1. (a) Related business courses are those business courses that a board recognized institution of higher education accepts for a business baccalaureate or higher degree by that educational institution.

2. (b) The board will accept a minimum of 21 semester credit hours of upper level courses (for the purposes of this subsection, economics and statistics at any college level will count as upper level courses) as related business subjects, taken at a recognized educational institution shown on official transcripts or accepted by a recognized educational institution for purposes of obtaining a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent, in the following areas.

   1. (1) business law, including study of the Uniform Commercial Code;
   2. (2) economics;
   3. (3) management;
   4. (4) marketing;
   5. (5) business communications;
   6. (6) statistics and quantitative methods;
   7. (7) information systems, technology or accounting/business software;
   8. (8) finance and financial planning;
   9. (9) data analytics, data interrogation techniques, cyber security and/or digital acumen in the accounting context;
   10. (10) no more than 6 credit semester hours of upper level business or accounting internship taken at a Board recognized educational institution of higher education; and
   11. (11) other areas related to accounting.
3. (c) The Board requires a three semester hour accounting or business ethics course that includes a framework of ethical reasoning, including the core values of integrity, objectivity, and independence, professional values, and attitudes for exercising professional skepticism and other behavior in the best interest of the public and profession and shall include the ethics rules of the AICPA and the SEC. The course may be taken to meet the education requirements of §511.56 of this chapter (related to Educational Qualifications under the Act to take the UCPAE); or the certification requirements of §511.59 of this chapter (related to Qualifications for Issuance of a Certificate with not Fewer than 120 Semester Hours); or §511.164 of this chapter (related to Qualifications for Issuance of a Certificate with not Fewer than 150 Semester Hours).
4. (d) The board may review the content of business courses and determine if they meet the requirements of this section.
5. (e) Credit for hours taken at recognized institutions of higher education using the quarter system shall be counted as 2/3 of a semester hour for each hour of credit received under the quarter system.
6. (f) A course that was repeated will be counted only once to meet the requirements of this section.
7. (g) Related business courses completed through and offered by an extension school, correspondence school, or continuing education program of a board recognized educational institution may be accepted by the board, provided that the courses are accepted for a business baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by that educational institution.

8. (h) Credits may not be awarded for coursework taken through the following organizations and shown on a transcript from an institution of higher education to meet the requirements of this chapter:

   1. (1) American College Education (ACE);
   2. (2) Prior Learning Assessment (PLA);
   3. (3) Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES);
   4. (4) Defense Subject Standardized Test (DSST); and
   5. (5) StraighterLine.

Source Note:The provisions of this §511.58 adopted to be effective September 15, 1980, 5 TexReg 3563; amended to be effective July 18, 1986, 11 TexReg 3104; amended to be effective April 19, 1989, 14 TexReg 1743; amended to be effective August 29, 1990, 15 TexReg 4645; amended to be effective October 30, 1991, 16 TexReg 5826; amended to be effective August 21, 1997, 22 TexReg 7488; amended to be effective February 27, 2000, 25 TexReg 1376; amended to be effective February 12, 2003, 28 TexReg 1183; amended to be effective June 7, 2006, 31 TexReg 4644; amended to be effective February 17, 2008, 33 TexReg 1100; amended to be effective August 17, 2008, 33 TexReg 6373; amended to be effective January 28, 2009, 34 TexReg 430; amended to be effective August 12, 2009, 34 TexReg 5376; amended to be effective December 9, 2009, 34 TexReg 8727; amended to be effective April 11, 2012, 37 TexReg 2407; amended to be effective February 8, 2017, 42 TexReg 423; amended to be effective October 10, 2018, 43 TexReg 6644; amended to be effective June 2, 2021, 46 TexReg 3402; amended to be effective February 2, 2022, 47 TexReg 302; amended to be effective April 12, 2023, 48 TexReg 1829; amended to be effective October 4, 2023, 48 TexReg 5662; amended to be effective February 7, 2024, 49 TexReg 550; amended to be effective October 9, 2025, 50 TexReg 6487; amended to be effective June 3, 2026, 51 TexReg 3707.