Illinois CPA Exam requirements

How do you meet the Illinois CPA exam requirements and apply?

1. Create an account on the ILBOE site.
2. Submit the evaluation application that fits your education, and have every school you attended send an official transcript.
3. If you're eligible but still finishing classes, list them; ILBOE approves you provisionally.
4. Once approved, pay your payment coupon. ILBOE says coupons come to about $225 a section. That's ILBOE's own estimate; other boards list $268.59 a section as of October 2026, so pay the amount on your coupon.
5. Get your NTS and book with Prometric. Illinois NTSs last six months from the day you pay the coupon.

If you're approved provisionally, you can't retake a section until ILBOE has your final transcript.

Illinois routes to the license from 2027

ILBOE says Illinois plans to offer new pathways from January 1, 2027, and that the rules aren't final yet. All of them need a bachelor's degree or higher and at least 120 semester credit hours, and under them you won't need 150 semester hours to be licensed:

• A bachelor's in accounting plus two years of experience.
• A master's in any field with 24 hours of intermediate or higher accounting, plus one year of experience.
• A bachelor's in any field with 24 hours of intermediate or higher accounting and 24 hours of non-accounting business courses, including business communication and ethics, plus one year of experience.