Verified November 6, 2026 against the state board. Rules change, so read the board’s current rules before relying on them.
Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy licenses CPAs in Mississippi. Its rules and forms are the authority for everything on this page.
Mississippi CPAs report at least 40 CPE hours for each one-year compliance period ending June 30, plus 4 hours of Board-approved ethics and Mississippi law every three years.
Sources: msbpa.ms.gov/continuing-professional-education, msbpa.ms.gov/sites/accounting/files/Effective%20JULY%202026%20FINAL%20-%20UPDATED.pdf
Mississippi CPA licenses are registered every year. Registration requires the annual fee and CPE compliance.
Sources: msbpa.ms.gov/sites/accounting/files/Effective%20JULY%202026%20FINAL%20-%20UPDATED.pdf, msbpa.ms.gov/fees, msbpa.ms.gov/frequently-asked-questions
HB 1137, signed in March 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, gives Mississippi three licensure pathways: a bachelor's plus additional hours to 150 semester hours with one year of experience, a postgraduate degree with one year, or a bachelor's degree with two years. All three require an accounting concentration and the Uniform CPA Exam.
Sources: msbpa.ms.gov/sites/accounting/files/Effective%20JULY%202026%20FINAL%20-%20UPDATED.pdf, msbpa.ms.gov/node/100, msbpa.ms.gov/sites/accounting/files/Marked%20Up%20and%20Clean%20Versions.pdf, ms-cpa.org/news/4311793-mississippi-enacts-alternate-pathways-to-cpa-licensure-2026-03-26
Mississippi CPAs report at least 40 CPE hours for each one-year compliance period ending June 30, plus 4 hours of Board-approved ethics and Mississippi law every three years. Every three years: at least 3 hours in a Board-approved Ethics and Professional Conduct course and at least 1 hour in Mississippi Public Accountancy Law and Regulations (Rule 4.1.3). The current triennial period runs July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2028. Carry-over hours cannot satisfy the ethics requirement. Up to 20 hours above 40 in one compliance period carry to the next period only, and no more than 20 of the 40 required hours may come from carry-over (Rules 4.1.2 and 4.1.4). A new licensee is exempt from CPE in the compliance period in which the license is issued and from the ethics requirement for the rest of that triennial period. Licensees with retired or permanent disability status are exempt. The Board may make annual exceptions for a licensee whose primary employment and license are in a state with substantially equivalent CPE rules, or for physician-certified health reasons on annual petition.
Report on the Board's online form by August 1, even if the total is zero. A license cannot be registered while out of CPE compliance. Keep CPE records for at least five years.
Mississippi CPA licenses are registered every year. Registration requires the annual fee and CPE compliance. Annual. Register and pay the annual fee on or before January 1. After a certified-mail notice of default, a license not registered within ten days is automatically cancelled (Miss. Code 73-33-7; Rule 2.3.4). Initial and annual registration $110; late fee after January 1 $150; reinstatement processing fee $200 plus the $110 registration fee; processing fee for an original or reciprocal license $100.
An individual whose principal place of business is outside Mississippi, who holds a valid CPA license from any state, has passed the Uniform CPA Exam and meets the education and experience requirements of Miss. Code 73-33-5(2) and (3) has practice privileges in Mississippi with no notice, fee or license. Individuals who held a license and Mississippi practice privileges on or before December 31, 2025 keep those privileges (Miss. Code 73-33-17).
To sit: at least 120 semester hours including a baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited four-year institution, with an accounting concentration of 48 semester hours of upper-division or graduate accounting and business courses, including 24 in accounting with at least 3 each in financial accounting, auditing, taxation and accounting information systems. Education must be complete before the first exam application, and the candidate must be a Mississippi resident. 150 semester hours with an accounting concentration remains one pathway. Since July 1, 2026 a postgraduate degree with one year of experience, or a baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration and two years of experience, also qualifies (Miss. Code 73-33-5(2)-(3)). Board Rule 2.1.2 still refers to 150 semester hours, and the Board has published proposed amendments to Chapter 2 of its rules.
One year of experience for the 150-hour and postgraduate pathways, two years for the bachelor's pathway. Board Rule 2.1.3 defines a year as at least 2,000 hours of full or part-time work under the supervision of a CPA or equivalent, in accounting, attest, advisory, tax or consulting work, gained within the three years before the license application. Exam credits expire if the candidate does not apply within that three-year window.
CORAA AI drafts audit working papers from your client’s QuickBooks books and does the first pass: lead schedules, tie-out, memos, draft notes and letters. CORAA Network reviewers clear every finding. Your firm reviews and signs.
