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State’s
CPA Exam Regulations Get Face-lift Following action taken last month by the state’s Board of Regents, New York standards for the impending computer-based examination required for licensure as a certified public accountant now conform to the national standards for the exam. Because the final paper version of the exam occurred in November and the computer-based test (CBT) is scheduled to launch in April 2004, the amendment, formally adopted by the board on Nov. 14, “reflects changes in the exam” and “allow(s) New York state to continue to use the national examination as the licensing examination for certified public accountants,” as proposed in the Sept. 24 State Register. According to the State Education Department’s Regulatory Impact Statement, “The amendment is needed to list the new content sections of the examination, establish a crosswalk between the old test subjects and the new ones, and set forth retention of credit requirements. It also removes a provision that would permit a candidate to take the licensing examination if he or she will complete college study within 60 days after the date of the examination.” The Highlights Unlike the paper-based exam that was offered twice a year, the CBT will be offered on a daily basis during the year’s four testing windows of two-month periods each. The amendment—which took effect Dec. 4—removed the 60-day provision previously referred to because it originally was established to increase the candidates’ opportunity to take the exam, which, given the new test’s daily administration, is now unnecessary. The amendment contains other provisions that also differ from the older form of the exam. For starters, the CBT will include sections on financial accounting and reporting, business environment and concepts, regulation, and auditing and attestation, as compared to the written exam’s financial accounting and reporting, business law and professional responsibilities, accounting and reporting, and auditing sections, respectively. (For purposes of credit transfer, these sections are considered as corresponding to one another.) Further, the scoring of each section will now be reported on a pass/fail basis, with 75.0 or higher considered passing. Also notably different is the time frame for retention of credit. Beginning with the first passed section of the exam, candidates will have 18 months to pass all four sections, which can be taken individually and in any order. This contrasts with the 36-month period that candidates previously had to pass the exam, of which two or more sections had to be passed at one sitting to receive credit and to proceed to take the other sections individually at a later date. However,
this 36-month period shall still apply to candidates who passed
two or more sections of the paper exam prior to Dec. 4, 2003,
provided that the candidate has not exhausted six opportunities
to pass the remaining sections of the exam. Candidates who passed in other states sections of the exam may have their credit transferred to New York provided retention and other requirements are met. The amendment also clarifies the regulation concerning the continuing education requirement that CPAs and public accountants must meet to practice in New York, and the requirements for sponsors of continuing education. Prior to the board’s adoption, Ken L. Bishop, chair of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Exam Task Force, reported in the American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA) October/November Exam Alert that 44 of the 54 states and jurisdictions that license CPAs had passed legislation providing for the transition to the CBT. The remaining jurisdictions either have legislation in the works or are expected to launch with the rest of the country through policy or an attorney general’s opinion. For more information on the CBT, visit NASBA’s website at www.nasba.org or the AICPA’s website at www.aicpa.org. |
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