Verified November 6, 2026 against the state board. Rules change, so read the board’s current rules before relying on them.
Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy licenses CPAs in Alaska. Its rules and forms are the authority for everything on this page.
Alaska CPAs with an active license complete at least 80 CPE hours in each two-year licensing period, with at least 20 hours in each year and at least 4 hours of ethics (12 AAC 04.300). For licensing periods beginning on or after January 1, 2026, a licensee earns no more than 12 hours in a single day.
Sources: commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPARegulations.pdf, commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPA_BoardFlyer_2026.pdf, commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/cpa4060.pdf
Every Alaska CPA license runs on the same two-year period from January 1 of an even-numbered year to December 31 of the following odd-numbered year. Renewal requires the renewal fee, a renewal application, and certification of office supervision, CPE and peer review compliance (12 AAC 04.189).
Sources: commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/cpa4060.pdf, commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPARegulations.pdf, commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPA_BoardFlyer_2026.pdf
Alaska licenses CPAs who hold a bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration, pass the Uniform CPA Examination and an ethics course and exam, and complete two years of experience. HB 121 repealed the 150-semester-hour requirement effective January 1, 2026 (AS 08.04.120(a)).
Sources: commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPARegulations.pdf, commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CPA_BoardFlyer_2026.pdf
Alaska CPAs with an active license complete at least 80 CPE hours in each two-year licensing period, with at least 20 hours in each year and at least 4 hours of ethics (12 AAC 04.300). For licensing periods beginning on or after January 1, 2026, a licensee earns no more than 12 hours in a single day. At least 4 of the 80 hours must cover ethics (12 AAC 04.300(d)). Inactive licensees are exempt from CPE (12 AAC 04.300(f)). A licensee whose original license was issued during the concluding licensing period is not subject to CPE for that first renewal. A licensee who cannot complete CPE for reasonable cause or excusable neglect requests an exemption in writing, and if it is granted the Board prescribes an alternative way to complete it (12 AAC 04.300(h)). Returning from inactive status requires 120 hours earned in the prior 36 months (12 AAC 04.430).
Renewal applicants certify on the Board's form that they completed the CPE for the concluding licensing period and enter their hours for each year (12 AAC 04.400). Fifty minutes of instruction equals one hour, and only class time counts, not preparation (12 AAC 04.310). One semester hour of academic credit equals 15 hours and one quarter hour equals 10 hours (12 AAC 04.320). No more than 10 hours come from micro-learning activities under one hour long, and instructor or discussion-leader credit is capped at 30 hours in a two-year period. Multi-day programs whose credit is earned on completing the test count more than 12 credits on one day.
Every Alaska CPA license runs on the same two-year period from January 1 of an even-numbered year to December 31 of the following odd-numbered year. Renewal requires the renewal fee, a renewal application, and certification of office supervision, CPE and peer review compliance (12 AAC 04.189). Biennial. The current licensing period runs January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027. December 31 of odd-numbered years. A license lapses after December 31 with no grace period; practicing on a lapsed license is illegal unless the person holds a practice privilege under AS 08.04.420. The renewal fee for the January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027 period is $300 for a CPA license first issued on or before December 31, 2024, $150 prorated for a license first issued on or after January 1, 2025, and $200 for an inactive license. A $100 delayed renewal penalty applies once a license has lapsed more than 60 days.
An individual licensed in another state whose principal place of business is in that state practices in Alaska under a practice privilege with no notice, fee or documentation to the Board (AS 08.04.420). From January 1, 2026, under HB 121, a firm more than half owned by CPAs, with its principal place of business in another state and no Alaska office, also practices under a practice privilege. CPAs licensed elsewhere who passed the Uniform CPA Examination can apply for an Alaska license by reciprocity (AS 08.04.195).
A baccalaureate degree from a college or university acceptable to the Board with an accounting concentration (AS 08.04.120(a)). The concentration is at least 24 semester hours (36 quarter hours) of accounting subjects, no more than 6 semester hours in any one subject, plus 9 semester hours (15 quarter hours) of business law, economics, and statistics, computer science or mathematics (12 AAC 04.185). To sit for the exam, a candidate needs a bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration, at least 15 semester hours of accounting, or one year of public accounting experience under a CPA; or must be within 18 semester hours of the degree requirement with at least 15 semester hours of accounting completed (AS 08.04.150). Not required. HB 121 removed the 150-hour total from AS 08.04.120(a) effective January 1, 2026; the bachelor's degree and accounting concentration still apply.
Two years of accounting experience (AS 08.04.120(a)). Each year is at least 2,000 hours of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax or consulting work, full- or part-time, spread over one to four years, in government, industry, academia or public practice. The experience must be verified by a supervising CPA who held an active license at the time; leave and holidays do not count (12 AAC 04.180).
The examination includes the AICPA self-study course Professional Ethics: The AICPA's Comprehensive Course for Licensure and its open-book exam, graded pass or fail. The Board waives it for an applicant who passed an equivalent ethics exam in another jurisdiction (12 AAC 04.200).
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