience is in public accounting (at a CPA firm), you need at least one year and no more than three years of full-time or part-time work, with a minimum of 2,000 hours performing accounting services. If your experience is in non-public settings, including government, industry, academia, or nonprofits, the timeline stretches to at least three years and no more than nine, again with at least 2,000 hours. The Board evaluates non-public experience on the complexity and diversity of the work.⁴

In both tracks, the work must involve services or advice using accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills. A licensed CPA who supervised you must attest to the type of experience and the exact dates under penalty of perjury.⁴ That verification letter goes directly to the Board as part of your application.⁵

You do not need firm experience to get licensed, but the longer non-public timeline reflects the Board’s view that public accounting offers more concentrated exposure to the core skills.

Applying for the License

Once you have the education, the passing exam scores, and the verified experience, you submit a license application to the Board along with the supervisor verification letter.⁵ The Board reviews the package and, if everything is in order, issues the CPA certificate and license.

Keeping the License Active

Massachusetts CPA licenses are renewed every two years, with expiration on June 30. Depending on when your license was first issued, your cycle ends in an odd-numbered or even-numbered year.⁶ The renewal fee is $161.⁷

You also need 80 hours of Continuing Professional Education every two years, including at least four hours in professional ethics.⁸ The remaining 76 hours are flexible: tax updates, forensic accounting, data analytics, anything that contributes to your professional competence. Accredited courses from professional accounting bodies, universities, and approved online platforms all qualify. Proof of completed hours goes in with your renewal application.

If you let the license lapse less than 20 months, you can renew online with a late fee. Longer than that and you need to file a reinstatement application. If your license has been expired for two or more full renewal periods, reinstatement requires 160 hours of CPE within the 24 months before reissue, with at least 80 hours in the attest function, and none of those hours carry over to the next cycle.⁹

If you or your firm perform attest or compilation work, renewal also depends on peer review. You certify at renewal that your practice unit has completed a quality review within the previous three years and has acted on anything the review required. If the firm has done no attest or compilation engagements in that period, you certify that instead, and you notify the Board’s Review Oversight Board if that changes later; the firm then has 18 months to undergo a quality review.¹⁰ Firms inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board satisfy this through the PCAOB process.

If You Are Already Licensed in Another State

Before you apply, check whether you need a Massachusetts license at all. Under the 2020 Act Modernizing Public Accountancy, a CPA licensed in any other state can practice in Massachusetts without a separate Massachusetts license, provided the home state’s requirements are substantially equivalent and the CPA’s principal place of business is not in Massachusetts. The Board has deemed all states substantially equivalent.¹¹

Out-of-state firms with no physical office or principal place of business in Massachusetts can send mobile CPAs into the state under the same framework. Firms that do have a Massachusetts office or principal place of business must be licensed by the Board.¹¹

If you are relocating to Massachusetts and making it your principal place of business, you apply through the reciprocity process. The Board will issue a license if you passed the CPA exam with grades that would have been passing in Massachusetts and you meet either the current Massachusetts education and experience requirements or had four years of equivalent public accounting experience within the ten years before your application.⁹

1
Mass.gov. 252 CMR 2.00 – Requirements for Certification
2
National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam Transition FAQs
3
National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Massachusetts CPA Exam Information
4
Legal Information Institute. Massachusetts Code 252 CMR 2.07 – Education, Experience and Other Requirements
5
Mass.gov. How to Apply for an Accountancy License
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Mass.gov. Renew Your Public Accountancy License
7
Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure. Fees and License Renewal Schedules for Public Accountancy
8
Legal Information Institute. Massachusetts Code 252 CMR 2.14 – Mandatory Continuing Professional Education
9
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 87B
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Legal Information Institute. Massachusetts Code 252 CMR 2.15 – Quality Review Requirement
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Mass.gov. Board Policies and Guidelines – Accountancy