CHAPTER 2 CERTIFICATES. Applications for Certificate by Examination.

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1 CHAPTER 2 CERTIFICATES Section 1. Issuance. A certificate as CPA may be issued to those who meet the requirements of W.S (a)(i) - (iv) or W. S , and can establish to the satisfaction of the Board that the certificate will not be used in violation or in such a manner as to appear to be in violation of W.S (a)(ii). Section 2. Applications for Certificate by Examination. (a) An applicant for a certificate by examination shall file an application with the Board. Unless otherwise ordered, applicants shall furnish all information required by the form submitted and other information as required by the Board. Each application, when filed, shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee, as determined by Section 3(g) of this Chapter payable to the Wyoming Board of Certified Public Accountants. Applications shall be postmarked no later than March 1 for the May examination and September 1 for the November examination. After the application has been filed, cancellations received up to ten (10) working days before the examination shall be eligible for credit towards the next scheduled examination. Cancellations received after that time shall only receive credit for documented emergencies as determined by the Board. Forms may be obtained from the Board's office located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. (b) requirements: Applicants shall furnish evidence of completion of one of the following education (i) An applicant who earned a baccalaureate degree prior to December 31, 1999, shall have completed a minimum of twenty-four (24) semester hours in accounting, a maximum of three (3) semester hours in business law may be included in the twenty-four (24) semester hour requirement. (ii) An applicant who earned a baccalaureate or higher degree after December 31, 1999, shall have completed 150 semester hours of college education with at least 24 semester hours of upper division or graduate level accounting courses covering the subjects of financial accounting, auditing, taxation, and management accounting and at least 24 semester hours of business courses (other than accounting) at the undergraduate or graduate level. (iii) The official transcript which evidences compliance with the requirements set forth in sub-sections (i) and (ii) above shall be forwarded to the Board's office directly from the college or university which is accredited by one of the following accrediting associations. (A) New England Association of Schools and Colleges; 2-1

2 (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G) Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools; North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools; Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; Western Association of Schools and Colleges; or American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). (iv) credit earned through life experience credit earned as a result of passage of the Uniform CPA Examination shall not qualify towards meeting any of these course requirements. (v) transcripts which document a graduate degree with a concentration in accounting from a program that is accredited in accounting by the AACSB shall be deemed equivalent to the requirements outlined in sub-section (ii) of this sub-section. or hour. (vi) One quarter (1/4) unit or hour is equivalent to two-thirds (2/3) of a semester unit (c) following: Applicants shall furnish, on forms provided by the Board, evidence of compliance with the (i) An applicant shall be a resident of the State of Wyoming or have a place of employment in Wyoming, or as an employee be regularly employed in Wyoming; (ii) An applicant shall have attained the age of majority in Wyoming; (d) The Board reserves the right to deny the application of any individual for any of the following reasons: States; (i) (ii) failure to furnish all information required by Section 2(a) or (b) of this chapter; conviction of a felony under the laws of Wyoming or any other state or the United (iii) conviction of any crime, an element of which is dishonesty or fraud, under the laws of Wyoming or any state or of the United States; or 2-2

3 (iv) Section 3. falsification of information required by the application process. Examinations - Certified Public Accountant. (a) Written examinations for the certified public accountant's certificate shall be given at least once each year. The Board shall use the Uniform AICPA Examination and advisory grading service. An examination on the Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the Board shall be satisfactorily completed. (b) The candidate shall receive a passing grade in each of the four (4) examination sections prepared by the AICPA before a certificate will be issued. A passing grade shall be seventy-five percent (75%). (c) Condition. (i) A condition shall be granted to a candidate who received passing grades in any two (2) sections provided a minimum score of fifty percent (50%) is earned on each of the other sections written. In order to receive credit for sections in any subsequent examination, the candidate shall attain a minimum grade of fifty percent 50% on sections written, but not passed. Failure to obtain passing grades within a three (3) year period subsequent to being granted a condition shall require re-examination in all sections under the provisions of paragraph (b) of this Section. The three (3) year period may be extended by the Board at its discretion upon a showing by the candidate of the existence of conditions beyond control. (d) A candidate eligible for re-examination is required to file a supplemental application and pay the required fee. (e) All candidates qualifying under W. S are required to submit an official copy of the final transcript showing the degree and date awarded. Education requirements shall be met before the certificate will be issued. (i) Foreign candidates writing the Uniform CPA examination as Wyoming Candidates shall submit transcripts to a foreign accountants credentials service acceptable to the Board for evaluation. That evaluation shall verify that the degree awarded was transferrable to an institution of higher education in the United States and verify that the accounting courses are equivalent to those taken to qualify as a candidate in the United States. (f) Credit shall be granted to a candidate for satisfactory completion of any section of the Uniform AICPA Examination given by the licensing authority in any jurisdiction, provided the conditional requirements as outlined in paragraph (c) of this Section have been met and written confirmation is furnished by the jurisdiction, which includes: 2-3

4 (i) Dates of examination; (ii) Grades obtained on all sections; and (iii) Allowable credit shall be determined on the basis of compliance with the general provisions for certificates as if the candidate had taken the examination as a Wyoming candidate. (iv) The Board may grant a certificate based upon the satisfactory completion of the Uniform CPA Exam and compliance with all other requirements for the original Wyoming certificate to an individual when the certificate originally issued by another jurisdiction has expired or been revoked/suspended for non-payment of fees. (g) AICPA examination and re-examination fees shall be determined annually by the Board. (i) Applications made for initial examination shall be established as follows: (A) November May 2002 No more than $325 (B) November May 2003 No more than $385 (ii) Applications made for re-examination shall be established as follows: (A) November May 2002 No more than $85 Per Part (B) November May 2003 No more than $100 Per Part (iii) Applications made by other state's candidates to be proctored in Wyoming must be accompanied by a fee of $50. (h) All original candidates shall sit for all sections of the examination. Re-examination candidates shall sit for all sections not passed. This requirement applies to all Wyoming candidates regardless of the testing location. The Board will not release grades or award any applicable credit to candidates who have not complied with this requirement. (i) Any candidate alleged to have engaged in cheating during the examination process shall be entitled to due process as afforded under the Administrative Procedure Act. The following actions may be considered cheating: (i) Communication between candidates inside or outside of the examination room while the examination is in progress; 2-4

5 (ii) another candidate; (iii) Copying another candidate's answers or permitting answers to be copied by Impersonating a candidate or having an impersonator take the examination; (iv) Reference to crib sheets, text books, or other material inside or outside the examination room while the examination is in process; (v) Removal of any examination booklet or answer sheet in violation of prescribed examination procedures; (vi) used by the Board; Selling, buying, distributing or receiving any portion of future or current examination (vii) Disclosure, in whole or in part, of any information concerning the Uniform CPA Exam questions or content that the applicant has as a result of taking the examination; (viii) Failure to follow examination procedures or instructions; or (ix) Possession of any type of camera, audio equipment, or other equipment which is capable of transmitting examination information in any manner or in the candidate s personal items while in the examination room. (j) The Board may impose the following penalties based on the seriousness of the situation; (i) The entering of a failing grade on one or all parts of the examination; (ii) Suspension of the right to sit for future examination; (iii) Immediate expulsion from the examination room; Board; (iv) Notification of all examination jurisdictions of the findings and actions taken by the (v) Disqualification from holding the CPA certificate at any future date; (vi) Other appropriate sanctions as may be determined by the Board. (k) The Board will allow a Wyoming candidate to request that the Advisory Grading Service review the grades earned to insure that the examination papers were graded consistent with the grading guides. 2-5

6 (i) To request a review a candidate must make application to NASBA, accompanied by fees assessed by the Advisory Grading Service, no later than thirty (30) days after the uniform national grade release date of the examination in question. (ii) No candidate may have any type of access to non-disclosed examination materials. Section 4. Special Provisions. The Board recognizes its responsibility to accommodate the identified needs of qualified individuals with disabilities by making reasonable modifications or providing auxiliary aids or services. This does not mean that all requests for accommodation, auxiliary aids, or services will be granted, or that the candidate will receive the particular accommodations or services sought. The Board is not required to grant the request if doing so would fundamentally alter the measurement of skills or knowledge the examination is intended to test, or would create undue financial or administrative burden. The Board will evaluate requests for reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates who, because of special circumstances, believe they will need additional time to complete the examination and/or special accommodations for the taking of the examination on an individual basis. A disability is defined as having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual; having a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment. Mental impairment includes any mental or psychological disorder such as organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness and specific learning disabilities. A learning disability is defined as individual evidence of significant learning difficulties which substantially affect or limit one or more major life activities, and which are not primarily due to cultural, emotional, or motivational factors. The term does not include learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. The individual must demonstrate at least overall intellectual functioning as measured by general cognitive ability tests and show evidence of significant impairment in one or more of the following areas of intellectual functioning and information processing: attention and concentration; efficiency and speed of information processing; reception (perception and verbal comprehension); memory (ability for new learning); cognitive thinking; and expression. Significant impairment is generally determined by a discrepancy of 1.5 standard deviations, or more, between the individual s intellectual functioning, as measured by general cognitive ability tests as outlined in the List of Most Commonly Used Reliable Standardized Psychometric Tests as adopted by the Board and actual performance on reliable standardized measures of attention and concentration, memory, language reception and expression, cognition, as well as academic areas of reading, spelling, writing and mathematics. (a) To request special accommodations, a candidate shall submit a written request for specific accommodations with the application by the deadline established for all applicants. The Board may confer with consultants on the appropriateness of the request, or may request the candidate submit a second 2-6

7 opinion. The candidate shall supply the following materials for the Board's evaluation. All materials are to be signed, original statements and shall be kept confidential to the extent provided by law. Photocopies will not be accepted: (i) (ii) identification of the type of disability (physical, mental, learning) professional verification of the disability by a qualified evaluator (A) credential requirements of the evaluator (I) For physical or mental disabilities the evaluator must be a licensed physician or licensed psychologist with special expertise in the area of the disability. If some one else who does not fit this criteria completes the evaluation, the Board may require another evaluation by a professional of their choosing, and the request may be delayed. (II) In the case of learning disabilities, a qualified evaluator must have sufficient experience to be considered qualified to evaluate the existence of proposed accommodations needed for the specific learning disabilities. The evaluator must be either a licensed psychologist or licensed physician who possesses a minimum of three years experience working with adults with learning disabilities or another professional who possesses a master s or doctorate degree in special education or educational psychology from a regionally accredited institution. The professional s training must include at least three years of equivalent training and experience in all of the following areas: a)assessing intellectual ability level and interpreting tests of such ability; b) screening for cultural, emotional and motivational factors; c) assessing achievement level; and d) administering tests to measure attention and concentration, memory, language reception and expression, cognition, reading spelling, writing and mathematics. (B) Professional verification of the disability must include: (I) (II) (III) under standard testing conditions; The nature and extent of the disability; the test(s) performed to diagnose the disability (if applicable); the effect of the disability on the candidate s ability to perform (IV) the recommended accommodation and how it relates to the candidates disability, given the format of the examination; (V) the professional s name, title, telephone number, professional license or certification number, education credential, and his/her original signature; and 2-7

8 (VI) a description of the professional s educational experience which qualifies him/her to make the determination. disability. (iii) (iv) an outline of accommodations or auxiliary aids needed; and a history of prior accommodations made in relation to the currently identified (v) The Board shall respond to all requests detailing what accommodations will be provided. The candidate shall sign and return this letter to the Board indicating the candidate's acceptance of the specified accommodations. (vi) No changes in any special accommodations granted may be made unless further documentation is presented that proves that there has been a change in the condition of the candidate. The Board may request confirmation of the original diagnosis every two (2) years. (vii) The candidate shall pay for the statements submitted to the Board. The Board's consultants and any second opinions shall be paid by the Board. (viii) When accommodations are made for candidates proctored for other jurisdictions, the jurisdiction requesting the candidate be accommodated shall incur the cost of any applicable accommodation. (b) Appeal from Denial of Request (i) A candidate whose request for accommodation, auxiliary aids, or services is denied in whole or in part will be provided with the reasons, and may appeal the denial in accordance with these procedures. (ii) If the denial is based on the rejection of the professional s opinion supporting the request, the Board must support such rejection with evidence from another expert whom it has consulted in evaluating the candidate s request. The candidate will be provided with the general opinion of the Board s expert, including the basis for the opinion. A candidate s appeal of a decision denying his/her request shall be in the form of a signed or otherwise verified request, including the following: candidate s name, date of request, the appeal itself, and facts in support of the appeal. The appeal must be accompanied by documentation not previously provided which the candidate wishes the Board to consider in its decision. The appeal must be postmarked no later than seven (7) days after the candidate receives notification of the denial. The Board reserves the right to request further evidence on the necessity of the accommodation, in such cases the Board will assume responsibility for any expenses incurred in obtaining this information. 2-8

9 Section 5. Certificates Issued by Reciprocity. (a) Duly qualified persons may be certified under W.S They shall submit applications and proof of their qualifications and other information as may be required by the Board, and shall pay a reasonable fee to defray the administrative cost of issuance (twenty-five ($25) dollars). (b) Applicants for reciprocal certificates and certificates issued by transfer of grades from another jurisdiction will be required to complete a professional ethics examination adopted or approved by the Board. This requirement shall be effective for original certificates issued and examination successfully completed on or after May 5, (c) The conditional requirements imposed on Wyoming candidates shall not be imposed on individuals who have been certified in another jurisdiction. (d) Foreign Reciprocity (i) Accountants holding certificates from foreign countries comparable to the CPA certificate are required to meet all qualifications for certificates provided in W. S (ii) The Board shall waive the Uniform CPA examination and issue certificates to foreign accountants who have completed an examination comparable to the Uniform CPA Examination administered by a foreign authority evaluated by the International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) with requirements determined to be substantially equivalent to the requirements for a Certified Public Accountant. (A) Individuals applying under this sub-section shall pass the AICPA International Uniform Certified Public Accountant Qualification Examination (IQEX) with a minimum score of seventy-five percent (75%). (I) All applicants must provide evidence of completion of an approved uniform qualifying examination which was administered by another United States board of accountancy or an approved examination administration service. (II) Fees for the application shall be submitted by money order or a properly encoded draft drawn on a United States Bank in US funds. (B) All applicants shall provide evidence of satisfactory completion of the comparable examination administered by the foreign authority. (C) Individuals applying under this sub-section shall also satisfactorily complete an examination on the Rules of Professional Conduct adopted by the Board. 2-9

10 (D) Individuals applying under this sub-section shall provide certification from an appropriate foreign authority that no designation awarded has expired, been revoked, suspended, or is under investigation and is in good standing. Section 6. Certificates - Inactive Status. (a) All certificate holders who do not qualify for or maintain a permit or qualify for retired status shall maintain the certificate on an inactive status and may assume or use the title "certified public accountant" or "CPA" if: (i) The assumption or use of the designation is not incident to the practice of public accounting as defined in Chapter I, Section 2(g) of the Rules and Regulations; and (ii) The certificate holder pays an annual fee equal to one-half (½) of the current fees assessed to those who maintain the permit-to-practice. Fees are not prorated. (iii) Individuals who maintain certificates on an inactive status shall not be subject to the continuing education requirements. Section 7. Certificates - Retired Status. (a) The Board may waive the requirement that certificate holders maintain permit or inactive status and allow a holder to retire the certificate and continue to assume or use the title "certified public accountant" or "CPA" if: (i) The assumption or use is not incident to the practice of accounting; (ii) The certificate has not been revoked or suspended by any jurisdiction for any reason except non-payment of fees; (iii) (iv) The certificate holder has reached age 62 or is disabled; and A one-time fee of $50 is paid. (v) Persons who hold certificates retired prior to December 31, 2001 and have not paid the one-time fee, shall not be required to pay additional fees. (vi) Retired certificate holders who use the designation Certified Public Accountant or CPA shall place the word retired adjacent to the designation. 2-10

11 (vii) Retired certificate holders are subject to reinstatement provisions as outlined in Chapter 7, Section 23 (b)(i). Section 8. Certificate Renewal. All certificates expire December 31 of each calendar year. Certificates holders may renew the certificate as follows: a) Certificate holders who maintain the certificate on an inactive status shall annually renew the certificate by complying with the provisions of Section 6 of this chapter no later than December 31 of each calendar year. b) Certificate holders who attempt to renew the certificate after December 31 shall pay a late fee as established by the Board. c) Certificate holders who attempt to renew a certificate that has been in an expired status for more than one year but less than three years shall pay the annual certificate renewal fee plus the late fee established in subsection (b) for each year the certificate has been expired. d) Certificate holders who attempt to renew a certificate that has been expired for more than three years may reinstate the certificate by complying with the applicable reinstatement provisions as outlined in Chapter 7, Section 23 of the Rules and Regulations. 2-11