[Anonymous]

I truly appreciate anyone’s feedback to my question/situation.

-The MAIN QUESTION i have is with the work experience requirement of 2000 hours if it has to be within a 2 year span or if I could take 1200 hours worked in 2012 and add them to 800 hours I hope to earn starting very soon.

– To make a long story short, I lost my way over the last year and half, and am hoping I can still salvage my CPA license so i dont lost all of my credits.

-I was approved to sit for cpa exam in june 2011. I passed the four exams by June 2012.

– I know I have until June 2015 to submit application licensure.

– I earned 1200 hours working at Cpa firm part time through July 2011- June 2012 but have not worked at all in 2013 and up to this point in 2014.

– Does This mean that I have no possible chance of finishing this requirement? It has been 2 years since I last worked so there is no way I can get to 2000 hours in a 1-2 year span now since i only have until June 2015…. If I started working tomorrow Aug 1 and worked 40 hours a week through the date I need to finish my Licensure, June 3, 2015 I could at best only work for 10 months and earn about 1600 hours.

– I am praying this is not the case, and I can add the hours I earned at the end of 2011 – June 2012. i will remind you that I was approved to sit in June 2011.

I sincerely appreciate the info

[Anonymous]

I think this is state specific

some places are pretty lax about this from what I have read

[Tux]

I suggest contacting your state board for more info, and possibly get an extention.

You might also shop around to other states. If another state allows more time, you could transfer your scores there just to get licensed, but you also have to meet the other state's education requirements.

Sometimes it's easier to transfer an existing, out of state license, than to get licensed in a particular state.

However, I would hope that a board would be understanding of a time extension in situations of unemployment and/or times of personal difficulties.

FAR - 86 - 2/27/14
AUD - 75 - 5/29/14
BEC - 80 - 8/31/14
REG - 89 - 2/27/15
Praise Jesus! I'm done!!

Study resources:
Becker
Wiley test bank

[Anonymous]

So I finally spoke to someone at the state of Florida licensing board.

The CPA LICENSURE WORK REQUIREMENT means 2,000 hours worked over a total amount of weeks no less than 52 and no more than 104 weeks.

These weeks though DO NOT have to consecutive or during a continuous period. They just have to be after you approved to sit for the cpa exam, and must be submitted within 3 years of passing last exam.

For example, I was approved to sit in summer 2011. I worked in 2nd half of 2011 and first half of 2012. Although I have not worked since that time ( OVER 2 years ago) those hours could still be added to future hours earned before applying.

As long as the hours that WERE WORKED during this time span equal 2,000 hours and were gained over a total between 52 and 104 hours worked, it is satisfied. Hopefully more people know this so there is not confusion that it is a rolling 2 year window.

[Excel14]

@cpahopefulMia27:

I am in Florida as well. Does the work experience needed, have to be under an actively practicing CPA? I don't want to have to quit my job, to go try and find a CPA to work under, just to be able to practice. Of course I'm not there yet, but I was wondering that about the job experience.

BEC (2/28/16) ----- 78
FAR (09/10/16)-----
AUD
REG

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Anonymous]

@Excel14 – The rule states “ONE YEAR WORK EXPERIENCE: Must be verified by a licensed CPA (This experience can be obtained prior to the application, while sitting for the exam or after all four parts of the exam has been passed. However, requirements to sit for the exam must be met before work experience commences.)”

*Work experience shall include 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. This experience is acceptable if it was gained through employment in government, industry, academia, or public practice and constituted a substantial part of the applicant's duties.

– Basically, this means that the kind of work you can do is extremely broad and loose… as it says “any type of service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills”

– The main thing is that a LICENSED CPA must verify these hours, so yes, it must be an active one.

– You have three years to gain this 2,000 hours after being notified that you have passed the final section. So I would not do anything drastic quite yet. Have you passed any of the exams yet? I wish I knew about this site back when I took it a few years ago.

– Study the Simulations just as much as the MC, and know that the real thing will be more difficult SIM wise than Becker was. MC questions are about the same though I found. But good luck going forward.

[Anonymous]

Oh and actually, I have been meaning to strengthen my EXCEL skills a bit. Given your name, do you have any recommendations on places to go online. I know there are plenty of free possibilites or avenues such as YOUTUBE, but I would pay up to 50 or 100 for a decent course, especially if there is a coupon available. Have you heard of UDEMY?

[Excel14]

@cpahopefulMia27:

Actually, my username was chosen due to utilizing CPAexcel, and my lack of creativity regarding a screen name. lol Funny thing is, after going through the program, I've decided to move my test date to 10/18, and use Gleim as I travel back through the material.

I knew the experience definition was broad, but I was afraid of that regarding the verification by a CPA. I know of one who can verify it, if she's still around whenever I need her. lol No, haven't passed one of the exams yet. A LONG way to go.

BEC (2/28/16) ----- 78
FAR (09/10/16)-----
AUD
REG

CIA, CGAP, CFE

[Anonymous]

Oh i see. Well, ya, you definitely want to make sure that is is a licensed CPA who can sign off. It doesnt have to be directly supervising your work, just basically needs to sign off on it by knowing who you are and general idea of what you are doing.

I wish they would make the wording more clearer. I bet there are many people out there who think that the cpa hours requirement has to be a rolling 2 year period.

[Anonymous]

Oh i see. Well, ya, you definitely want to make sure that is is a licensed CPA who can sign off. It doesnt have to be directly supervising your work, just basically needs to sign off on it by knowing who you are and general idea of what you are doing.

I wish they would make the wording more clearer. I bet there are many people out there who think that the cpa hours requirement has to be a rolling 2 year period.

[tomq04]

Your verbiage sounds like that of an opiate user, scary stuff. You must be pretty sharp and determined to have passed the test and get your life back in order.

I know you can do this, good luck. Its also possible you could apply in a neighbor state, Georgia or Alabama perhaps?

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[Sir Study Alot]

A good solution to these type of problems is finding a state where you do qualify as a CPA right now and transfering over your license to the state you live in when you do finally qualify in your home state. In one scenario you are waiting to see if you can get the experience before the timeline expires and the other scenario your a CPA in a random state and your waiting patiently to get the work experience in your home state. Your post is fair warning to those international candidates to pick a state that does not have expiring exams like Florida. Here in California I can get the experience 50 years from now and qualify for my license as long as I take 80 cpe hours. Is everything better in California? 😛

Passed all 4 exams in 2014!

[Author]

Replies