[10keyLeah]

I graduated from a relatively small four year college and they did not have anyone on staff that I am aware of that had a CPA license. I do not personally know anyone with a license as I do not have job experience. This puts me in an obvious predicament. On the application for my state, I do not see any rules about how long you have to know someone. It only asks for dates of association.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to go about this? Would local CPA’s be receptive to signing my application? Would they accept my application with a CPA I’ve only been in contact with for a few months? Suggestions or thoughts?

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Rebecca_AZ]

What state are you in? Does your state have a job experience requirement? Some states require you to have a year or more of experience before you can get your license.

The reason I bring this up is that meeting a CPA to sign your recommendation letter may be a moot point if you need job experience to get your license. If you need experience, once you get a job, your boss (if they're a CPA) should be willing to sign your recommendation letter once you get the required experience. You won't be able to apply for your license without the experience if this is a requirement in your state.

I passed in 2012!

BEC - PASSED - I'M DONE!!!
AUD - PASSED (finally!!)
REG - PASSED (Twice - lost credit first time)
FAR - PASSED!

[10keyLeah]

I'm in WV. WV does have a 1 year experience rule to be licensed. However, what I am referring to is on the initial application before I can even take the exam, they want a CPA to sign as a character witness on the application. From what I can tell, there is no requirement that I have to have 1 year experience already in order to sit for the exams. This experience comes after the exams.

So, unless I'm wrong about that, then my question is specifically about getting a CPA to sign as a character witness on my initial application (not for the experience part).

Ninja Combo, Yaeger, Wiley -- Licensed CPA, May 2015

[Rebecca_AZ]

I'm sorry – I clearly misunderstood when I answered before. If I had to deal with this, I would call the WV Board of Accountancy and make sure you are understanding what is required to apply to sit for the exam. (Because asking for a character reference to apply for the exam seems odd to me considering a lot of candidates take the exam right after school and some even postpone working so they can focus on the exam – how would anyone ever get a reference otherwise?) Then I would ask what they recommend.

Alternately, you could go back to one of your professors at school and ask what they recommend. I'm sure they've had this question asked before and who knows – you may learn that one of them does have a CPA license and will sign for you.

Sorry I'm not much help. Good luck!

I passed in 2012!

BEC - PASSED - I'M DONE!!!
AUD - PASSED (finally!!)
REG - PASSED (Twice - lost credit first time)
FAR - PASSED!

[Sandra]

I just saw this and was curious about it, because it seems so odd… but sure enough you need a character witness to even apply for the test. The application process in WV seems a bit odd all around.

So then I googled- any CPA in WV can do this for you. I think it sounds tacky, but just go on craigslist and find someone that will do it for 50 bucks or whatever. I don't know what these states are thinking in this regard and the requirement doesn't make much sense to me, but that will be a good way to get around it.

[Author]

Replies