An applicant must have at least 2,000 hours of work with increasing levels of complexity and diversity, performed over a period of not less than 1 years in industry, public practice, government or a nonprofit organization, where the applicant provides any type of professional service or advice using accounting, attestation, compilation, management advisory services, financial advisory services or tax consulting.

To satisfy the requirements for experience all work must have been performed under the direct supervision of a person engaged in active practice as a certified public accountant.

Recommended Tasks Toward Experience

The requirements for experience in either public accounting or governmental/industry must include the preparation, performance, supervision and review of tasks that require discretion and judgment with increasing responsibility and levels of complexity and competency.

Such tasks shall include any combination of experience from the following:

• Compilation or preparation of historical financial statements or prospective financial information consistent with generally accepted accounting principles or other comprehensive basis of accounting;
• Review of financial statements prepared consistent with generally accepted accounting principles or another financial reporting framework;
• Auditing of financial statements;
• Other attestation services relating to historical and prospective financial information and the compliance with all applicable controls, laws and regulations and contractual obligations;
• Operational and other tasks which are frequently referred to as internal auditing activities;
• Preparation of income tax returns, information returns and other federal, state, local and foreign tax returns for individuals, corporations, partnerships and limited-liability companies, charitable organizations and estates and trusts;
• Design of internal controls over financial reporting;
• Testing of compliance with internal controls over financial reporting;
• Testing of compliance with financial accounting and auditing and income tax laws, regulations and contractual obligations;
• Testing of financial information and the design and effectiveness of controls as part of internal audit outsourcing or co-sourcing arrangements;
• Fraud examinations and other forensic accounting;
• Research relating to the application of professional standards, laws and regulations;
• Providing professional advice relating to structuring prospective transactions and events to achieve a desired result in compliance with applicable professional standards, laws and regulations; and
• Completing tasks relating to the tasks provided in paragraphs (a) to (m), including:
• Engagement planning, including the identification of significant transactions, accounts and processes, assessment of risks, program design and timing of procedures;
• File organization and report assembly;
• Documenting findings and conclusions, including internal working papers, memoranda and reports for external use;
• Account analysis and verification procedures for all categories of assets, liabilities, equities, revenues, costs and expenses and related information;
• Analytical procedures;
• Inspection and summary of documents;
• Valuation assertion testing, including the testing of the appropriateness of inputs, related metrics and methods;
• Confirmation of information with independent parties;
• Design of sample plans and non-sampling selections;
• Written and verbal inquiry of responsible parties and their advisors;
• Direct observation of circumstances and events;
• Reperformance processes and controls initially performed by others;
• Comparison of expectations and results to industry and other relevant metrics;
• Comparison of budgeted amounts to actual or expected results; or
• Performance auditing activities.

 
Tasks NOT Allowed Toward Experience

Unless significantly related to an approved task listed above, the following tasks will not be considered toward the experience requirement:

• Administrative and clerical functions that do not require discretion and judgment;
• Personnel recruiting;
• Actuarial services;
• Expert testimony or litigation support;
• Valuation services, except those valuation services performed in connection with the valuation assertion testing of financial statements, including, without limitation, real estate and personal property appraisals and business valuations;
• Bookkeeping;
• Approving and processing routine accounting transactions, including, without limitation, transactions involving cash receipts and disbursements, the procurement of goods and services, payroll processing and recurring journal entries; or
• The development, maintenance and monitoring of electronic systems and tools, software and hardware.

 
Verification of Experience

To satisfy the requirements for experience, all work must have been performed, under the direct supervision of a person engaged in active practice as a certified public accountant, who has knowledge about and a higher level of responsibility of the subject tasks and in accordance with all applicable professional standards.

An applicant must complete and submit a form for the verification of experience to the Board as proof of his or her experience. The form must be signed, under penalty of perjury, by one or more certified public accountants who supervised, or have sufficient knowledge of, the applicant's work and can certify the character, extent and nature of that work.

The Individual Review process will no longer be applicable following a transition period. As of January 1, 2025 individual reviews will no longer be performed by the Board. All experience will be required to be verified by a licensed Certified Public Accountant.

If an applicant has obtained experience within the governmental/industry category and believes they have met the required experience with the approved tasks but the work performed was not supervised by a Certified Public Accountant, the applicant may request an individual evaluation by the Board of the character, extent and nature of his or her experience to determine whether the experience satisfies the requirements.

An applicant who has requested an individual evaluation must pay an additional fee not to exceed $1,000 for the evaluation by the Board.

Maintain Experience Records

An applicant shall maintain, for 3 years after obtaining a certificate of certified public accountant, the records and supporting documentation of the applicant's experience for inspection and review by the Board.

A certified public accountant who signs an applicant's form for the verification of experience shall maintain, for 3 years after signing the form, any records and supporting documentation of the experience of the applicant for inspection and review by the Board.