[Anonymous]

I would like to discuss CPA licensing and how important it is to really understand your states requirements. I recently passed the CPA exam. I was so excited when I got that final score and I immediately took the Ethics exam that evening. Once I passed that, I applied for licensure in Colorado the next day. I believe it was August 4th.

On October 7th, I received an email stating that my Board of Accountancy must review one of my classes. It was requested that I send my syllabus from a class titled ‘Business Law and Ethics in Accounting’. I did as requested. At the next meeting of Colorado’s Board of Accountancy, this class was denied for not meeting the 3 credits of Accounting Ethics needed in the state (I had also taken a Business Ethics course that was denied). I was stunned to say, the least.

Basically, it took 5 months in all for me to find out that they would not accept my application. Fortunately, I didn’t have a job lined up or anything like that. I had over 50 credits of Accounting classes and felt that I had met the Ethics requirement, but the board disagreed.

Rather than taking another class for two months, spending a couple thousand dollars, and then crossing my fingers that the Colorado board would accept my application the second time around, I decided to apply in another state. One week after applying to the new state, I received word that my application was accepted for licensure.

The point of this post is to bring to attention how strict Colorado is being with this new ethics requirement. Your class must be titled ‘Ethics in Accounting’ or ‘Accounting Ethics’. There can be no mention of anything else. Just be prepared as you submit your Colorado application that it will be a lengthy process that may or may not lead to licensure.

Off my soapbox…

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reminder of the importance of due diligence in accounting.

[Author]

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