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How to Become an Accountant: Degree, Steps & Salary (2026)
Key takeaway: You can work as an accountant with a bachelor's degree in accounting and no license at all -- licensure only becomes mandatory if you want to be a Certified Public Accountant, which adds an education requirement beyond the bachelor's, a four-part exam, and supervised experience. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a national median annual wage of $83,680 for accountants and auditors (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national median).
Accounting is one of the few well-paid professional fields where the entry requirement is genuinely just a bachelor’s degree. Plenty of accountants – in corporate accounting, government, nonprofits, and internal audit – build entire careers without ever sitting for a licensing exam. The license, the CPA, matters for a specific set of work: signing audit opinions, representing clients before the IRS as a CPA, holding out to the public as a certified public accountant, and reaching partner or controller-level roles at many firms.
That fork is the single most important thing to understand about this path, and it comes early. This guide covers both branches in the order you would actually complete them, then explains what CPA licensure requires state by state. For the field overview, start with the Online Accounting Degrees guide.
Step-by-step: how to become an accountant
Step 1: Earn a bachelor’s degree in accounting
A bachelor’s degree in accounting is the standard entry credential. A typical program runs about 120 semester credits and covers financial accounting, managerial and cost accounting, intermediate accounting, auditing, individual and corporate taxation, accounting information systems, business law, and enough economics and finance to make the numbers mean something.
Related majors – finance, business administration, economics – can lead to accounting jobs, but graduates usually have to make up specific accounting coursework, and it matters more if you later pursue the CPA, because state boards count accounting and business credits specifically rather than any 120 credits.
An associate degree in accounting is a real starting point for bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, and accounting clerk roles. It is not a substitute for the bachelor’s if your goal is an accountant title, but those jobs pay while you finish the degree and the experience is genuinely relevant.
Step 2: Decide whether you are pursuing the CPA
Everything about the next few years depends on this answer.
- Not pursuing the CPA. You can go straight to work after your bachelor’s. Corporate accounting departments, government agencies at every level, nonprofits, and internal audit groups hire bachelor’s graduates directly. Optional credentials such as the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) can be added later on the strength of a bachelor’s degree plus experience.
- Pursuing the CPA. You need to plan your credit hours before you graduate, because the education requirement is larger than a standard bachelor’s and it is far cheaper to satisfy it as you go than to return for it afterward.
Step 3: Meet the CPA education requirement (the 150-hour rule)
CPA licensure is granted by individual state boards of accountancy, not by a national body, and the education requirement has traditionally been 150 semester hours – 30 credits beyond a typical 120-credit bachelor’s – including minimum counts of upper-level accounting and business coursework that vary by state.
Candidates satisfy that gap in several ways: a master’s in accounting or MAcc, a five-year integrated bachelor’s-plus-master’s program, a graduate certificate, or simply extra undergraduate credits. The master’s route is popular because it satisfies the hours while also deepening the technical coursework.
Be aware of two moving parts. First, many states allow candidates to sit for the exam at 120 hours while requiring 150 for the license – those are separate thresholds. Second, a number of state boards have been adopting or debating alternative pathways to licensure that pair a bachelor’s degree with additional documented work experience in place of the extra 30 credits. Rules differ by state and have been actively changing, so verify the current requirements directly with the board of accountancy in the state where you intend to be licensed before you plan your credits.
Step 4: Pass the Uniform CPA Examination
The Uniform CPA Examination has four sections: three core sections covering financial accounting and reporting, auditing and attestation, and taxation and regulation, plus one discipline section that candidates choose from a defined set of specialty areas. Each section is taken separately, and candidates must pass all four within a rolling window set by their state board.
Most candidates spread the exam across a year or more while working or finishing a graduate program. Application, eligibility screening, and score release all run through your state board and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).
Step 5: Complete the supervised experience requirement
Every state requires documented professional experience before it will issue a CPA license – commonly one to two years of accounting work verified by a licensed CPA. What counts (public accounting only versus industry or government experience, and whether the verifying CPA must be your direct supervisor) varies by state. Some states also require an ethics examination, frequently the AICPA ethics exam, as a final step.
Step 6: Apply for licensure, or start work
If you are on the CPA track, you submit your education transcripts, exam scores, experience verification, and ethics exam result to the state board and receive the license. It renews on a cycle with continuing professional education requirements attached.
If you are not on the CPA track, Step 6 came earlier: you started work after the bachelor’s. Common entry roles include staff accountant, general ledger accountant, cost accountant, accounts payable or receivable specialist, tax associate, and internal audit associate. The accounting careers guide covers where each leads.
One credential worth knowing outside the CPA path: the Enrolled Agent (EA), granted by the IRS, authorizes you to represent taxpayers before the IRS. It requires passing a three-part exam and has no degree requirement at all – an unusual and genuinely accessible route into professional tax work.
What degree do you need to be an accountant?
- Associate degree in accounting – qualifies you for bookkeeping and accounting clerk roles; a stepping stone rather than an endpoint.
- Bachelor’s in accounting – the entry credential for accountant roles across corporate, government, nonprofit, and public accounting.
- Master’s in accounting – the common way to reach 150 credit hours for CPA licensure, and useful for specialization in tax, audit, or forensic accounting.
The accounting concentrations guide covers specialization options, and the certificates guide covers shorter academic credentials.
How much do accountants make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a national median annual wage of $83,680 for accountants and auditors (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national median). Half of accountants and auditors earn more than that and half earn less; the median covers everyone from first-year staff accountants to senior professionals with decades of experience.
View the data behind this chart
| Percentile | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $56,020 |
| 25th percentile | $67,020 |
| Median | $83,680 |
| 75th percentile | $109,810 |
| 90th percentile | $144,090 |
View the data behind this chart
| State | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $111,530 |
| New York | $102,640 |
| New Jersey | $100,830 |
| Massachusetts | $99,460 |
| Connecticut | $97,550 |
| California | $97,050 |
| Colorado | $97,030 |
| Washington | $96,550 |
For context on where the path can lead, the BLS reports a national median annual wage of $166,570 for financial managers – the controller, treasurer, and finance director category that experienced accountants frequently move into (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national median).
How long does it take to become an accountant?
It depends entirely on the CPA question:
- Accountant without a CPA: about 4 years – the bachelor’s degree, then straight into an entry role.
- Accountant with a CPA: about 6 to 7 years. Roughly 4 years for the bachelor’s, about 1 to 2 years to reach 150 credit hours (typically via a master’s), 6 to 18 months to pass all four CPA exam sections, and 1 to 2 years of supervised experience – though the exam and experience often overlap because most candidates are working while they test.
Add the ethics exam and board processing time at the end, usually weeks rather than months. If your state offers an alternative experience-based pathway, the arithmetic changes, which is another reason to check the board before you plan. See Is an accounting degree worth it? for a fuller look at the tradeoff.
Frequently asked questions
What degree do you need to be an accountant?
A bachelor’s degree in accounting is the standard entry credential. Related business majors can work if you complete the accounting coursework. If you intend to become a CPA, most states require 150 semester hours of education for licensure, which is 30 credits beyond a typical bachelor’s.
How long does it take to become an accountant?
About four years if you are not pursuing the CPA – finish the bachelor’s and start working. About six to seven years for the full CPA path, counting the bachelor’s, the additional 30 credit hours, the four-section exam, and one to two years of supervised experience, some of which overlaps with exam preparation.
How much do accountants make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a national median annual wage of $83,680 for accountants and auditors (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national median). Half earn above that figure and half below, spanning entry-level staff accountants through senior practitioners.
Do you need a degree to be an accountant?
For an accountant title, effectively yes – employers expect a bachelor’s, and CPA licensure has a firm education requirement. But related work is genuinely open without one: bookkeeping, payroll, and accounting clerk roles hire without a degree, and the IRS Enrolled Agent credential, which authorizes representation of taxpayers before the IRS, requires passing a three-part exam with no degree requirement.
Do you have to be a CPA to work as an accountant?
No. Most accountants are not CPAs. The license is required to sign audit reports and to hold yourself out to the public as a certified public accountant, and it is often expected for partner and controller-level roles, but corporate, government, and nonprofit accounting positions are widely open to non-licensed accountants.
Is the 150-hour rule the same in every state?
No. CPA licensure is state-by-state, and while 150 semester hours has long been the common standard, the specific accounting and business credit minimums differ, many states let you sit for the exam at 120 hours while requiring 150 to be licensed, and a number of boards have adopted or are considering alternative pathways combining a bachelor’s degree with extra documented experience. Confirm the rules with your state board of accountancy.
Where to go next
- Start the path: Online Accounting Degrees
- Entry credential: Bachelor’s in accounting
- The 150-hour route: Master’s in accounting
- Where the degree leads: What can you do with an accounting degree?
- Related finance paths: How to become a financial analyst and how to become a financial manager
- Weigh the investment: Is an accounting degree worth it?
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national medians. CPA education, examination, and experience requirements are set by individual state boards of accountancy and change over time; confirm current rules with the board in your state.
Data verified: August 12, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.