CPA Exam Costs By State

There are a litany of fees and other costs associated with obtaining the CPA license regardless of which state you go through. These fees are charged by the state accounting boards, the AICPA, and NASBA. Common fees include:

Fee Name	Assessed By	Description
First Time Application Fee	Either State Board or NASBA	This is a flat fee they charge when you first apply to take any section of the CPA exam. This will only be charged once and is a flat fee regardless of how many sections you apply for. While they charge an administration fee every time you apply, this "first time" fee is only charged the very first time you apply, with the logic being they have to do more work to check and see if you are eligible to sit for the exam. This is charged by the state board unless the state has outsourced it to NASBA.
Re-Examination Fee	Either State Board or NASBA	This is the application fee you pay going forward every time you apply to take a section after that initial first-time application and eligibility determination. The amount varies based on state. Some states charge a flat fee, others charge based on how many sections you're applying for. This is charged by the state board unless the state has outsourced it to NASBA. To provide an example to clarify some confusion, if a person first applies to take the exam and requests one section, when they later apply to take the other 3 sections, they will pay this "re-examination" fee, NOT the first time fee.
Examination Fee	Either State Board or NASBA	This is a flat fee you pay for every section you apply for. In 2023, the fee is $238.15 per section. This means if you applied to take all 4, you would pay a $952.60 examination fee. This is in addition to the application fee mentioned above. If you fail the section, you will have to re-pay the examination fee when you re-apply.

Example:
Jimmy wants to apply to begin the CPA process. He goes on the state board website and fills out a first-time application. Since the Notice To Schedule (NTS) is only eligible for 6 months, he wants to only apply to take a section he feels comfortable with. He applies for 1 section. They charge him a first-time administrative fee of $160 and an examination fee of $238.60 for a total of $398.60.

Jimmy takes the exam, passes it, and now wants to apply to take other sections. He wants to apply for 2 more sections as he feels comfortable he'll sit for both within 6 months. He goes on an applies for his NTS for this new section. In the state he is applying through, the re-examination fee is calculated as $45 plus $15 for each section that is applied for. Since Jimmy is applying for 2 sections, he is assessed the "re-examination" fee of $75. He is also assessed $238.60 for each section. His total is $552.20 ($75 + $238.60 + $238.60).