Rhode Island

Rhode Island Board of Accountancy
dbr.ri.gov/building-design-fire-professionals-board-accountancy/board-accountancy/

Rhode Island allows candidates to sit for the Exam after earning a bachelor's degree and completing 120 semester hours, before finishing the additional hours required for licensure. Rhode Island Board materials describe three licensure pathways: (1) a bachelor's and master's degree with an accounting major/concentration, (2) a bachelor's degree plus 30 additional credits (150 total) with an accounting major/concentration, or (3) — new for 2026 — a bachelor's degree alone with an accounting major/concentration. Sources found in this research pass gave the new pathway's effective date inconsistently (June 23, 2026 in one Board-adjacent document, July 1, 2026 in press coverage) — confirm the exact effective date with the Board.

Pathway 2 (bachelor's + 30 credits): at least 1 year (1,820 hours) of experience verified by a CPA licensed in any U.S. jurisdiction. Pathway 3 (bachelor's degree alone, new for 2026): at least 2 years (3,640 hours) of such experience.

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).

Every Rhode Island pathway found in this research requires scoring at least 90% on the AICPA 'Professional Ethics: The AICPA's Comprehensive Course (For Licensure)' exam. CARE could not directly load dbr.ri.gov's board page during this pass (it returned an access error) and instead relied on indexed quotes of Rhode Island Board of Accountancy materials surfaced via search — treat the specific pathway hour-figures and effective date as needing a direct-source double-check before relying on them.

https://dbr.ri.gov/building-design-fire-professionals-board-accountancy/board-accountancy/ — accessed 2026-09-30