[ThinkingOutLoud]

Hi all, just joined the forum as a guy who’s made up his mind to take the CPA exams in California.

The company I work at is owned by a UK parent company, so my direct superior works in London and he is a Chartered Accountant with the ACA. My question is would he be able to sign off on my one year experience requirement, or can only CPAs sign off?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Anonymous]

That all depends on whether or not you want to be a CA or a CPA.

[Anonymous]

I didn't think any states allowed CAs to sign off on CPA applications, but reading the California guidelines here: https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/publications/applbook.pdf it looks like you're one of the lucky ones in a state that allows it. Page 11 in the document, marked page 7, says that the applicant must “be supervised and signed by an individual who holds a valid active license, or comparable authority to practice public accountancy in any state or country”. However, the forms themselves reference CPA: https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/forms/gexp-pub.pdf You may need to call the California board to ask about it, but you just might be in luck.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

Thanks both for responding – I did contact the CBA and it seems like for my particular scenario I am SOL.

It would have been okay if it were I were currently working at a public accounting firm however, but for non pubs it seems in California it must be signed off by a CPA.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear that. 🙁 Makes working for an international company more difficult! My former employer was an international company, but thankfully my state didn't require a supervisor to sign off.

[law0915]

REG 77 Feb14
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Licensed Arizona CPA

[Author]

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