[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone, I recently just registered for this site, but I have been following it for over a year and a half. During that time I was able to pass all four parts of the CPA and I want to thank everyone on this forum because I would not have been able to do it without all of your tips and pointers!

I am a candidate that was “grandfathered” in under NY’s rules pre-2009. As such, I need to provide proof of 2 years of experience, as I only have the 120 credits. Anyway, my application went over to the board this past week and I received an email from the board saying that my experience is unacceptable because my supervisor during that period, although a CPA, was inactive. We all worked in private industry and back then CPAs in private industry did not have to pay the annual registration fee and could be marked inactive (pre-2009). So my experience is ok, but if he had paid his fee then he would have been marked active and they wouldn’t have a problem accepting the application.

Has anybody had a similar problem with this? There have been some other posts on this board but they are mostly related to issues in NY with out of state CPAs as supervisors.

Is there any way that my supervisor can just pay the past fee and be marked as active for then? I know that being marked active also comes with a requirement for CPE, but I believe he has the necessary amount of credits for that time period.

Or maybe is there a way to appeal this? It seems ridiculous to me because all the instruction forms, websites, even the education law itself, only says the experienced has to be gained under a “licensed CPA” which he was. They are now making a distinction between inactive/active, which I guess is fine (they are the ones who make the rules), but if it was so important how come they make the distinction nowhere else on the website or forms or law itself?

In the email they say that it has to be from a CPA who was lawfully practicing. Well he was lawfully practicing based on the rules then in place.

I know this has been a long email but hopefully somebody out there has had a similar issue. Unfortunately I have since left accounting for a different industry so there is no way for me to get more experience. After all that work and then following the instructions exactly, it looks like it was all for nothing. I guess I’ll even take ideas on the easiest way to get additional experience.

Thanks!!!