State Updates

Illinois Opens Two New CPA Pathways on January 1, 2027 (HB 2459)

Illinois adds a 120-credit plus two-year route and a master's plus one-year route to CPA licensure, keeps the 150-hour path, and addresses mobility for out-of-state CPAs. The implementing rules were still under state review as of July 2026.

By Brennan KolarFounder, Atlas CPA Index

Published September 3, 20266 min readVerified as of September 3, 2026

What Changes on January 1, 2027

Illinois will license CPAs under three routes instead of one. Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill 2459 in August 2025, amending the Illinois Public Accounting Act to add two pathways alongside the existing 150-hour route. The Illinois Board of Examiners has said the Department may begin licensing under the new pathways on January 1, 2027. The bill passed unanimously in both chambers, and its two House sponsors, Representatives Natalie Manley and Amy Elik, are both licensed CPAs.

The Three Routes Side by Side

Every route requires passing all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam, and Illinois also requires an ethics exam. What differs is the trade between education and experience. The new bachelor's route swaps the extra 30 credit hours for a second year of work.

Existing route, unchanged: 150 credit hours including a bachelor's degree, plus 1 year of relevant experience
New route 1: bachelor's degree with the required accounting concentration, plus 2 years of relevant experience
New route 2: master's degree with the required accounting concentration, plus 1 year of relevant experience
All three: pass all four CPA exam sections and the ethics exam

The Rules Are Not Final Yet

This is the part most coverage leaves out, and it matters if you are planning around the date. The statute is law, but the administrative rules that implement it have to clear state review first. The Illinois CPA Society reported that as of July 2026 the proposed rules had been formally submitted for state review, with approval expected sometime in fall 2026. The January 1, 2027 date comes from the statute. Anyone intending to license under one of the new routes should confirm the final rules with the Illinois Board of Examiners before committing to a plan.

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Illinois Also Addressed Mobility

HB 2459 also covers CPA mobility, so that a CPA licensed in another state can serve Illinois clients without obtaining a separate Illinois license where the home state's requirements are substantially equivalent. That provision matters more as states diverge on credit hours, because someone licensed under a 120-credit route in one state needs the receiving state to recognize it. For the wider picture, see our explainer on individual CPA mobility.

Sitting for the Exam Is a Separate Question

Worth separating clearly, because the two get conflated. HB 2459 changes what it takes to get licensed, not what it takes to sit. Illinois already lets candidates sit for the CPA exam at 120 semester hours with 24 accounting and 12 business credits, and that is unchanged. For anyone deciding whether to start testing now, the exam-sitting rules are the ones that apply today.

What Candidates Should Do About It

For anyone short of 150 credits and weighing a master's degree purely to reach the number, the January 2027 date is the thing to plan around, because a second year of experience may cost less than a year of tuition. For anyone who already has 150 credits, nothing about the existing path changes. Full state detail is on our Illinois CPA requirements page, and the national picture is in our 120-credit pathway tracker.

Sources

1.Illinois CPA Society — CPA License Pathways in Illinois(accessed Sep 3, 2026)
2.Illinois Board of Examiners — IBOE Bulletin, May 2025(accessed Sep 3, 2026)
3.Illinois CPA Society — Governor Signs Bill Adding Pathways to CPA Licensure in Illinois(accessed Sep 3, 2026)
4.Accounting Today — Illinois signs new CPA pathways bill(accessed Sep 3, 2026)

Related on Atlas CPA Index

Illinois CPA Requirements →120-Credit CPA Pathway Tracker →Indiana 120-Credit Pathway (HEA 1143) →Individual CPA Mobility and the UAA →CPA Requirements by State →

Brennan Kolar

Founder, Atlas CPA Index

Brennan Kolar is the founder of Atlas CPA Index, an independent CPA review comparison platform covering all 55 U.S. jurisdictions. With over 10 years of experience with CPA review, he built Atlas to help candidates find the right review course based on how they actually learn, not which provider has the biggest ad budget.

Learn more about the author

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