[Alex]

So last weekend I graduated from college. I have a job offer in Texas but I have grown up and continue to be a resident of Mississippi. It seems like Texas licensure makes you jump through a lot of hoops. My job in Texas will start in early January. I initially ran into trouble when I realized the ethics requirement in Texas but have found there are other education requirements I will not meet. If I get approved to take the exam in Mississippi, which has a residency requirement, and then move to Texas after I have passed all 4 sections, will I be able to still get my license in Mississippi after I complete the work experience? At that point my plan would be to transfer my license to Texas. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[SGood]

Does MS have a residency requirement for licensure? What are the requirements for a reciprocity license in TX?

https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=4&ti=22&pt=22&ch=512&rl=Y

[Recked]

It's generally best to be licensed directly in the state you intend to work in. How much additional education requirements would you have?
I think if you transfer from a non-ethics state to an ethics required state, you still have to close that gap before they will grant the transfer, but I could be wrong.

[Alex]

There are significant additional education requirements that would equate somewhere close to another full semester of school, if not more. My primary focus right now is that I want to try to go ahead and pass all 4 sections of the exam before I start my job in January. I see 3 main options that I will list so you can better understand my situation. I graduated in May as a double-major in Accounting and Banking & Finance, so I met the 150 hour requirement after four years.

Option 1) Apply to sit for the exam in Mississippi. Take the exam and retain my residency for a year while I complete the work experience and then look into transferring my license to Texas down the road. The reason I am hesitant to go all in on this is that I know that I am going to be moving to Texas at the start of 2020 and I am concerned that it will mess up my residency and that I will have passed the exam for nothing.

Option 2) Look into taking the exam for a license in a non-residency state so that I do not have any location hurdles that I have to be worried about. I am currently leaning towards this option because, like I said earlier, I know I am going to be moving and I think this gives me the most options.

Option 3) Enroll in the Texas ethics class over this summer and attend a college in the fall semester to fulfill the additional education requirements. The reason that I am against this option is that everyone has told me that you should really try to pass the exam before you start your job, because the preparation will become much harder if you are also working. Also, there will be significant costs related to the additional school.

At the end of the day, my job does not require me to hold a Texas license, so I should not encounter any negative effects from seeking a license in a non-residency state. I do not intend to remain in public accounting for a long time, because I intend to go get an MBA in a couple of years, so reciprocity is not the biggest deal to me either. In y'all's opinion, does this sound like a solid plan? It is hard to find answers for these types of questions, so I'd really appreciate any advice.

[ECHendrickson]

As you mention – it pretty much depends on the type of work you plan on doing. I like telling people my story because it seems to throw everyone off that is looking at my resume. I live in Idaho, commute to and work in Oregon and I am licensed in Washington.

If you go the non-resident state direction (as I did) Washington was a breeze for licensure. My job does not require me have a license. I decided to take the tests because my wife was studying and thought “hey it probably can't hurt”. Once I passed I actually did not apply for my license for approximately 3 years – I never had any intention of working in public accounting. The only real reason that I was motivated to push for it was because it simply gains me a certain level of respect from auditors honestly. That and I suppose on paper it makes transitioning to new jobs a lot easier – even if the license isn't a requirement.

So yeah if you know for sure you aren't going to be practicing in public or building your own firm non-resident state licenses should be sufficient.

[Nikki374]

Hi Alex, I understand your dilemma. I am licensed in Ohio and work in Texas. If you plan to apply for reciprocity in Texas, you will have to pass an ethics exam but it's not bad. Have you considered applying in Georgia? There is no ethics requirement and no residency requirement. Anyway, you should contact the Board in Mississippi to make sure that you understand the residency requirement. I know that in Ohio, you only have to pass one part as a resident in order to satisfy the residency requirement.

[Author]

Replies