Puerto Rico

Eligibility for Examination

As a first-time applicant, you must:

• Be a resident of Puerto Rico or have a place of business in Puerto Rico. Please note: Initial and re-examination candidates must meet the residency requirement;
• Be at least 21 years of age at the time of certification;
• Meet education requirements indicated below:

If you completed your education on or after January 1, 2000, you must meet the following education requirement:

• Earned a baccalaureate degree or higher
• Completed 150 semester (225 quarter) hours of general college level education
• Completed 32 semester (48 quarter) hours in accounting subjects
• Completed 32 semester (48 quarter) hours in accounting and general business such as business law, information systems, economics and finance
• Earned a minimum 2.0 GPA

If you are in your final semester or quarter for completing your baccalaureate degree and 150 semester hours of general education, you can qualify for the examination provided you have completed 32 semester (48 quarter) hours in accounting with a minimum 3.0 GPA prior to submitting your application. You will not be eligible to be licensed until you have completed the full education requirement. If your education is in progress when you submit your examination application, you must submit an official transcript and this Certificate of Enrollment. Once your education has been completed, you will be required to submit an additional official transcript showing all courses and degree(s) as complete.

If you completed your education on or before December 31, 1999, you may qualify by one of the following:

1. Earned a baccalaureate degree in Business Administration with a major in accounting from a college or university approved by the Board; OR
2. Earned a baccalaureate degree from a college or university recognized by the Board and completed at least 58 semester (87 quarter) hours in business subjects, of which 32 semester (48 quarter) hours must be in accounting; OR
3. Have a baccalaureate degree from a college or university recognized by the Board and, in the absence of having completed the required number of credit hours in business subjects, provide evidence of completing eight years of public accounting experience. (In its discretion, the Board may substitute two years of accounting experience in the private or government sector or two years of teaching experience at the college or university level for one year of public accounting experience.)

All educational requirements must be met at the time of application. All educational transcript(s) and/or international evaluations are required to be submitted to CPA Examination Services directly from the academic institution(s).

Experience Requirements

If you are applying on the basis of experience, you must arrange to have official baccalaureate degree transcripts submitted directly to CPA Examination Services at the time of application. In addition, you must submit a written request with experience information directly to the PR State Board of Accountancy for review and approval. Submit requests to:
Junta de Contabilidad
P.O. Box 9023271
San Juan, PR 00902-3271.

Transcripts

If you have completed all educational requirements at the time of application:

• You must submit an official transcript from each school you attended. Transfer credits are not acceptable; you must submit a transcript from each institution.
• Official transcripts are those that have been issued by the institution’s Registrar’s Office and include the Registrar’s official seal.
• The degree you have earned must be posted on your official transcript.
• Your official transcript(s) must be submitted directly from the institution(s).
• Transcripts may be submitted electronically provided they are official. Some schools do not offer this service. Contact your Registrar’s office for additional information. If an email address is required for electronic delivery, use etranscript@nasba.org. Electronically delivered transcripts must be submitted directly from the institution(s).
• Photocopies of transcripts are not official and cannot be accepted.
• Please Note: If you have not yet applied when you submit your transcripts, your education documents will be kept on file for one year. After that time, the documents will be destroyed, and you will need to resubmit new education documents when you apply.
• If you completed courses at a campus located outside the U.S. for a school located in the U.S., the official transcript must be issued by the registrar from the U.S. campus. Transcripts issued by the registrar for the campus located outside the U.S. will not be accepted.

If you are applying based on experience, you must:

• Submit to CPA Examination Services the official baccalaureate degree transcripts. The official transcript must be received directly from the academic institution to CPA Examination Services.
• Submit a written request with experience information directly to the PR State Board of Accountancy for review and approval: Junta de Contabilidad P.O. Box 9023271, San Juan, PR 00902-3271.
• Please note: If you earned a baccalaureate degree prior to December 31, 1999, you may apply under this option.
• Photocopies are not acceptable.

If you have international education credentials, you must:

• Have your credentials evaluated by NASBA International Evaluation Services
• Require the agency to evaluate as follows:
  • An equivalency summary that indicates the analogous academic degrees in the U.S. you hold;
  • A credential analysis that specifies:
    • The name of the country;
    • The degree awarded;
    • The year the degree was awarded; and
    • The entity that awarded the degree;
  • A course-by-course listing; and
  • A course credit analysis that includes:
    • Total credits earned toward the degree as stated on transcripts submitted;
    • Total accounting credits earned; and
    • Total business credits earned.
• Completed original evaluations must be received by CPAES directly from the evaluation service at the time of application. Photocopies are not acceptable.
• A copy of the international transcript must be included with the report sent to NASBA for each individual evaluation from the evaluation service. The application will be considered incomplete without these documents and the processing of the application will not move forward until transcripts are provided.
• Please Note: If you have not yet applied, education documents received will be kept on file for one year. After that time, these documents will be destroyed, and you will need to resubmit new education documents at the time of application.
• If you completed courses at a campus located outside the U.S. for a school located in the U.S., the official transcript must be issued by the registrar from the U.S. campus. Transcripts issued by the registrar for the campus located outside the U.S. will not be accepted.
• Education requirements must be met through academic coursework completed at an accredited institution. Professional training is not acceptable toward these requirements. Coursework completed as part of a Chartered Accountant or similar program is considered professional training and is, therefore, not accepted toward the education requirements for the U.S. Uniform CPA Examination.

Course Requirements

• Courses earned at a regionally accredited community college or two-year degree granting institution are acceptable.
• Correspondence, online courses and CLEP credit are acceptable when you receive credit for the courses at a regionally accredited university. These courses must appear on an official transcript.
• CPA Review Courses may be accepted when taken at a regionally accredited institution and credit is awarded for the courses.
• Commercial review courses are not acceptable.

Residency

You must:

• be a resident of Puerto Rico or have a place of business in Puerto Rico; Note: both first-time and re-exam candidates must meet the residency requirement.
• be at least 21 years of age at the time of certification;
• If you are not a U.S. citizen, you must submit statements of intention to become a citizen of the U.S. with your application.

1. An official transcript from each school listed on your application. Transcripts must be sent directly from your school to CPA Examination Services.
2. Testing Accommodations Request Form, if applicable. Submission by you to CPAES.

Please allow two to four weeks from your file completion date (when application, fees and all additional required materials have been received) for your application to be processed. Acknowledgment of receipt of application will be sent to you via email, unless otherwise indicated. This notice is sent only as acknowledgment of receipt of application.

Please be advised that we cannot confirm we have received your documents until after your application has been submitted and a file has been created for you. To ensure your application is evaluated in a timely manner, please submit all of the forms together. If you have any questions, contact the Puerto Rico Coordinator at cpaes-pr@nasba.org.

Applicants with Disabilities

In accordance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, examination administration accommodations are available, should you qualify. Please download the Testing Accommodations Request Form for more information.

Education Evaluation Application

Before you can apply for an exam section you must first be deemed eligible for the CPA Exam. Your Evaluation Application will determine if you meet the educational requirements needed to take the CPA Exam for your selected jurisdiction.

Education Evaluation Application Fee: $90.00

Exam Section Application

Once you have been found eligible for the CPA Exam you may then apply for a specific exam section. You can only apply for one exam section per application. You are advised to only apply for the exam section if you are ready to take it. Your Notice to Schedule will be valid for a limited amount of time, and you must take the exam section listed on the NTS within this time frame or you will lose those fees paid.

Exam Section Application Fee: $394.80

Refund Policy

There is no provision for withdrawing from the examination and/or requesting an extension of your current Notices to Schedule (NTS). Application and/or examination fees are not refundable. If you have an extreme circumstance, you may request an NTS extension or a partial refund of your examination fees under specific circumstances utilizing the Exception to Policy Form.

You may take the required test sections individually and in any order, but are required to pass all four sections of the examination within a rolling 18 month period, which begins on the date the first examination section passed was taken.

Credit for any section passed shall be valid for 18 months from the actual date the examination sections were taken. Examination credit expires by section. You will lose credit for each section passed outside the 18 month period, and will have to retake those sections.