Ethics Exam and Licensing

Depending on your State, you will have different requirements in the licensing process, but in CA, you must complete a take home ethics exam with 90% or better before you can apply for your license.

The ethics exam was tough, even for a take-home exam! Most of the questions had two or more right answers, and the documentation in the book was not specific as to most circumstances. My advice for passing the ethics exam in CA, is to write the page number you found your answer next to the question, that way if you have to retake the exam (u get three tries per book) you know where to start in finding the proper answer.

Be careful to read the question throughly because the question could be asking about Federal regulations or California regulations.

It took me about 15 hours to complete my ethics exam, and I passed on the first try, with 95%. Put in the time, make sure you pass the first time, because they don't tell you which questions you got wrong, which may make it difficult to find the right answers.

Once I passed the ethics exam, I submitted my application, and once approved, I had a license number within 4 weeks and my wall certificate another 2 weeks later! I am now a proud licensed CPA.

I know once you pass the exam you think, no more studying, well, not exactly true, you still have CPE's every year, but YOU get to choose the topics, and they aren't some large daunting exam that hold you back from your career.

So don't be afraid of the CPA exam, just take it one step at a time, and I promise, you'll get there.

Time elapsed from starting to study, to receiving the Wall Certificate in the mail from the California Board of Accountancy, 1 year 4 months.

Not Bad!