[Anonymous]

I am set to take REG this Friday and have a quick question on the CPA experience sign off requirements; particularly for Washington state. Just a little background on me real quick – I’ve worked in the industry for the last five years for a fortune 500 engineering & construction corporation on a government contract. I am a senior accountant responsible for the project financial forecasting, closing, and reporting process which includes required SOX financial reports for senior management, quarterly revenue recognition reports for corporate, and MD&A analysis. I’ve also been involved in various internal audits specific to our project and financials. I am getting set to start an assignment on another government contract with the same company shortly where I will be working under multiple CPAs.

I mentioned the CPA experience sign-off form to one of the managers not too long ago and he was under the impression that I would need to get some audit experience at a local CPA firm pro bono to fulfill the experience requirements. In speaking with one of the other CPAs the other day she mentioned that experience in inventory or other areas may be necessary, seemingly implying that I might have to go outside my current employer to fulfill the requirements. From my understanding the experience required to be licensed as a CPA is one year of public or government accounting from various areas as outlined by the Washington state board; but not necessarily experience in every single area listed. It seems like after all this effort to fulfill the additional year of education that I met while working full-time and now almost having completed the exams, that it’s almost cruel and frankly pretty anticlimactic that I may not have the experience requirements met yet.

At this point I may just call the Washington state board of accountancy and clarify over the phone. I’m so close to being finished. Once I pass my last exam and take the ethics exam, I would really like to wrap the licensure process up fairly quickly. I appreciate any thoughts or advice on how to approach this. Thanks all!

[Anonymous]

Good news! I called the state board after my last exam and received some clarification. On the experience affidavit there are six areas of competency, none of which include audit, of which one area must be selected. There is also another area where one lists further information of their skills and knowledge. However, there is no requirement that the work be in public accounting in WA state and based on my work experience I easily have met the required experience. Now its on to the ethics exam and proving I did well enough to pass I can get going on the licensure process which I will complete in 2014 to avoid CPE requirements for 2013. I guess it just goes to show you that you need to do your research and not rely on what others may tell you. I think oftentimes people are just uninformed and don't intentionally try to make it more difficult than things need to be. Looking forward to hopefully receiving a passing score on REG and moving on to the licensure process!

[Author]

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