US CPA Credential Evaluation: Documents, Process and Timeline
By SimplyCPA · 11 October 2026
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- Purpose: Converts your Indian education into US semester hours and identifies accounting and business credits, for a specific board.
- Fee and time: NIES charges $250 for the evaluation and currently completes it in about six weeks after receiving all documents.
- Document rules: Official documents must come directly from the institution in a sealed envelope (or electronically from it); every year of post-secondary study must be documented; everything must arrive within 90 days.
- Validity: The report is available to your board for one year (a $25 duplicate fee applies after that) and is not valid after five years.
- No refunds: NIES doesn't refund fees; incomplete applications are denied and the fee forfeited.
What the evaluation does
US boards can't assess Indian mark sheets directly, so they rely on approved evaluators. The report lists the institutions you attended, your dates of attendance, the credentials earned and their US equivalent, and every course with its US semester-hour value — classified as accounting, business or other. Each report is tied to a specific jurisdiction and, as NASBA notes, the evaluation itself doesn't determine your eligibility — the board does.
Fees (NIES)
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| International credential evaluation | $250 |
| Additional education evaluation (adding new study to a report under 5 years old) | $135 |
| Duplicate report (report over 1 year old) | $25 |
| Education verification (if your university can't send official documents) | Additional fee; no standard turnaround |
| Translation | Charged per page |
Your board may also charge its own education evaluation fee when you apply.
Documents
- A copy of your passport or government ID, uploaded to your NIES account.
- Official transcripts (mark sheets) and degree certificates for every year of post-secondary education. Completing a higher degree isn't accepted as proof of earlier study.
- Documents sent directly by the institution by post in an unopened sealed envelope, or electronically from the institution to NIES. NIES no longer accepts irreplaceable original documents.
- Syllabi or course descriptions for accounting and business courses, if requested — on university letterhead or published on the university's website.
- For ICAI coursework: certificates, examination information and syllabi sent by ICAI.
- English translations from an approved source if documents aren't in English — translations from private providers outside the US aren't accepted.
Timeline
- Apply online and pay — by credit card.
- Request documents from universities — use NIES's transcript request form if your university needs one. All documents must arrive within 90 days.
- Evaluation — about six weeks after the file is complete.
- Report released to your chosen board.
In practice, collecting sealed documents from Indian universities is usually the slowest part, so allow two to three months end to end.
After the report
- You have 60 days to question the content or outcome; reviews take at least 10 business days and changes aren't guaranteed.
- The report remains available to the board for one year, and is not valid after five years.
- Changing boards later requires a change-in-jurisdiction service.
Common mistakes: sending documents yourself instead of from the university; forgetting a year of study; missing the 90-day window; and choosing a board before knowing your credit count.