South Dakota CPA Requirements

South Dakota State Requirements & Education Options

General Requirement

Applicant must show evidence of good moral character.

Applicant is required to apply for a Certificate within three (3) years from the time of passing the Uniform CPA Examination. After three (3) years, the exam application expires and the exam grades are nullified, unless the applicant can show the Board good cause for not applying during the three-year (3-year) time period.

Education Requirement

Applicant must have at least 150 semester hours of college education, including graduation from a regionally accredited college or university with a baccalaureate or a graduate degree in accounting. If the applicant does not have a degree in accounting, the satisfactory completion of a course of study that the South Dakota Board has determined to be substantially equivalent to an accounting degree, including related courses in other areas of business administration, may be accepted. Such courses of study may be in a college or university recognized by the South Dakota Board.

Both a major in accounting and a course of study substantially equivalent to a major in accounting must include 24 semester hours in accounting at the undergraduate or graduate level from an accredited college or university, including elementary principles of accounting and at least one (1) course in each of the following: intermediate or advanced accounting, auditing, taxation, and cost accounting. They must also include at least 24 semester hours in business courses, other than accounting courses, at the undergraduate or graduate level. A course may not be audited, and must appear as semester or quarter hour credit on an official transcript.