[Ken]

Hi Folks,

I have a question but I do not know anyone to ask. I am still taking my CPA exam right now, however, I just finished my 1 year working experience for a Corporate CPA firm. I just wonder whether I should ask them to sign off on the work experience ( or can I…??) since I am not sure that I will still staying here until I finished the exam then ask them to sign off. I just want to have a back-up plan that if I have to leave, at least, I have the verification. I understand that I can always come back and ask them to sign off for my work experience, though, what if they do not want to after I quit and then I have to go through all those hassle with the State Board. This company is really corrupted and I really want to get this sign off before I quit this firm. What is your thoughts and please give me an advice what I should do? I am so confused now..

Besides, where can I print out the document for my firm to sign off. As I talked to my firm HR, they have their own document regarding about working experience verification? Can I use that as well? Thank you so much.

REG : 62, 67, 81. Tick- Expire 01/02/2016
BEC : 72, 67,71,76. Tick Expire 10/25/2015
AUD : 60, 62, 62, 74(8/30) - 10/1/2015 - oh geez
FAR : 68, 64, 72(7/24) - 10/20/2015- oh geez

I am WHINING...

" Just take it without worrying about the 75. Man, that is not easy!"

[How many letters do you need]

I know you can't send it in until you pass all exams but I don't know if you can get them to sign. Not sure if the signature date matters or not. Especially it being a CPA signing the form I think they might get a little suspicious if you ask them to sign it early ..no? I would be concerned about the potential ramifications of the image of having them sign before completion. They may get the idea that you are looking. There was a really interesting thread on this….it's somewhat recent last couple weeks or so..but somebody posted from the CA CPA handbook and basically it's difficult for anybody to refuse to sign provided you worked there. They can refuse to verify your experience but you can make life very difficult for them if they do. It should be in the certification handbook…check it out…

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[Anonymous]

I don't see why you can't ask them to sign off on it now. If they know you are taking the exam, just tell them you're trying to be prepared for when you do pass. I had my whole application ready to put in the mail before I got my final passing score.

[Anonymous]

To answer your first question, I personally rather ask them for the signature while I presently work for the company in order to monitor how it will be handled. I feel the corruption aspect you speak of is even more reason to work for the firm while you request the signature, so that in the event they don't sign off you are in a position to better document your case to the CA state board.

It may or may not raise a red flag when you request the signature but, for reasons already specified in my response, I think it's worth the risk. I recommend having a paper trail via email to verify when you sent the form off requesting the signature and to whom. Make sure you CC or BCC your personal email address in case you lose access to your work email if/when you leave.

Regarding the form to use, I'm certain you need to print the actual CBA experience form from the website. Pretty sure they won't accept anything else in its place.

[Anonymous]

I'm not in CA so I can't speak to anything CA-specific, but I submitted my experience before I was done with my exams. I was in a time crunch to get licensed once I was done with the exams, so I did everything I could early to get it out of the way.

My timeline:

Passed REG and failed FAR in August 2012 and November 2012, respectively

Early January 2013 – FAR retake, received passing score in early February

Late January 2013 – Took AUD, received passing score in mid-February

Last week of January 2013 – Requested Work Experience

February 2013 – Passed Ethics exam

March 2013 – State Board received Work Experience

April 2013 – Took BEC, received passing score in May

It took a while for my firm to send my experience verification to my state board. I was happy to have started the process early because it was not a quick process. As long as there are no rules in CA about submitting your experience early, I say go for it. Just tell them you want to take care of it now so you don't have to worry about it once you have the exams passed.

[Author]

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