[B4Q22014]

Accountancy Bill Passes Florida Legislature!

Senate Bill 1656 (SB 1656), sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, unanimously passed the Florida Senate on March 8 – by a vote of 39-0! This legislation modifies the initial licensure and renewal provisions found in Chapter 473.

Your Governmental Affairs team has been lobbying this bill on behalf of the profession all session. The final vote occurred just one day before Sine Die – the 2012 Legislative session is scheduled to end March 9. The legislation still has one more stop before it becomes law. It now is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature.

THE IMPORTANT CHANGES (ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE) ARE BELOW

HB 769 and SB 1656 make these changes to Chapter 473:

– Amends 473.308(4), F.S., to allow CPA applicants to attain the one-year work experience requirement through verification by another CPA, rather than through a CPA’s direct supervision.

– Amends 473.308(7), F.S., to allow licensure-by-endorsement applicants, who have held a license in another state for 10 years prior to application, to be exempt from submitting their education transcripts and work-experience verification as part of the application process.

– Creates a one-time amnesty for CPAs to reactivate their licenses by notifying the Board of Accountancy of their intention by Dec. 31, 2012 and completing 120 hours of CPE by June 30, 2014. (In 2009, a similar amnesty program reactivated 214 inactive licenses.)

– Creates a 75-day window to submit an application for renewal, without having to apply for reactivation, for licensees who had completed the required CPE by Dec. 31, but failed to report.

– Provides for a Board of Accountancy report to the Legislature on the potential cost savings of privatizing or outsourcing some Board functions.

[Anonymous]

so, in regards to the one year experience requirement,

You can ask any active CPA to sign off your experience as long as they know you work in accounting? am I interpreting this correctly? even your college Professors?

[B4Q22014]

I believe your interpretation is correct. See below for how the Florida Statute presently reads. If you take into account this amendment, then the wording in the law would change to how you are interpreting it.This is only my opinion, of course.

4)(a) An applicant for licensure after December 31, 2008, must show that he or she has had 1 year of work experience. This experience shall include providing any type of service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills, all of which must be verified by a certified public accountant who is licensed by a state or territory of the United States and who has supervised the applicant. This experience is acceptable if it was gained through employment in government, industry, academia, or public practice; constituted a substantial part of the applicant’s duties; and was under the supervision of a certified public accountant licensed by a state or territory of the United States. The board shall adopt rules specifying standards and providing for the review and approval of the work experience required by this section.

(b) However, an applicant who completed the requirements of subsection (3) on or before December 31, 2008, and who passes the licensure examination on or before June 30, 2010, is exempt from the requirements of this subsection.

[evancole]

Do you have a link for this?

[B4Q22014]

https://www.ficpa.org/Content/News/NewsFlash/Mar-9-2012.aspx#0

[Author]

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