State Updates
Six States' 120-Credit CPA Pathways Take Effect July 1, 2026
Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah all set July 1, 2026 as the effective date for their 120-credit CPA pathways. The bills were signed across 13 months, from Utah in March 2025 to Iowa in May 2026, but all six went live the same day.
Published July 3, 20266 min readVerified as of July 3, 2026
What Happened
Six states turned on their 120-credit CPA licensure pathways on July 1, 2026. Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah all set that date as the effective date for laws that let candidates become licensed with a bachelor's degree (120 credits), two years of supervised experience, and a passing score on the CPA exam. Before July 1, each of these bills was signed but not yet operative, so candidates could read the new rules but could not apply under them. As of this month they can. Every one of the six kept its traditional 150-credit route in place, so a candidate already on the fifth-year track loses nothing.
Signed Across 13 Months, Live on One Day
The six signings were not close together. Utah moved first, with Governor Spencer Cox signing S.B. 15 on March 25, 2025, more than a year before the rest. The remaining five signed in a tight spring-2026 cluster: South Dakota on March 2, Mississippi on March 17, Idaho on March 18, Kansas on April 9, and Iowa on May 1. What synced them was the effective date rather than the signing date. Each law was written to take effect July 1, 2026, which gave state boards, universities, and firms a runway to update rules and advising before anyone could license under the new path. Watch the effective date, because a signed bill does not change what your state board will accept until that date arrives.
Utah: S.B. 15
Utah's S.B. 15, the Certified Public Accountant Licensing Amendments, was the earliest of the six to become law and the last to take effect. Governor Cox signed it on March 25, 2025 as one of roughly 200 bills from that year's general session. The law lets candidates qualify with a bachelor's degree, two years of experience, and the CPA exam, and it strips the old 150 and 120 credit-hour references out of Utah code along with the state's reliance on the NQAS equivalency standard. An auditing course is still required. The Utah Association of CPAs noted that the legislature passed the bill unanimously. Full requirements are on our Utah CPA requirements page.
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South Dakota: HB 1035
South Dakota's House Bill 1035, signed by Governor Larry Rhoden on March 2, 2026, passed both chambers unanimously. It adds a bachelor's degree in accounting plus two years of supervised experience as an alternative to 150 credit hours, and it includes interstate practice provisions that let CPAs licensed elsewhere work in South Dakota under defined conditions. We covered the signing in our March-May 2026 roundup, and the full state breakdown is on our South Dakota CPA requirements page.
Mississippi: HB 1137
Mississippi took a broader approach. House Bill 1137, signed by Governor Tate Reeves on March 17, 2026, writes three pathways into law: a bachelor's degree with 150 semester hours and one year of experience, a master's degree with one year of experience, or a bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration and two years of experience. All three require passing the CPA exam. The two-year experience route is the one that opens licensure without a fifth year of college. The full requirements are on our Mississippi CPA requirements page.
Idaho: HB 563
Idaho's House Bill 563 cleared the legislature without a single no vote, passing the House 67-0-3 and the Senate 35-0-0 before Governor Brad Little signed it on March 18, 2026 as Chapter 48. The new route requires a bachelor's degree, two years of experience, and the CPA exam, and the bill also confirms that CPAs licensed in other states can practice in Idaho without an Idaho license as long as they meet the state's minimum education and experience rules. Idaho's Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses published a notice confirming the July 1, 2026 start. We have a standalone Idaho HB 563 article with the full detail.
Kansas: HB 2573
Kansas House Bill 2573, signed by Governor Laura Kelly on April 9, 2026, adds a bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration plus two years of experience as an alternative to the 150-hour rule, with a one-year experience option available when paired with additional education. The bill also replaced Kansas's old substantial equivalency language with explicit licensure criteria. We covered it in our April 2026 roundup, and the Kansas CPA requirements page has the full breakdown.
Iowa: HF 778
Iowa was the last of the six to sign, with Governor Kim Reynolds approving House File 778 on May 1, 2026, two months before it took effect. The Iowa Society of CPAs, which backed the bill, said it lets future candidates license with a bachelor's degree, the required accounting coursework, two years of experience, and the CPA exam, and it keeps a bachelor's-plus-master's route with one year of experience. HF 778 also shifts Iowa to individual-based practice privilege, which improves mobility for out-of-state CPAs working in Iowa. The full requirements are on our Iowa CPA requirements page.
Where This Leaves the National Count
These six are part of a much larger shift. As of July 2026, 28 states have a 120-credit pathway already in effect and roughly 43 have signed one into law, according to the tracking that AICPA, NASBA, and the state CPA societies maintain. The dominant template is now a bachelor's degree plus two years of supervised experience, the framework AICPA and NASBA endorsed in the Uniform Accountancy Act 9th Edition in July 2025. Our 120-credit pathway tracker lists every state's status and effective date.
What Candidates in These States Should Do
If you are studying in Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, or Utah, you can use the two-year pathway right now. A candidate who was planning a fifth year of college purely to reach 150 credits can skip it and start the two years of supervised experience instead, assuming that fits the career plan and the specific coursework rules in that state. Confirm the details with your state board before you change anything, because accounting-credit and auditing-course requirements still vary by state even under the new pathways. For a side-by-side view across all 50 states, see our interactive state pathway map. If you are choosing a review course to fit a compressed timeline, the LIFTS assessment matches courses to your learning style, budget, and schedule.
Sources
- 1.Idaho State Legislature — House Bill 563 (2026, Chapter 48)(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 2.Idaho DOPL — New Licensure Pathways Effective July 1, 2026(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 3.CFO Dive — Idaho governor signs CPA licensing bill(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 4.Iowa Society of CPAs — ISCPA-supported CPA licensure bill is signed (HF 778)(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 5.Utah Association of CPAs — Legislature Unanimously Passes Accountancy Bill (S.B. 15)(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 6.Governor Spencer J. Cox — Signs 200 bills in the 2025 General Legislative Session(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 7.MNCPA — Broadening Pathways to CPA Licensure (National Tracker)(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
- 8.MNCPA — CPA License Pathways Implementation Dates(accessed Jul 3, 2026)
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.
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