According to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, candidates who intend to take the Missouri CPA exam must have completed at least 150 semester hours of college education. They must possess, or be in the process of completing, a baccalaureate (or bachelor’s) degree or higher from an accredited college or university, and their major or concentration must be in accounting. Candidates who did not major or concentrate in accounting must have completed the same number of courses in accounting that would amount to the equivalent of a major or concentration in the subject.
As part of their baccalaureate degree study, candidates must take 60 semester hours in courses that contribute to their major or concentration, and 33 of these hours must consist of accounting courses. At least one of these accounting courses must be in auditing, and at least 18 of the 33 hours must consist of upper-division accounting courses. The remaining 27 semester hours that contribute to the candidate’s major or concentration must consist of courses in topics relating to business or business administration, such as marketing, management, economics, finance or other similar topics.
The Missouri CPA exam consists of four sections. The candidate may take the first section of the exam prior to completing the state educational requirements and/or his baccalaureate coursework. Candidates who choose to take the exam before completing their coursework must fill out and submit a Certificate of Enrollment form, along with his college or university transcript(s), to the CPA Examination Services at the same time they submit their application to take the exam. Candidates must complete the educational requirements no later than 60 days after completing the first section of the exam. Additionally, the state will not release CPA exam scores to candidates until they complete their baccalaureate coursework and submit their final transcript(s) to the CPA Examination Services. If a candidate fails to complete her coursework and/or submit his final transcript(s), the state will void her CPA exam test scores.