Credentials Evaluation Application | Illinois Board of Examiners (2024)

Starting Your Journey

To start your journey, you must create an account to establish your identity and then have access to pertinent information.

An online account will enable you to file an application, apply for tests, see test scores, and more.

Evaluation Pricing

• Pre-Evaluation – $50
• Domestic Education Evaluation – $200
• Foreign Education Evaluation
• Combination of Domestic and Foreign Education Evaluation – $200
• Score Transfer for Completed Exam – $345
• Score Transfer for Partially Completed Exam
• IQEX – $345

Who is the Pre-Evaluation for?

The Pre-Evaluation is not a required part of the evaluation process. Instead, the Pre-Evaluation is designed to help you explore the possibility of taking the CPA Exam now or in the future. Do you have a degree outside of accounting and wonder how much additional education you need to be qualified? Or, are you considering multiple jurisdictions? If so, the Pre-Evaluation will provide you with basic information for a decision.

What are the guidelines for this application?

Although you cannot be approved to sit for the CPA exam with the Pre-Evaluation, it is performed in the same manner as a Domestic Credentials Evaluation. Using the resulting report as an advisory tool, you can discover if your accumulated semester credit hours and coursework have satisfied our education requirements. You will also understand how you are deficient, thus enabling you to plan future classes that will yield an approval. Please note that we do not consider in-progress coursework.

The Pre-Evaluation is performed only once. If you have additional transcripts to submit, you must officially apply using the appropriate application.

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Complete a hard copy Pre-Evaluation form and pay the $50 fee with a check or money order. We highly recommend you write your name the same way it appears on your primary id.
2. Print out your unofficial transcript(s) or request official transcript(s) from all the post-secondary institutions you attended.
3. Unofficial transcripts can be included with your application and fee and mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

4. Official transcripts can be mailed as above or submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org
5. Look for an email containing a temporary ID and password allowing you access to the ILBOE online system for future submission of an official application. Set up this account immediately.
6. Allow 6-8 weeks response time for the Evaluation Results letter to be emailed to you.
7. When you are ready to officially apply, the $50 Pre-Evaluation application fee will not be deducted from the official evaluation fee.

If you used unofficial transcripts for the Pre-Evaluation, you must request official transcripts for the official evaluation.

Who is the Domestic Evaluation for?

This standard application is for a candidate who has been educated in the United States at Board-approved accredited institutions.

What are the guidelines for this application?

In our evaluations, the ILBOE considers only education; we do not consider work experience.

Study abroad credits shown on a domestic transcript as earned at a domestic institution are not considered foreign.

If you have taken up to 3 exam sections in another jurisdiction and have been educated domestically, you can use this application to transfer your exam scores. Please note you must be educationally qualified based on the rules we had in place on the day you sat for your first passed exam. You may not take classes to become eligible in Illinois. Click View Requirements below for our current requirements, beginning in 2023, and for requirements prior to that date.

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, complete and submit the online Domestic Credentials Evaluation application and $200 fee. We highly recommend you enter your name the same way it appears on your primary id.
3. Ask all the post-secondary institutions you attended to submit your official transcript(s). These can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

Or they can be submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

4. Once any application and fee are processed, you will receive an emailed receipt.
5. If you are transferring your exam scores, the jurisdiction can submit them as above.
6. Allow 6-8 weeks for the evaluation results to be emailed to you.

Who is the Foreign Credentials Evaluation application for?

This application is for a candidate who has been educated outside the United States at an institution equivalent to a Board-recognized accredited U.S. institution (excluding study abroad).

What are the guidelines for this application?

To begin, read the information at the website for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) under the heading “Professional Organizations.” Requirements | NASBA

In our evaluations, please note that we consider only education; we do not consider work experience.

Before submitting an application with our organization, you must first have your international transcript(s) evaluated by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA): Requirements | NASBA

If you have foreign credits that total 12 or less domestic semester credit hours, do not apply for NASBA’s Credential Evaluation for $225. Instead, apply for NASBA’s Evaluation for CPA Exam and/or Licensure for $120. Services and Fees | NASBA

The Illinois Board relies solely on NASBA for accurate and thorough reporting of your academic and professional history. The result of their report determines the result of your evaluation here in Illinois. With that in mind, once you get your report from NASBA, you should carefully read it to compare the results with the education requirements on our website. By making this comparison, you can determine if you are eligible in Illinois.

If you have taken up to 3 exam sections in another jurisdiction and have been educated outside the United States, you can use this application to transfer your exam scores. Please note you must be educationally qualified based on the rules we had in place on the day you sat for your first passed exam. You may not take classes to become eligible in Illinois. Click the button below for our current requirements, beginning in 2023, and for requirements prior to that date.

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, complete and submit the Foreign Credentials Evaluation application. There is no fee for this application. We highly recommend you enter your name the same way it appears on your primary id.
3. Ask NASBA to send your official report. This can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

Or it can be submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

4. Once any application is processed, you will receive an emailed receipt.
5. If you are transferring your exam scores, the jurisdiction can submit them as above.
6. Allow 6-8 weeks for the evaluation results to be emailed to you.

Who is this application for?

This application is for candidates who have been educated inside and outside the United States. The transcripts for each type are processed separately until the total results are compiled.

What are the guidelines for this application?

To begin, read the information found by following the link to the website for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy under the heading “Professional Organizations.”

Please note that our Board considers only education; we do not consider work experience.

First have your foreign transcripts evaluated. This is done by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. If you have already been evaluated by NASBA, you will need to ask them to re-evaluate your credentials for Illinois.

If you have foreign credits that total 12 or less domestic semester credit hours, do not apply for NASBA’s Credential Evaluation for $225. Instead, apply for NASBA’s Evaluation for CPA Exam and/or Licensure for $120.

The Illinois Board relies solely on NASBA for accurate and thorough reporting of your academic and professional history. The result of their report determines the result of your evaluation here in Illinois. With that in mind, once you get your report from NASBA, you should consider whether the combination of your domestic and foreign education meets the education requirements on our website. If you apply in Illinois and are not qualified, the fee is non-refundable.

You may believe that you meet our education requirements based on your domestic education alone. If this is the case, you are not required to have NASBA evaluate your foreign credits. However, if it is determined that you did not meet the requirements with domestic credits alone, you will need to go to NASBA.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, submit the Domestic Credentials Evaluation application and $200 fee.
3. Ask all the post-secondary institutions you attended in the United States to submit your official transcript(s). These can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite. 107
Naperville, IL 60563

Or they can be submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

4. Ask NASBA to send your official report. It can be submitted as above.
5. Once any application and fee are processed, you will receive an emailed verification.
6. Allow 6-8 weeks for the evaluation results to be emailed to you.

Who is this application for?

This application is for a candidate who has passed all four sections of the Uniform CPA Exam as a candidate in a different jurisdiction and:

1. was never granted a license in any jurisdiction and
2. wishes to become certified then possibly licensed in Illinois.

If you have ever held a license in another jurisdiction, you can bypass our organization and contact the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for a reciprocal license. www.idfpr.com

What are the guidelines for this application?

To qualify for a score transfer and obtain an Illinois CPA certificate, you must be educationally qualified based on the rules we had in place on the day of your first passed exam. Be sure to research our current requirements, beginning in 2023, and for requirements prior to that date.

Under a Total Transfer of Credit, the classes you take after sitting for your first exam will not count towards your eligibility in Illinois. You cannot now take classes to become eligible in Illinois.

In addition, the ILBOE will NOT accept exam credits that have been reinstated under NASBA’s Credit Relief Initiative.

If you are educationally qualified and pass the AICPA Ethics Exam, you will receive a certificate from Northern Illinois University. With that certificate, you then proceed to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for a license.

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, submit the online Total Transfer of Credit application and $345 fee. Enter the jurisdiction for which you took the exam and the schools you attended.
3. Take the AICPA Ethics Exam and submit your certificate to ethics@ilboe.org.
4. Ask your previous jurisdiction to send your official scores. These can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

Or they can be submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

5. If your previous jurisdiction asks for our form Interstate Exchange of Exam Scores, you can find it here.
6. Ask all the post-secondary institutions you attended to submit your official transcript(s). These can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

7. Once any application and fee are processed, you will receive an emailed receipt.
8. Allow 6-8 weeks for the evaluation results to be emailed to you.

Who is this application for?

This application is for a candidate who has taken up to 3 exam sections in another jurisdiction. If you have been educated domestically, submit the Domestic Credentials Evaluation application. If you have been educated outside the United States, submit the Foreign Credentials Evaluation application.

What are the guidelines for this application?

You must be educationally qualified based on the rules we had in place on the day you sat for your first passed exam. You may not take classes to become eligible in Illinois. View our current requirements, beginning in 2023, and for requirements prior to that date.

In addition, the ILBOE will NOT accept exam credits that have been reinstated under NASBA’s Credit Relief Initiative.

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, follow the submission instructions found for the application appropriate to your situation: the Domestic, the Foreign, or the Combination. We highly recommend you enter your name the same way it appears on your primary id.
3. When completing this application, list the jurisdiction at which you tested and the schools you attended.
4. Ask your previous jurisdiction to send your official scores. These can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

OR send via email to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

5. If your previous jurisdiction asks for our form Interstate Exchange of Exam Scores, you can find it here.

Who is the IQEX application for?

The IQEX application is for candidates from another country who have earned a passing score of 75 on the International Qualification Examination.

What are the guidelines for this application?

The International Qualification Examination (IQEX) is for accounting professionals who are members of non-U.S. professional associations that have enteredmutual recognition agreements recommended by the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) on behalf of the U.S. accounting profession. IQAB is a joint body of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA).

We do not issue refunds.

How do I submit this application?

1. Open an account at our website.
2. Through this account, complete and submit the online IQEX application and pay the $345 fee.
3. Ask NASBA to send us your IQEX score report. This can be mailed to:

Illinois Board of Examiners
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 107
Naperville, IL 60563

Or submitted electronically to: etranscripts@ilboe.org

4. Once the application and fee are processed, you will receive an emailed receipt.
5. Allow 6-8 weeks for the evaluation result to be emailed to you.