IQEX Basic Information
IQEX is an acronym for the International Uniform Certified Public Accountant Qualification Examination and is sometimes referred to as The U.S. CPA Reciprocity Exam.
The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) offers the IQEX to qualified international candidates each fall. If you are an internationally trained accountant, you may wish to sit for the IQEX exam and seek a reciprocal CPA designation, since the CPA is globally the most recognized accounting designation.
IQEX is designed to evaluate your professional competence as delineated by the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board. The board will evaluate your education, examination scores, and experience to determine if you meet requirements which are substantially equivalent to United States CPAs. The IQEX exam will test you on your knowledge of U.S. business law, professional standards, and U.S. taxation codes.
In a later article is a list of the international designations eligible for reciprocity. If you do not hold one of those, you can still apply through one of the 54 U.S. jurisdictions, pass the exam, and become a CPA.
Importantly, those who have acquired their overseas membership through mutual recognition or reciprocity are not eligible. For example, an Australian or Irish Chartered Accountant who originally qualified as a Scottish Chartered Accountant would not be eligible.
- Application is made directly to NASBA, not to a state board of accountancy
- The exam can be sat at Prometric test centers outside the United States (although Canada is the only other country in which the exam is normally offered)
- Instead of being available all year round, IQEX is only offered for three weeks in October or November each year.
- Results are sent directly to the candidate by NASBA (normally in February, following the exam in November)
After You Pass
After successfully passing IQEX, candidates must still meet the requirements of one of the 55 State Boards of Accountancy in order to be licensed or certified as a CPA.
Although state boards are not involved in the IQEX examination itself, they still reserve the right to decide on CPA licensee and certification.
- Most successful IQEX candidates (who do not need a license from a particular state) apply for a CPA certificate from the Illinois State Board of Accountancy. This is the most straightforward option, as Illinois does not require any further educational, ethics or work experience requirements for certification.
- Some state boards do not accept IQEX, or only accept it under certain conditions. Some may not accept Irish Chartered Accountants, for example, or may only accept Canadian Chartered Accountants from certain Canadian provinces.
CPAexcel developed a specialized study course to meet your needs when you are studying for 2010 IQEX. Since CPAexcel students pass the CPA Exam at nearly twice the national average, CPAexcel expects a similar level of success for our international students.