CPA Exam Education Requirements in Kansas
Kansas’ educational requirements for pursuing a CPA license include obtaining a BS degree or higher from an institution of higher learning approved by the Kansas State Board of Accounting (KSBOA). You may want to start by obtaining an associate in accounting, to give you more time to gain work experience with a firm and help you answer any questions you have about the profession, but students will need to continue to study and gain a bachelor's degree to have enough semester hours to become a CPA. If you plan to pursue an undergraduate degree and later practice in Kansas, make sure the college or university you attend is approved by the Kansas Stat Boards of Accountancy.
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A student that wishes to become a certified public accountant CPA must complete a minimum of 150 credit hours with a focus on accounting.
At least 42 of those credit hours must include general education courses and some in business, with content to help you learn skills based on CPA experience requirements, which include:
- Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics
- Upper level economics course
- Two courses relating to business law and legal studies
- Algebra or higher-level mathematics
- Finance
- Marketing
- Management and business administration
- Statistics and probability theory
- Computer systems, technology, applications, and security
- Production or operations research
In addition, students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours in accounting theory and practice, including:
- Intermediate or graduate level accounting
- Managerial accounting – not an introductory course
- United State income tax course
- Auditing
- Accounting information systems – not an introductory course
CPA candidates must also complete a minimum of 11 credit hours in communication courses, which include English composition, business communications, and speech. Other liberal arts courses such as poetry, theater, literature and foreign languages do not count toward exam requirements.
You'll find that the necessary coursework is quite specific, and while the KSBOA may waive up to six hours total consisting of three hours of course requirements in each of the three categories, the Board make it clear that a waiver “is an exception, not the rule,” and anyone seeking a waiver must present a very good reason or accept the terms of educational requirement and other info as written.
Taking the Kansas CPA Exam
Once you successfully complete the education requirements, you may sit for the Uniform CPA Exam. The only way of becoming a CPA is to take the CPA exam and pass the state boards. The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) provide an online application for CPA Exam Services. After completing the application, you must read and acknowledge the Kansas Boards of Accountancy’s cheating policy form, and send it along with a 2” x 2” recent photograph of yourself to:
CPA Examination Services – Kansas Coordinator
P.O. Box 198469
Nashville, TN 37219-8469
Have your schools send their official transcripts to this address. Currently, the registration fee for the exam is $145, and the exam fee is either $185.10 or $207.15, depending on which components you are taking. You may pay online with a credit card, or pay via credit card, check, or money order if sending a paper application. Checks and money orders are made payable to CPA Examination Services.
Your application requires approval. You can expect this process to take between four to six weeks. Once approved, you will receive the Notice to Schedule (NTS) by the method you previously indicated, whether email, fax, or regular mail. If you don’t receive the NTS within four weeks of your application approval, contact CPA Examination Services. You can schedule your exam online through the Kansas contractor, Prometric, to be taken at any available testing site in the state, which are available in Overland Park, Wichita, and Topeka, KS, and others.
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The four sections of the exam
There are four components of the Uniform CPA Exam: Financial Accounting and Reporting, Business Environment and Concepts, Regulation, and Auditing and Attestation. While you can take the exam sections at different times, you must gain a passing score on all of them within an 18-month period. Each section sits for four hours, for a total of 16 test hours. It is permissible, though perhaps impossible, to take all four sections at one sitting.
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Kansas examination windows
In Kansas, the Uniform CPA Exam is offered every quarter, a period known as a window. The exam is offered at least twice during every window, but you cannot sit for the same section of the exam more than once during each window. You are permitted to sit for the various exam section four times yearly.
Under some circumstances, you may be free to sit for the exam up to 60 days prior to completion of all education requirements.
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Exam location
The Kansas CPA examination is offered in three cities: Overland Park, Wichita, and Topeka. You can also take the examination in other US jurisdictions and identify as Kansas CPA candidates. If you take the exam in Guam, extra fees are involved.
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Exam results
The results of the examination are sent to you directly by NASBA. Using your date of birth and section identification number, you can access your results online. Scores are also sent to the KSBOA, which will also notify you.
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A two-tier state
Kansas is a two-tier state when it comes to practicing as a CPA. The first tier involves around passing the exam. Once you have done that, you receive a certificate allowing you to use “CPA” in your credentialing, but that certificate is not a practice license. There is a $25 fee for the certificate. An oath is taken by all certificate holders, and you must sign it. Before you can obtain a license, you must acquire experience.
Continuing Professional Education Requirements
Permit renewal is required every two years, with expiration date of July 1. Those with odd-numbered permits must renew theirs in odd-numbered years, and the same holds true for even-numbered permits in even-numbered years. When a CPA receives his or her initial permit, they are given a number of continuing education hours they must complete before their first renewal.
Renewal requires 80 hours of Continued Professional Education (CPE) within those two years, which includes two hours of CPA ethics. Those ethics hours must consist of courses on professional standards; SEC oversight; competence; licenses and renewals; independence; confidential client information; acts discreditable; advertising and solicitation; integrity and objectivity; commissions; contingent fees; conflicts of interest; malpractice; record retention; full disclosure; professional conduct; risk management and corporate ethics.
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If you earn a maximum of 20 CPE hours beyond the 80 hours required for the renewal, you may carry them over toward your next CPE hours requirement. The additional hours do not count toward fulfillment of the ethics component.
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Special Kansas CPA considerations
If you are a licensed CPA in another state, and those requirements are basically equivalent to those of Kansas, but you don’t have a primary place of business in Kansas, you may become a permit holder. If you want to practice public accounting in Kansas, but your license is from another state, you must pay a $250 licensing fee and ask your state’s licensing board to give your information via the Authorization for Exchange of Licensure Information.
Those with an equivalent degree in accounting from Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong may take the International Qualification Examination (IQEX) and then apply for a Kansas certificate and permit. For those with accounting degrees from any other countries, fulfillment of the Kansas education, examination and experience qualifications is necessary.