[No_one]

Hello Friends,

It’s my second post in past 3 days about licensing. Can someone please clarify what can we count as a general accounting experience as per CA licensing requirement? Say suppose I can get into a market what sort of opportunity can help me to get my license?

Thanks a lot.

CA Candidate
FAR: You are down...
Aud: Surprised me...Thanks
BEC: 75% work done
REG: It's 80 but I am 100% done 🙂

[LoneMount]

I think there is a pretty detailed explanation on their website. https://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/publications/applbook.pdf

One thing to mention is that CA requires 500 hours of attest experience, which is a type of general accounting experience. So the easiest way to get the license, in my opinion, is to work as an auditor for a year.

CA Candidate
FAR - 96 (Feb 2015)
REG - 95 (Apr 2015)
BEC - 89 (May 2015)
AUD - 99 (July 2015)

[No_one]

Thanks Lonemount..Can my oversees experience count towards this experience requirement?

CA Candidate
FAR: You are down...
Aud: Surprised me...Thanks
BEC: 75% work done
REG: It's 80 but I am 100% done 🙂

[MaLoTu]

Actually, you will be able to get your license for the work hours under the supervision of a CPA. However, without the 500 attest hours you will not be able to sign audits or attest to any financial information. You can apply for the attestation portion at any point after you have your license if you acquire the 500 attest hours later. The CA BOA is actually very helpful in solving these matters. Just call them and they should be able to address everything for you. One of the agents went over this in detail with me previously, so I know they will have a thorough answer for you. It is best to call earlier in the morning.

[LoneMount]

@No_one

Regarding oversea experiences, that's out of my range, but you can see if they mentioned it in the handbook or not.

@MaLoTu

Glad to hear that the we can get the license without the attest experience. I though it was required based on what they say in the handbook.

In addition, a question for you, by supervision, does that have to be direct supervision?

CA Candidate
FAR - 96 (Feb 2015)
REG - 95 (Apr 2015)
BEC - 89 (May 2015)
AUD - 99 (July 2015)

[MaLoTu]

@lonemount – I think that is a real gray area. I think as long as they can be directly linked to your position (i.e., your boss or your boss' boss) that it can be considered. I am not 100% sure about that though.

[No_one]

Thanks Malotu and lonemount for sharing your thoughts and experience..i guess its best to call and ask them about my available options.. 🙂 thanks a lot.

CA Candidate
FAR: You are down...
Aud: Surprised me...Thanks
BEC: 75% work done
REG: It's 80 but I am 100% done 🙂

[Anonymous]

500 Attest hours are NOT REQUIRED. For California, there are 2 types of licenses you can obtain: Attest and General Accounting. You will be able to sign off on audit opinions with the former license.

For the latter, you need a minimum of 1 year of general accounting experience. And the sign off of the person that you directly reported to or supervised you. If that person does not own the company, you will also need the supervisor above your manager/supervisor to sign off. Both need to be licensed CPAs.

My co-worker had her boss (Chartered Accountant in Canada) try to sign off, but they rejected her general experience form. So she just had the assistant controller sign off on it, since she indirectly reported to him. She got the other sign off from her manager's manager, who is a CPA from North Carolina.

[Anonymous]

so you actually need two CPAs to sign in CA if the CPA is not the owner? What happened if there is only one CPA in the company? The experience won't count in such case?

[Author]

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