New York Not Substantially Equivalent to UAA

By Fong Chan

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy Qualification Appraisal Board recently evaluated the equivalency of all 54 licensing jurisdictions with regard to the education, examination, and experience requirements of the Uniform Accountancy Act. Twenty-two states met the substantially equivalent criteria. New York did not meet the criteria for education and examination.

One of the UAA's major purposes is to facilitate interstate practice among CPAs. According to the AICPA and NASBA, this can only be achieved if the licensure requirements of the 54 jurisdictions are substantially equivalent to each other, as determined by the NASBA Qualification Appraisal Board.

New York did not meet the education requirement because under State Education Department regulations, the new 150-hour education requirement is not effective until 2009. The UAA proposes that this requirement go into effect by 2005.

The examination requirements in New York do not meet the UAA's criteria because New York candidates can take parts of the CPA exam on different days and there is no minimum passing grade on retaken sections. The UAA requires that CPA candidates sit for all parts in one session and achieve a minimum grade of 50 or better in order to receive credit for passing parts they previously failed.

The NYSSCPA has taken steps to conform to the UAA criteria. Under recent legislation proposed by the Society to incorporate the UAA reforms, the 150-hour requirement will apply to any candidate who applies for licensure on or after August 1, 2005. The Society also will lobby the New York State Board of Accountancy and the State Education Department to amend examination procedures to conform with the UAA.