State of Hawaii
Board of Public Accountancy

• General Qualifications
• Education Requirement
• Experience Requirement
• Conditioning
• Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

Additional Information
For additional information on certification or licensing, visit http://www.state.hi.us/dcca/pvl



General Qualifications
A CPA certificate shall be granted to a person who is at least eighteen (18) years of age; is of good moral character; meets the specified educational and experience requirements; and passes the Uniform CPA Examination. All current certificates are considered active, although a Permit to Practice is required to hold oneself out as a CPA.



Education Requirement
Effective December 31, 2000, an applicant subject to the one hundred fifty semester hour educational requirement shall have:

1. A baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by an accredited educational institution, or evidence that the baccalaureate or comparable degree qualifies the applicant for acceptance for an advanced degree at an accredited university, college or other four-year educational institution; and
   
   
2. One hundred fifty semester hours of college education which shall, at minimum, include:
   
   
   1. Twenty-four (24) semester hours in upper division or graduate level accounting courses including, without limitation, courses in financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and managerial accounting; and
      
      
   2. Twenty-four (24) semester hours in upper division or graduate level non-accounting business-related courses including, without limitation, courses in economics; legal and social environment of business; business law; marketing; finance; organizational, group, and individual behavior; quantitative applications in business; communication skills; business ethics; globalization; total-quality management; computer science; human relations; or other business-type courses.

Experience Requirement
A person applying for a certificate shall be required either to complete fifteen hundred (1,500) chargeable hours in the performance of audits involving the application of generally accepted accounting principles and generally accepted auditing standards, or two (2) years of full-time professional experience. All experience must be full-time (thirty-five [35] or more hours per week) and obtained in a public accounting practice in the United States.



Conditioning
A candidate who successfully completes any two (2) sections of the Uniform CPA Examination and attains a grade of at least fifty (50) on all sections not passed is granted credit for such sections on the next six (6) consecutive examination dates.

Credit for the successful completion of sections of the examination may be granted to candidates who passed such sections of the examination in another state provided the candidate obtained credits as outlined above.



Continuing Professional Education (CPE)
A CPA who applies for a biennial Permit to Practice must complete eighty (80) hours of acceptable continuing education during the preceding two(2)-year period. Credit hours in excess of eighty (80) hours may be carried over to the succeeding biennium up to a total of forty (40) hours. A CPA applying for renewal of his/her permit must submit documents indicating satisfaction of the continuing education requirement by December 31 of every odd-numbered year. Course providers must register with the Board. There is no limit on self-study courses, and full credit is awarded as certified by the sponsor.