NC CPA Exam Candidate Bulletin

March 2025

Discipline Sections on the Exam: Information Systems & Controls (ISC)

If you didn’t complete BEC (Business Environments & Concepts) before the new Exam launched in January 2024, you must pass one of the three Exam discipline sections (BAR, ISC, TCP) in addition to the three core sections (AUD, FAR, REG). But how do you decide which discipline section to take?

Previous NC CPA Exam Candidate Bulletins provided an overview of the Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP) and Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR) disciplines. Below is a broad summary overview of the third discipline you may choose to take: Information Systems & Controls (ISC).

As laid out in the 2025 AICPA Blueprints, ISC includes three content areas that cover advanced concepts pertaining to information systems and controls:

• Area I: Information Systems and Data Management
• Area II: Security, Confidentiality, and Privacy
• Area III: Considerations for System and Organization Controls (SOC) Engagements

ISC tests topics similar to those tested in AUD, so if you scored well on AUD or are interested in the content ISC covers, this discipline may be a good choice. While AUD tests your knowledge of auditing engagements, ISC takes it further by assessing your knowledge and skills related to data management, including data collection, storage, and consumption across the data life cycle. Understanding this relationship can help you feel more informed and aware of the content and expectations of the ISC section.

Candidates who choose ISC will likely consider roles in System and Organization Controls (SOC), advisory services, internal auditing, Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and data management, among others.

Candidates often ask the Board if they must continue taking the same discipline section until they pass or if they can choose a different discipline. If you take one discipline section of the Exam and don’t pass it or decide it’s not the right choice, you can choose a different discipline on your re-exam application. However, you cannot apply to take another discipline section until you have received your failing score from the discipline section you previously selected.

What Is the 30-Month Exam Credit Period?

The 30-month Exam credit period is how long your passed Exam section scores remain valid as you work toward passing the Exam and qualifying for a North Carolina CPA license.

Here’s how 21 NCAC 08F .0105, Conditioning Requirements, works:

• The 30-month period starts when your first passing score is released to you by NASBA.
• You must complete all the remaining Exam sections within 30 months.
• If you don’t pass all the sections within that time, the credit for any sections passed outside the 30 months will expire.
• The 30 months end on the date you sat for the final section you passed, regardless of when that score is released.

In short, you have 30 months from the release of your first passing score to pass all four sections of the CPA Exam.

Exam Score Expiration Dates

Over the past few years, the Board has extended CPA Exam section expiration dates due to the CPA Exam Evolution and Credit Relief initiatives and the implementation of the 30-month credit rule. If your score expiration date was extended to June 30, 2025, under the CPA Exam Evolution and Credit Relief initiatives, please note that the June 30, 2025, deadline is final and will only be adjusted if you qualify for the 30-month credit rule. If you have questions about whether your Exam section(s) qualifies for the 30-month extension, please contact David R. Nance, CPA, Executive Director, or Lynne Sanders, CPA, Deputy Director.

Don’t forget that the State Board is the official recordkeeper of your CPA Exam records. Most changes to your Exam score expiration dates or your Notice to Schedule expiration dates should be reflected in your NASBA portal. However, there are some situations where they are not. If there is a discrepancy or you have a question about when an Exam section expires or if a passed Exam section qualifies for the 30-month credit window, please contact our Exam Specialist, Phyllis Elliott.

Did Recent Natural Disasters in North Carolina Impact Your CPA Exam Plan?

In the Fall of 2024, the Board implemented measures to assist CPA Exam candidates whose Exam plans were impacted by two natural disasters in North Carolina (Hurricane Helene and the Nash County tornado). The measures include refunding Exam fees to candidates unable to sit for scheduled Exams and extending Notice to Schedule (NTS) expiration dates. If you think you may qualify for an Exam fee refund or an extension of your NTS expiration date(s), please contact Phyllis Elliott, Exam Specialist.

Prometric Rescheduling Fees

After you have made an appointment for an Exam section, you may need to change or cancel an appointment. Be aware that you may be required to pay a rescheduling fee depending on when you notify Prometric of the change or cancellation. Prometric’s rescheduling fees now apply to any schedule changes made 60 days or less before your appointment. For more information, please see NASBA’s CPA Exam Candidate Guide.

2024 CPA Exam Pass Rates

In February, the AICPA released a summary of the 2024 Exam pass rates. Check out the February Activity Review to see how North Carolina candidates performed on the Exam compared to all other candidates.

Q1 & Q2 2025 Testing Dates & Score Releases

All dates are tentative and subject to change. For official testing and score release dates, check the AICPA website. For score release notifications, please follow @NASBA on X (Twitter).

Contact Us

Phyllis Elliott, Exam Specialist | (919) 733-4224

S. Lynne Sanders, CPA, Deputy Director | (919) 733-4222

David R. Nance, CPA, Executive Director | (919) 733-4222

Visit our website: https://nccpaboard.gov/

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