For many years, the CPA profession has faced a serious challenge: the accounting pipeline is narrowing, with fewer students choosing to study accounting, fewer accounting graduates being hired in accounting positions, and fewer completing the journey to CPA licensure.
As NYCPA CEO, I have heard firsthand the concerns voiced by firms, companies, educators, students, and individual CPAs alike. It’s clear: if we want a strong future, we must act now to modernize how we attract, support, market, and license the next generation of CPAs.
One of the most vital benefits NYCPA provides to its members is our advocacy of the profession. I am proud to announce that NYCPA is supporting a new bill introduced in New York that would bring important flexibility to the CPA licensing process without compromising the profession’s commitment to high standards.
This additional licensing pathway would allow CPAs to become licensed once they have successfully passed the CPA exam, completed 120 college credit hours (typically sufficient for a bachelor’s degree), and accumulated two years of experience working for a CPA. Under the proposed legislation, the existing pathways to licensure—including passing the CPA exam, completing 150 credit hours, and accumulating one year of experience—would remain unchanged.
For many CPAs, including myself, this proposed pathway should sound familiar, as it reflects the primary pathway so many professionals used before the early 2000s. Our proposed legislation mirrors efforts happening across the country, where many states are rethinking outdated processes in order to better align with today’s educational and professional realities.
Providing Options and Removing Hurdles
The heart of the New York bill is simple: it would provide options and modernize the experience requirement for CPA licensure, while keeping the rigorous education and examination components fully intact. For most individuals, on average, CPA licensure represents a six-year commitment plus an exam. Currently 150 credit hours (on average five years of college) plus one year of experience is the norm. This proposal would add an option for that six-year commitment to take the form of four years of college (on average; 120 credit hours) plus two years of experience. In short, the commitment remains six years of college and work experience, whether it is five-plus-one or four-plus-two.
This proposal provides options that do not currently exist, but previously did for many of us. It recognizes that today’s candidates often build diverse and valuable experience in ways that weren’t envisioned decades ago. It allows professionals to enter the workforce earlier, while keeping their dream of becoming a CPA intact. The bill would provide additional pathways for fulfilling the experience requirement, ensuring that capable, talented professionals are not deterred from completing licensure because of artificial hurdles that do not reflect the nature of modern accounting work.
Why is this so important? Because New York State’s economy, which includes the “financial capital of the world,” needs CPAs—not just for audits and taxes, but across industries, nonprofits, government, and emerging sectors. Every barrier that unnecessarily slows the path to licensure harms not only our profession, but the clients, businesses, and communities we serve, here in New York State and beyond.
We are not alone in this effort. Several other states have advanced or are considering similar updates to their CPA laws. As of the time of this writing, six states have additional pathways similar to the New York proposal, that have been signed into law, and another 20 states have legislation in process.
New York cannot afford to be left behind if it wishes to remain a global economic and accounting leader. Over the coming weeks and months, you’ll see calls to action from NYCPA—we are asking you to share your support and help us explain why smart modernization and additional options are good for the profession and for the public trust.
The CPA license remains the gold standard of the accounting profession. By updating the path to achieving it, we strengthen that standard for future generations—ensuring that it remains rigorous, respected, and reflective of the world we live in today.
Together, we can shape the future of the CPA profession. “Ever Upward”
