Background - Statement

The Board has a statutory obligation(Section 901.253) to review the background of each person permitted to take the CPA Exam and awarded a Texas CPA certificate.

The Board considers several areas in evaluating an applicant's background. These include:

• Responses to questions on the application relating to arrests, charges, convictions, probations and/or deferred adjudications of a felony or misdemeanor other than misdemeanor driving offenses such as moving violations (NOTE: DWIs are not considered misdemeanor driving offenses).
• The Board will access the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database and the Texas Department of Public Safety – Crime Records Division files using an established fingerprint process for each person who submits an Application of Intent. The fingerprint process allows the Board to receive information on all arrests, charges, convictions, probations and deferred adjudications of misdemeanor and felony offenses that occur in any U.S. state or territory. Records of these activities are reported to the Board for further investigation. If an applicant was 17 years of age or older at the time of the arrest, it should be reported to the Board. You are not required to report criminal records that have been expunged or sealed by an order of the court. You are required to report criminal records subject to a non-disclosure order.  Any subsequent arrest will automatically be reported to the Board for further investigation.
• The Board also considers the status of any type of professional license and denial of examination privileges by any other state or federal agency.

If you provided a “yes” response on the Application of Intent, you must complete and submit a Background Statement form for each offense.

Each Eligibility Application, as well as the Issuance Application for the CPA Certificate, asks questions about the applicant's background. If you provided information about an offense to the Board on a prior application, you need not repeat it on subsequent applications. However, you must report any new offense along with detailed information.