The credit window: how the 30-month rolling period works

• State the UAA Model Rule 5-7 credit period and when it starts and ends
• Compute the expiration of a passed section under a rolling 30-month window
• Determine which credit expires first when a window is missed
• Explain why a candidate must confirm the board’s adopted rule

From 18 months to 30

On April 21, 2023, the NASBA Board of Directors amended UAA Model Rule 5-7 to extend conditional credit from 18 months to 30 months and to measure it from the date scores are released. NASBA's announcement is explicit: the Model Rules have no immediate effect on state board rules, and candidates stay under existing rules until their board changes them. The AICPA reports that many states have adopted the 30-month window; NASBA's FAQ states that the state board decides whether credit is granted and how long it lasts. Confirm your board's rule in writing before you plan around 30 months.

What Model Rule 5-7 says

• Order and credit (5-7(a)). You may take sections individually and in any order. Credit for a passed section is valid for 30 months from the date NASBA releases the passing score to the candidate or the board.
• Rolling period (5-7(a)(1)). You must pass all required sections within a rolling 30-month period that begins on the date the first passing score is released. The period ends on the date you sit for the final section passed, regardless of when that last score is released.
• Score notice date (5-7(a)(2)). You must sit for the remaining sections on or before the expiration date shown on the Uniform CPA Examination Score Notice.
• Rolling forward (5-7(a)(3)). If you do not pass everything within the first 30 months, credit for the first section passed expires, and a new 30-month period starts on the release date of the second passing score. The cycle repeats until all sections are passed within one period. If you stop testing for 30 months, all credit expires.
• Passing the exam (5-7(c)). You have passed when you hold credit for all required sections within one rolling 30-month period.
• Transfers (5-7(d)). You keep credit earned as a candidate of another state if this state would have given it under its rules then in effect.
• Hardship (5-7(e)). The board may extend the period for individual hardship, including health, military service, a local, regional or national disruption, or other circumstances beyond the candidate's control.

NASBA's FAQ adds that you have until the end of testing on the day your credit expires, and that in some jurisdictions the expiration date can fall in a non-testing month.

Why the last section needs slack

The window closes on the date you sit, not the date you pass. That helps: a Discipline score released six weeks after the window still counts if you sat in time. The risk is the retake. With Discipline sections limited to the first month of each quarter and Discipline scores about six weeks after the window, a failed Discipline attempt in the final quarter of a window leaves no second try. Plan the hardest remaining section with at least one full retake cycle before expiration.

Mistakes that cost credit

• Counting from the test date instead of the score release date.
• Assuming a move to a new state resets the clock. Transferred credit follows Model Rule 5-7(d) and the new board's rules.
• Forgetting the July 1-11, 2027 testing blackout NASBA has announced for the platform transition.
• Treating the 30-month figure as universal without checking the board's adopted rule.

Applying and scheduling covers the NTS side of the timeline, and the how to become a CPA guide covers the board steps.

A window that rolls