Ohio CPA Requirements

Ohio State Requirements & Education Options

General Requirement

Applicant must be at least 18 years of age.

Applicant must be of good moral character.

Applicant must meet education and experience requirements.

At the time of application, the applicant must be a resident of Ohio or have a place of business in Ohio or, as an employee, is regularly employed in Ohio. An individual shall be considered a resident of Ohio if: (1) the individual maintains a permanent place of residence in Ohio and actually is domiciled in Ohio; OR (2) the individual is a resident of another state but works full time in Ohio. A candidate who earns valid conditional credit on the CPA examination, while in compliance with the foregoing residency requirements, may continue to complete the examination as an Ohio candidate and file for an Ohio CPA certificate under the laws of Ohio, regardless of residence. A person who is employed full time in another state and actually resides in that state will not be considered an Ohio resident. The Accountancy Board of Ohio may waive the residence requirement for just cause.

A criminal records check is required for all CPA certificate applicants.

Education Requirement

If the applicant sat for the CPA Exam after January 1, 2000, the applicant must have a bachelor’s degree or higher degree with at least 150 semester hours of education and an accounting concentration which equals 30 semester hours in accounting that includes coverage in auditing, financial accounting, management or cost accounting, and taxation; and 24 semester hours in general business courses.

As an alternative to the 150-hour requirement above, the applicant may satisfy the educational requirement by achieving a minimum score of 620 on the GMAT. All candidates taking the special examination must complete an accounting concentration and a minimum of twenty-four semester hours in business oriented courses, both described in Rule 4701-3-03 of the Administrative Code.