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Events • April 16, 2024 

# Licensing Restrictions and the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Shortage 

All US states and territories maintain a high barrier to entry that dissuades students from entering the accounting profession—the requirement that CPAs complete 150 credit hours of academic study in addition to passing an exam. This unnecessary requirement contributes to the current shortage of accountants, delaying the completion of state and local government financial audits and thus inhibiting the public’s ability to hold governments accountable.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

![Boz Bostrom - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-03/boz-bostrom-cropped.jpg?itok=H8KsyOxq) 

##### Boz Bostrom 

Chair-Elect of the Minnesota Society of CPAs

[ 

](https://twitter.com/BozBostrom) 

![Sharon Lassar - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-03/sharon-lassar-cropped.jpg?itok=euZ6ztg5) 

##### Sharon Lassar 

Director, School of Accountancy at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

![Brian Meehan - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-03/brian-meehan-cropped.jpg?itok=BdzOnRjN) 

##### Brian Meehan 

Associate Professor of Economics, Berry College, and Research Affiliate with the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University

[![Marc Joffe - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-11/marc-joffe-cropped.jpg?itok=Rfc77mug)](/people/marc-joffe) 

##### [Marc Joffe](/people/marc-joffe)

Former Federalism and State Policy Analyst, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/joffemd) [ 

](mailto:mjoffe@cato.org)