An RMA Licensing Success Story

By Gary W. Higgins, CPA, RMA, president of the Registered Municipal Accountants Association – January 28, 2026
An RMA Licensing Success Story

A registered municipal accountant (RMA) license is required in New Jersey to undertake and issue an auditor’s report of a New Jersey municipality or county.

Over the past few years, the success rate of candidates taking the annual RMA exam to obtain an RMA license has been incredibly low. The lack of a structured library of materials and a review course has continued to frustrate candidates seeking to pass the exam.

In an effort to reverse this trend and provide candidates an avenue to properly prepare for the exam, a subcommittee of the Registered Municipal Accountants Association trustees was formed in early 2025 to develop a program to prepare candidates with the proper learning experience to ready themselves to sit for the exam. The subcommittee determined that a formal review course at a nominal fee with approximately 40 hours of live, interactive education would be the answer to assist the exam candidates.

In a partnership with the NJCPA, the RMA Association promoted this hands-on training and enrolled 32 candidates in the review course to prepare for the 2025 exam administered by the New Jersey State Board of Accountancy on the first Friday in December.

We are pleased to report that 11 exam candidates — or 34% of the review course participants — were successful in passing the exam.

The RMA Association intends to continue this annual review course in partnership with the NJCPA to promote the accounting profession and the RMA license to ensure New Jersey municipalities and counties have the finest professionals providing auditing and accounting services to their entity.

Congratulations to the newly licensed registered municipal accountants!

See also:

Gary W. Higgins

Gary W. Higgins, CPA, RMA, is a partner at PKF O'Connor Davies and is president of the Registered Municipal Accountants Association. He is a member of the NJCPA where he serves as a trustee of the NJ-CPA-PAC and is a member of the Governmental Accounting & Auditing Interest Group.

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