Dive Brief:
- The Utah state legislature unanimously passed legislation providing an alternative path to becoming a certified public accountant that doesn’t require 150 hours of college credit hours, which is effectively a fifth year of college, according to a Friday press release from the Utah Association of CPAs.
- The new legislation allows accountants seeking a license in Utah to qualify by attaining a bachelor’s degree, completing two years of professional experience and passing the CPA exam, according to the release. The legislation removes “outdated statutory references to 150 and 120 credit-hour requirements,” the release said, noting that the bill is scheduled to be signed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and expected to go into effect July 1, 2026.
- The legislation appears to make Utah the third state after Virginia and Ohio, to pass legislation which gives students additional paths to CPA licensure. “I’m pretty sure we’re the third,” the UACPA’s CEO Susan Speirs, said in an interview.
Dive Insight:
The push to offer alternative routes to licensure that don’t require 150 hours of college credit is gaining momentum as state legislatures take up the issue across the country this year.
“This is a major step forward for the accounting profession,” Speirs said in a statement included in the release. “By modernizing the licensure pathway, we are making the profession more accessible while maintaining the highest standards of competency and integrity.”
Reducing the time and cost of education to become a CPA was cited as one of the top recommendations made by the industry’s National Pipeline Advisory Group in a 95-page report published last year, which was aimed at tackling the shortage of accounting talent and the decline in recent years of younger professionals choosing the profession.
