WORK EXPERIENCE INFORMATION
Section 901.256(a)(2) of the Public Accountancy Act requires: To be eligible to receive a certificate, a person must complete at least one year of work experience acceptable to the board, including experience providing a service or advice involving accounting, attest services, management or financial advisory or consulting services, tax services, or other services the board considers appropriate for an accountant
Rule 501.52 – Definitions
(4)"Attest Service" means:
(A) an audit or other engagement required by the Board to be performed in accordance with the auditing standards adopted by the AICPA, PCAOB, or another national or international accountancy organization recognized by the Board;
(B) a review or compilation required by the Board to be performed in accordance with standards for accounting and review services adopted by the AICPA or another national or international accountancy organization recognized by the Board;
(C) an engagement required by the Board to be performed in accordance with standards for attestation engagements adopted by the AICPA or another national or international accountancy organization recognized by the Board; or
(D) any other assurance service required by the Board to be performed in accordance with professional standards adopted by the AICPA or another national or international accountancy organization recognized by the Board;
(22)"Professional Accounting Services" or "professional accounting work" means services or work that requires the specialized knowledge or skills associated with certified public accountants, including but not limited to:
(A) issuing reports on financial statement(s);
(B) preparation engagements pursuant to SSARS;
(C) providing management or financial advisory or consulting services;
(D) preparing tax returns;
(E) providing advice in tax matters;
(F) providing forensic accounting services; and
(G) providing internal auditing services.
Chapter 511, Subchapter F, Rules 511.121 through 511.124 of the Board Rules are provided as reference material to clarify the work experience requirement.
Rule 511.121 – Application for Approval of Experience
(a) The board, through an applicant's submission of qualifying supervised work experience, shall insure that the applicant applying for the CPA certificate has demonstrated high standards of professional competence, integrity, independence, and learning.
(b) Acceptable work experience defined in §511.123 of this chapter (relating to Reporting Work Experience) shall be gained in at least one of the following areas:
(1) attest services as defined in §501.52(4) of this title (relating to Definitions);
(2) professional accounting services or professional accounting work as defined in §501.52(22) of this title.
(c) The board, on a case-by-case basis, may approve other areas of work experience which are recognized as non-routine accounting work.
(d) An applicant for certification as a CPA shall submit application for approval of work experience. The application shall be made on a form prescribed by the board and submitted after completion of the UCPAE.
(e) Acceptable work experience shall be commensurate with the provision of §901.256 of the Act (relating to Work Experience Requirements).
(f) No advance rulings on the acceptance of work experience will be given.
Rule 511.122 – Acceptable Work Experience
(a) Work experience shall be under the supervision of a CPA experienced in the non-routine accounting area assigned to the applicant and who holds a current license issued by this board or by another state board of accountancy as defined in §511.124 of this chapter (relating to Acceptable Supervision).
(b) Non-routine accounting involves attest services as defined in §501.52(4) of this title (relating to Definitions), or professional accounting services or professional accounting work as defined in §501.52(22) of this title, and the use of independent judgment, applying entry level or higher professional accounting knowledge and skills to select, correct, organize, interpret, and present real-world data as accounting entries, reports, statements, and analyses extending over a diverse range of tax, accounting, assurance, and control situations.
(c) All work experience, to be acceptable, shall be gained in the following categories or in any combination of these:
(1) Client practice of public accountancy. All client practice of public accountancy experience shall be obtained from a supervisor in a properly licensed firm in good standing with the firm's licensing board and be of a non-routine accounting nature which continually requires independent thought and judgment on important accounting matters.
(2) Industry. All work experience gained in industry shall be of a non-routine accounting nature which continually requires independent thought and judgment on important accounting matters. Acceptable industry work experience includes:
(A) internal auditor;
(B) staff, fund or tax accountant;
(C) accounting, financial or accounting systems analyst; and
(D) controller.
(3) Government. All work experience gained in government shall be of a non-routine accounting nature which continually requires independent thought and judgment on important accounting matters and which meets the criteria in subparagraphs (A) - (E) of this paragraph. The board will review on a case-by-case basis experience which does not clearly meet the criteria identified in subparagraphs (A) - (E) of this paragraph. Acceptable government work experience includes but is not limited to:
(A) employment in state government as an accountant or auditor at Salary Classification B14 or above, or a comparable rating;
(B) employment in federal government as an accountant, auditor or IRS revenue agent;
(C) employment as a special agent accountant with the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
(D) military service, as an accountant or auditor as a Second Lieutenant or above; and
(E) employment with other governmental entities as an accountant or auditor.
(4) Law firm. All work experience gained in a law firm shall be of a non-routine accounting nature which continually requires independent thought and judgment on important accounting matters comparable to the experience ordinarily found in a CPA firm, shall be under the supervision of a CPA or an attorney, and shall be in one or more of the following areas:
(A) tax-planning, compliance and litigation; and
(B) estate planning.
(5) Education. Work experience gained as an instructor at a college or university may qualify if evidence is presented showing independent thought and judgment was used on non-routine accounting matters. Only the teaching of upper division courses on a full time basis may be considered. All experience shall be supervised by the department chair or a faculty member who is a CPA.
(6) Internship. The board will consider, on a case-by-case basis, experience acquired through an approved accounting internship program, provided that the experience was non-routine accounting as defined by subsection (b) of this section. If an accounting internship course is counted toward fulfilling the education requirement, the internship may not be used to fulfill the work experience requirement.
(7) Other. Work experience gained in other positions may be approved by the board as experience comparable to that gained in the practice of public accountancy under the supervision of a CPA upon certification by the person or persons supervising the applicant that the experience was of a non-routine accounting nature which continually required independent thought and judgment on important accounting matters.
(8) Self employment may not be used to satisfy the work experience requirement unless approved by the board.
Rule 511.123 – Reporting Work Experience
(a) The board requires a minimum of one year of work experience as described in §511.122 of this chapter (relating to Acceptable Work Experience) which shall be obtained in one of the following ways:
(1) full time employment consisting of 40 or more hours per week completed in no less than 12 months; or
(2) part time employment consisting of a minimum of 20 hours per week until 2000 hours of accounting work experience have been completed. Part-time work experience must be completed in no more than 24 months from the date the work begins.
(b) All work experience presented to the board for consideration shall be accompanied by the following items:
(1) a statement from the supervising CPA describing the non-routine work performed by the applicant and a description of the important accounting matters requiring the applicant's independent thought and judgment;
(2) a statement from the supervising CPA describing the type of experience that the CPA possesses which qualifies the CPA to supervise the applicant; and
(3) an affidavit from the supervising CPA stating that he has supervised the applicant's work; and offers his opinion that the applicant is qualified to perform all the accounting related work assigned to the applicant in accordance with the professional standards required by the board.
Rule 511.124 – Acceptable Supervision
(a) Acceptable supervision must be performed by a CPA experienced in the non-routine accounting area assigned to an applicant and who holds an active license or permit in this state or another state and has not been exempted from the board's CPE during the period of supervision.
(1) Supervision is provided whenever the person being supervised reports to, is instructed by, is reviewed by, and is evaluated directly by the supervisor. The supervisor in this capacity may be in an intermediate level of supervision above the applicant.
(2) Where there is no CPA, acceptable supervision may be gained if the following conditions are met:
(A) a registered CPA firm is engaged to provide supervision, review, and evaluation of work experience; and
(B) the supervision, review, and evaluation of work is performed on a routine and recurring basis to permit the CPA firm to provide documentation of work experience;
(C) the CPA firm does not perform attest services for which independence is required for the applicant or the applicant's employer; and
(D) the CPA assigned to provide the supervision is actively licensed and experienced to provide such supervision in the non-routine accounting area assigned to the applicant.
(3) Telecommunications equipment and computers may be used to facilitate supervision. The board requires detailed documentation if such devices are used to facilitate supervision.
(b) It is the responsibility of an applicant to prove that supervision was adequate and effective in any situations inconsistent with the above examples.