Who Actually Gets CPA Exam Exemptions: The 2026 MRA List and Six Myths
Seven bodies have a mutual recognition agreement with the US boards and their members sit one exam, IQEX. ACCA, ICAI, ICAEW, HKICPA, ICAS and CIMA are not among them, whatever a review-course page told you. The list, the route, and what everyone else does.
Seven professional bodies in the world have an agreement with the US boards of accountancy that lets their members become CPAs without sitting the four-section exam. ACCA is not one of them. Neither is ICAEW, ICAI, CIMA, HKICPA, ICAS, CPA Pakistan, or SOCPA. Every one of those has been described on some review-course page as "recognised" in the US, and the word is doing no work at all.
The list is short, public and maintained by NASBA, and the route it opens is a single exam called IQEX. Everyone not on the list sits the full exam, with no section waived for any qualification, degree or years of experience. This article gives the list as it stands, explains what the IQEX route actually involves, and takes apart the six claims that send Gulf candidates down paths that do not exist.
The list
Mutual recognition agreements are negotiated by the International Qualifications Appraisal Board, a joint body of NASBA and the AICPA, and each one is a bilateral treaty: the foreign body's members get a shortened route to the CPA, and US CPAs get a shortened route to that body's designation. NASBA's page currently lists seven.
| Body | Country |
|---|---|
| South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) | South Africa |
| CPA Australia | Australia |
| Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) | Australia and New Zealand |
| CPA Canada | Canada |
| Chartered Accountants Ireland | Ireland |
| CPA Ireland | Ireland |
| Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos (IMCP) | Mexico |
Two bodies that used to appear no longer do. The Hong Kong Institute of CPAs and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland both held agreements that were not renewed, and their members now sit the full exam like everyone else. Agreements have expiry dates and are renewed, or not, one at a time: SAICA's was renewed in early 2026. A body that is on the list today can be off it in three years, which is why the only source to trust is NASBA's page on the day you apply.
Membership of the body is also not enough by itself. Each agreement sets conditions: full membership rather than student or affiliate status, a qualification obtained by examination and experience rather than by a reciprocal route from a third body, and in most cases a period of post-qualification experience. A member who joined CPA Australia through its own recognition of another institute may find the agreement does not cover them.
The IQEX route
Members of the seven bodies do not skip the exam. They sit a different one. IQEX, the International Qualification Examination, is the Regulation section of the CPA Exam delivered under its own registration, and it covers, in NASBA's description, "ethics, professional and legal responsibilities, business law and taxation related specifically to U.S. accounting practice." The reasoning is that a chartered accountant from Cape Town or Toronto has already been examined on financial reporting and audit at a level the US boards accept, and what remains is the US-specific content.
| Step | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Eligibility application | Submitted to NASBA with proof of membership and standing; US$255 |
| Exam application | US$660 per attempt, followed by a Notice to Schedule with a limited validity |
| Sitting | Scheduled at a Prometric centre; international sites carry the usual surcharge |
| Licensure | An application to a state board, which applies its own education and experience rules |
The last row is the one that surprises people. Passing IQEX is not a licence. The candidate still applies to a board, and boards vary in whether they accept IQEX at all and in what else they require of an MRA candidate. NASBA's IQEX page is the place to confirm which boards participate before paying the eligibility fee.
For a Gulf reader the practical version is this. If you are a full member of SAICA, CPA Canada, CA ANZ, CPA Australia, one of the Irish bodies or the IMCP, you have one exam to sit, and it is REG. Prepito's REG course is the preparation, and How to Study REG When You Have Never Filed a US Tax Return is the starting point, because the IQEX candidate has the same problem a Riyadh candidate has: none of the US context.
Six myths
1. ACCA members get exemptions
ACCA says it plainly on its own site: "ACCA does not have a mutual recognition agreement with the International Qualifications Appraisal Board." ACCA papers earn no credit toward any CPA section, and the ACCA qualification by itself does not evaluate to the 150 semester hours most boards require. What an ACCA member has is their underlying degree, which is evaluated like anyone else's. The whole route is in ACCA to US CPA.
2. ICAEW, ICAI or CIMA have an agreement
None of the three is on NASBA's list. ICAEW and ICAI members are, like ACCA members, evaluated on their academic record, and the institutes' own examinations count for nothing on the CPA side. CIMA is in a stranger position: the AICPA and CIMA are joint owners of the CGMA designation, and candidates assume the relationship extends to the CPA licence. It does not. The CPA is licensed by state boards, and CIMA has no agreement with them.
3. Years of IFRS work waive FAR
No section of the CPA Exam is waived for experience, for any candidate, under any board's rules. Experience is a licensure requirement that sits alongside the exam, and it is verified after you pass. An IFRS specialist with fifteen years at a Big Four firm in Dubai sits FAR, and the IFRS background helps less than it seems, because FAR is written in US GAAP and the differences are exactly where the questions live. The FAR study guide lists them.
4. A master's degree exempts a section
Education determines whether you may sit and, later, whether you may be licensed. It never removes a section. A master's in accounting helps a candidate with a three-year bachelor's degree reach 120 or 150 hours, which is a real benefit and a common route for candidates with Indian, Pakistani or UK degrees, but the exam it qualifies them for is the same four sections. Credential Evaluation for Gulf Degrees explains how the hours are counted.
5. A CMA or CIA earns credit
The CMA is administered by the IMA and the CIA by the IIA. Neither is a licensing body and neither has an agreement with the US boards. A CMA holder sitting BAR will find much of the cost and analysis material familiar, and that is the extent of the benefit. The comparison of what each qualification is for is in CPA, ACCA or CMA.
6. SOCPA and the CPA recognise each other
They do, in one direction only. SOCPA exempts holders of the US CPA from some of its Fellowship subjects, two or three depending on which of SOCPA's own pages you read, and SOCPA Exemptions Explained sets out both versions. The US boards exempt SOCPA Fellows from nothing. A Fellow who wants the CPA sits all four sections, and a CPA who wants the Fellowship gets the better deal.
What everyone else does
The absence of an exemption is not the absence of an advantage. A qualified accountant from any of the bodies above arrives at the CPA Exam with most of the content already learned once, and the difference between sections is large.
| Section | How much a chartered background carries |
|---|---|
| AUD | Most of it. The AICPA standards were converged with the ISAs; the vocabulary and the risk model are the same. |
| FAR | The mechanics, not the rules. Consolidation and cash flows transfer; leases, revenue details, contingencies and inventory are where US GAAP diverges and where the questions cluster. |
| BAR | The analysis half transfers well, especially for CMA and ACCA holders; the governmental accounting area transfers not at all. |
| REG | Almost nothing. US federal tax and US business law are learned from zero by every international candidate. |
| TCP | Nothing beyond what REG teaches. |
The consequence is a plan rather than a shortcut: sit AUD early, where the background is worth the most and the pass is cheapest, treat FAR as a differences course rather than a first course, and give REG the time an unfamiliar subject needs. The cost of the whole route from the Gulf, first time through, is roughly SAR 13,900 in fees, set out in How Much the CPA Exam Costs; every myth above is expensive only because it delays the day a candidate starts studying.
Where to practise this
Whether you are sitting IQEX or all four sections, the preparation is practice questions with full explanations, timed against the real item counts. Prepito's REG course is the IQEX preparation; the CPA programme covers FAR, AUD, REG, BAR, ISC and TCP for everyone else, in English.
CPA questions and written explanations are in English. Prepito’s interface is available in English and Arabic, and the AI tutor can respond in either language.
Sources: NASBA, Mutual Recognition Agreements, NASBA, International Qualification Examination (IQEX), ACCA, Moving to the USA. Agreements are renewed or allowed to lapse individually and fees change; confirm the current list, the participating boards and the IQEX fees on NASBA's pages before applying.
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Question 1 of 5
An entity reports revenues of $8,400,000, cost of goods sold of $5,100,000, selling expenses of $960,000, a loss on sale of equipment of $140,000, interest expense of $310,000, and a loss from discontinued operations of $700,000 before tax. What is income from continuing operations before tax?
