Maryland CPA Exam

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Maryland is a one-tier state. Hence, you need not obtain a CPA certificate. Instead, you can right away apply for the CPA license or permit to practice after fulfilling the exam, experience, and other requisites. Furthermore, the Maryland Board of Public Accountancy is authorized under law to issue the CPA license. 

Now, let’s see the Maryland CPA exam and license requirements in detail.

Maryland CPA Exam Requirements

  • Exam Eligibility RequirementsFeeRequired Documents

Maryland CPA License Requirements

  • Education RequirementsExam RequirementsExperience RequirementsEthics Requirements

Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

Maryland Exam Information & Resources

Maryland CPA Exam Requirements

The CPA ExaminationCPA ExaminationA Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is a US state board-issued license to practice the accounting professionread more is a computerized assessment comprising four sections to be passed with at least 75 points in each. You must pass all the sections within the 18 months, beginning from the date you attempted the first passed section. 

The test measures your competence and ability to practice as a CPA. Please note that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Public Accountancy (NASBA) jointly administer this exam. 

All four exam sections include multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and task-based simulations (TBSs). However, BEC examBEC ExamThe BEC CPA Exam (Business Environment and Concepts) exam section evaluates your understanding of the general business environment and your duties and responsibilities as a CPA towards it. It assesses your ability to recognize and scrutinize situations related to Financial reporting, Financial statement audit and attestation and Tax preparation read more includes written communications tasks (WCTs) as an extra question type. 

Exam Eligibility Requirements

Maryland CPA exam applicants must earn 120 semester hours (180 quarter hours), including

  • At least a bachelor’s degree in accounting or its equivalent from a board-approved institute that is a member of or accredited to: Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business,Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, orMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) in accounting and ethics including, 27 semester hours (41 quarter hours) in accounting and related subjects3 semester hours (4.5 quarter hours) in ethics

Candidates with foreign degrees must request a course-by-course evaluation from the NASBA International Evaluation Services (NIES).

  • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business,Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs, orMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools

  • 27 semester hours (41 quarter hours) in accounting and related subjects3 semester hours (4.5 quarter hours) in ethics

Apply for the CPA Exam through the Maryland Board of Public Accountancy with the required fees and educational documents. For the complete CPA application processCPA Application ProcessThe CPA application process often leaves aspirants with a lot of questions. The Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination is a license issued by 55 states and territories in the USA. After obtaining the CPA license, you can practice as a certified financial advisor.read more, kindly visit the Maryland State Board website. 

Fee

Applicants must pay the application fees to the state board and the examination fees directly to NASBA.

Submit the exam fees within 90 days of receiving the payment coupon from NASBA. Both application and examination fees are non-refundable. Thus, take up the applied section(s) within the six months of notice-to-Schedule (NTS) validity period. 

Required Documents

Applicants must submit these documents to the Maryland state board:

Maryland CPA License Requirements

Here are the Maryland CPA license pre-requisites:

  • Complete 150 semester hours Pass all four sections of the CPA exam with at least 75 points in eachGain at least one year of relevant work experiencePass the self-study AICPA’s ethics course with at least 90%

Candidates must be at least 18 years old with a valid social security number. Submit your CPA license application to the state board with the required fee and documents. Kindly visit the official portal for a detailed procedure. 

Let’s view the CPA license fee details:

Education Requirements

Maryland CPA licensure applicants must obtain a bachelor’s degree with 150 semester hours (225 quarter hours) from an accredited institution. Know that the initial 120 credit hours are required to take the CPA exam. At the same time, the additional 30 hours are a must-have for licensure. 

It includes at least 21 semester hours (31.5 quarter hours) in at least five of the following nine subjects:

  • StatisticsManagementMarketingEconomicsBusiness communicationQuantitative methodsCorporation/Business financeU.S. Business lawComputer science/Information systems

Exam Requirements

Pass all four CPA exam sections within the rolling 18-month testing period. You must score at least 75 points on a scale of 0-99 in each section. Please check the Maryland CPA Exam Requirements section for detailed information related to the CPA Exam. 

Experience Requirements

Candidates must obtain at least one year (2000 hours) of work experience verified by a CPA, holding an active license. Ensure to earn it within three years immediately preceding your licensure application date. 

This includes experience in accounting, management advisory, attest, financial advisory, consulting, or taxation. Moreover, you may gain the required experience by taking up employment in government, public practice, industry, or academia. 

Candidates must fill and submit the Report of Practical Work Experience (RPE) form.

Ethics Requirements

Maryland CPA aspirants must complete the AICPA’s self-study ethics course, “Professional Ethics: The AICPA’s Comprehensive Course.” Pass the exam with at least 90% and send the course completion certificate to the state board. 

Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

Maryland CPA license-holders must earn at least 80 CPE credit hours every two years. If the course providers are the members of the NASBA National Registry of CPE Sponsors, only a course completion certificate is sufficient to qualify for CPE credit.

However, if a licensee obtains CPA CPE creditsCPA CPE CreditsAs a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), you need to acquire Continuing Professional Education or CPE credits for sustaining your license. This ensures that you are actively involved in improving your know-how of the profession by engaging in learning activities.read more from a non-NASBA registered sponsor, the board evaluates the course documents. Here are the details of CPE. 

Now you know all the layers, sub-layers, do’s, and don’ts to become a CPA in Maryland. So, wait no more, take the CPA Exam, and fulfill all the Maryland license requirements to earn the prestige associated with this accounting credential. Always trust the authorized websites and keep a check on the relevant guidelines. 

  • Engagement review – 12 hours
  • System review – 16 hours

Maryland offers an annual average salary of $85,693 for CPAs. Also, it ranks high in economic and fiscal stability. So, precisely put, the state is a fantastic place to showcase your accounting skillsAccounting SkillsAccounting Skills are the set of skills required to present business transactions comprising of financial and non-financial in the books of accounts as per prescribed Standards of Accounting (US GAAP, IFRS, Ind AS) and as a part of legal compliance and analysis of business outcome in an optimum way.read more. 

Maryland Exam Information & Resources

  1. Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy (https://www.dllr.state.md.us/)

500 North Calvert Street, 3rd Floor

Baltimore, Maryland 21202-3651

410-230-6258

Fax: 410-333-6314

e-mail: [email protected]

  1. Maryland Department of Labor (http://www.dllr.state.md.us/)

500 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202

  1. Maryland Association of CPAs (https://www.macpa.org/#)

901 Dulaney Valley Road, Suite 800Towson, Maryland 21204

  1. Maryland Office of the Secretary of State (https://sos.maryland.gov/Pages/default.aspx)

16 Francis St. Annapolis, MD 21401

Phone: 410-974-5521

FAX: 410-974-5190

This has been a guide to Maryland CPA Exam & License Requirements. Here we discuss the CPA exam and license requirements in the U.S. state of Maryland along with its CPE requirements. You may consider the following CPA Review providers to prepare for your exams –

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