Public accounting experience is the supervised professional work you perform at a firm serving outside clients — businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and individuals — in auditing, tax, or advisory services. For CPA licensure, most state boards require at least one year, defined as 2,000 hours, completed under a licensed CPA who signs off on your work. A newer pathway lets you substitute a second year of experience for 30 additional college credits, so depending on your education, you may need one year or two.
How Many Hours You Need
Under the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA), the model law that most state boards follow, one year of experience means at least 2,000 hours of qualifying work.1National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Uniform Accountancy Act Model Rules Those hours must be earned over a period of no less than one year and no more than three. Part-time work counts toward the total, but you still have to reach 2,000 hours within that window.
How much experience you need depends on which education route you take to the license. There are three current pathways:2NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. New CPA Licensure Pathways and CPA Mobility
- A bachelor’s degree in accounting plus 30 additional semester credits (150 total), one year of experience, and passage of the CPA Exam.
- A graduate degree in accounting, one year of experience, and passage of the CPA Exam.
- A bachelor’s degree in accounting (120 semester hours) with no additional credits, two years of experience, and passage of the CPA Exam.
The 120-hour route is the newest option, designed to remove the extra 30 credits as a barrier by trading them for a second year of supervised work.3AICPA & CIMA. AICPA and NASBA Approve Model Legislation for New CPA Licensure Path States are adopting it on their own timelines, so check whether yours has enacted it before planning around it.
What Work Qualifies
Qualifying experience covers accounting, auditing, tax, financial advisory, management advisory, and consulting work. In a public accounting firm, this typically breaks into three service areas, and new hires often rotate through at least two during their first few years.
Auditing and Assurance
Audit work is the examination of a client’s financial records and internal controls to confirm that the reported numbers follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the standards set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.4Financial Accounting Standards Board. About the FASB You test approval workflows, reconciliations, and access controls to see whether the client’s own safeguards catch or prevent errors, and you document your testing in workpapers that support your conclusions. Some engagements extend into forensic accounting to detect fraud, or into risk management assessments of whether controls adequately protect assets.
Tax Preparation and Planning
Tax work covers preparing federal, state, corporate, and individual returns under the Internal Revenue Code, and advising clients on how to structure transactions to reduce liability. Beyond compliance, you research how business decisions such as equipment purchases, debt restructuring, or entity selection affect a client’s tax position over multiple years.
Advisory and Consulting
Advisory engagements produce strategic guidance rather than an audit opinion or a filed return. You might help a client improve financial reporting processes, evaluate a potential acquisition, or design stronger internal controls. The analytical skills overlap with audit and tax work, but the deliverable is a recommendation.
Who Has to Supervise You
A CPA with an active license must supervise your work for it to count. At the end of the qualifying period, that supervisor signs an experience verification form confirming what you did and that you demonstrated the necessary skills. Without that signed form, your state board will not process the license application.
The supervising CPA typically attests to the type of work you performed — auditing, tax, financial advisory, or similar — along with the complexity and diversity of your assignments. The framework comes from the UAA, jointly published by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).5AICPA & CIMA. Uniform Accountancy Act Ninth Edition
Does Non-Firm Work Count?
Yes, in most cases. A common misconception is that only work at a public accounting firm qualifies. Under the UAA model rules, acceptable experience includes employment in industry, government, and academia, not just public practice.1National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Uniform Accountancy Act Model Rules What matters is that the work involved qualifying skills and that a licensed CPA supervised it. An internal auditor at a corporation, a budget analyst at a government agency, or an accounting instructor at a university may all be earning hours that count.
State rules vary, though. Some boards accept any qualifying experience without conditions on setting. Others add requirements for non-public work, such as demanding that the supervising CPA directly review your output rather than simply share an employer with you. Confirm with your state board before you commit to a career path built around non-firm hours.
Public accounting firms remain the most direct route because the supervisory structure is already in place: managers and partners hold CPA licenses, and client engagements naturally cover the required skill areas.
Independence Rules That Shape the Work
Because your audit opinion carries weight only if you have no financial stake in the client, independence rules govern what your firm can and cannot do for the same company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act prohibits audit firms from simultaneously providing certain non-audit services — including bookkeeping, internal audit outsourcing, financial system design, and actuarial work — to the same public-company audit client, and the client’s audit committee must pre-approve any permitted non-audit services.6U.S. Department of Labor. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Public Law 107-204 The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) enforces these standards and can impose censures, fines, and practice restrictions.7PCAOB Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Enforcement Independence training is a routine part of every new accountant’s development at a firm.
How Experience Fits With the Exam and Ethics Requirement
Experience is one of three requirements every CPA candidate must satisfy: education, examination, and experience. Most states allow you to sit for the Uniform CPA Examination before finishing your experience hours, so many candidates work on both at once. The exam has three core sections — Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation — plus one discipline section you choose.8AICPA & CIMA. Everything You Need to Know About the CPA Exam
Most states also require a professional ethics examination. The AICPA’s course covers the Code of Professional Conduct, independence rules from the SEC and PCAOB, and ethical standards for tax services, and requires a score of 90 percent or higher.9AICPA & CIMA. Professional Ethics: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Comprehensive Course for Licensure
What the Job Is Like While You Earn Hours
Public accounting is known for demanding schedules during busy season. From roughly January through April, when audit and tax deadlines overlap, practitioners commonly work 50 to 80 hours per week.10AICPA & CIMA. 6 Ways CPAs Can Manage Time During Busy Season The rest of the year is steadier, with client work, training, and business development filling the calendar.
Pay reflects the workload and the credential. As of May 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported median annual pay of $81,680 for accountants and auditors across all experience levels, with the bottom 10 percent under $52,780 and the top 10 percent above $141,420.11U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accountants and Auditors Occupational Outlook Handbook Entry-level associates at large firms typically start near the lower end, with meaningful jumps after licensure. Firm size and geography move the numbers as well.
Where you earn your hours affects the mix of work. The largest international firms handle audits and tax engagements for major corporations and offer exposure to complex international reporting. Mid-tier and regional firms serve large private companies and growing businesses, often giving junior staff a broader range of assignments earlier because teams are smaller. Small local practices concentrate on individual tax clients and small-business consulting, with closer client relationships and less structured training. The underlying requirement doesn’t change: accurate, ethical work performed under a licensed CPA who can verify it when you apply for your own license.