Montana

Montana Board of Public Accountants
boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/pac

To sit for the Exam: Montana does not require a bachelor's degree — candidates need at least 24 semester hours of accounting coursework above the introductory level (covering financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting) plus 24 semester hours of business-related coursework. For full licensure, a baccalaureate degree plus 150 semester hours total with an accounting concentration is required. Effective January 1, 2026, Montana offers three licensure pathways: (1) a post-baccalaureate degree with accounting concentration plus 1 year of experience, (2) a baccalaureate degree with accounting concentration plus 30 additional semester hours (150 total) plus 1 year of experience, or (3) a baccalaureate degree with accounting concentration plus 2 years of experience.

1 year of qualifying accounting/auditing experience (2 years under the bachelor's-only pathway), at a minimum of 2,000 hours per year, completed within the 3 years preceding application, attested to by a U.S.-licensed CPA (or a professional with an equivalent mutual-recognition-agreement credential).

Yes, a separate ethics exam/course is required.

Yes — candidates can typically sit for the Exam before finishing all coursework required for full licensure (e.g. at 120 semester hours, finishing the rest before licensure).

Montana's coursework-only sit requirement (no bachelor's degree needed merely to sit) is a real, unusual feature — confirm current status directly with the Board, especially given the new 3-pathway system that took effect January 1, 2026. CARE could not directly load the Board's own education/experience sub-pages (they 404'd during this research pass) and instead deepened this record against NASBA's Montana licensure and exam-eligibility pages, which is lower-confidence than a direct Board-page read.

https://nasba.org/licensure/nasbalicensing/montana/ — accessed 2026-09-30