VBOA news

The summer 2016 issue of Accrued Interest, the Virginia Board of Accountancy’s biannual newsletter, is now available to the Virginia CPA and exam candidate community and filled with news and updates from the last few months.

Don’t miss this issue, which features an article remembering Steve Holton, the former two term Board member and Chair, changes to the 2017 CPA exam, do’s and don’ts for staying CPE compliant, VBOA news, Board Disciplinary Actions and much more.

Feel free to contact Kelli Anderson, VBOA Communications Manager, at kelli.anderson@boa.virginia.gov or at (804) 367-1586 with any comments and suggestions.

Also, don’t forget to take a look back at the VBOA’s previous newsletters.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced new appointments to his administration on Friday, June 24, including reappointing two current board members to a second term and naming one new member to the Virginia Board of Accountancy.

Both Stephanie S. Saunders, CPA, of Virginia Beach, and Matthew P. Bosher, of Richmond, have been reappointed for a second term. Saunders served as the 2015-16 board chair.

Laurie A. Warwick, CPA, of Ashburn, is the newest member to join the seven member board.

Warwick has been with Ernst & Young for more than 20 years. Currently she is the Assurance Executive Director and executes multiple external audit engagements within the Greater Washington D.C. offices.

Warwick begins her four-year term on July 1, 2016, and succeeds previous board member and 2015-16 board vice chair Marc B. Moyers, CPA.

On April 1, 2017, the AICPA will launch the next version of the Uniform CPA Examination, a four-section (AUD, BEC, FAR and REG), 16-hour assessment (four hours per section) that places a greater emphasis on testing a candidate’s higher-order cognitive skills such as critical thinking and analytical ability. Through multiple-choice questions and an increased use of task-based simulations in all sections of the exam, as well as written responses in BEC, candidates will be presented with questions that test the knowledge and skills that a newly licensed CPA must possess.

To learn more about the CPA exam changes and frequently asked questions as candidates prepare to take the exam, visit the AICPA’s website for all the details.

The Virginia Board of Accountancy has contracted with the Virginia Society of CPAs as the sole provider of the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course content and material for the 2016 course.

Sponsors who are interested in providing the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course must meet the following requirements:

• Obtain the course contents and materials from the VSCPA
• Be pre-approved annually by VBOA staff as a provider of this course
• Be listed on the VBOA's website as an approved provider of this course
• Submit all course comments to the VBOA within 60 days of receipt

The VBOA has also approved that all instructors of the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course must hold an active, in good standing, Virginia CPA license.

Potential sponsors will complete the 2016 Virginia-Specific Ethics Course Sponsor/Provider application certifying the ethics material will be obtained from the VSCPA, provide a list of course instructors and submit it to the VBOA for approval. Once approved, the sponsor will appear on the VBOA website as an approved provider of the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course.

The VBOA will not accept any Virginia-Specific Ethics Course completed from a non-approved sponsor and the licensee will be penalized for not completing the approved course.

The course must be instructor-led but may be presented in a variety of different formats including, but not limited to, live seminars, conference sessions, online self-study presented by an instructor, live webcast and webcast replays, on-demand webcast and in-house training.

Please contact the VBOA Director of Operations, Mary Charity, by phone at (804) 367-0495 or by email at mary.charity@boa.virginia.gov with any questions.

The Virginia Board of Accountancy is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for our new status, Active - CPE Exempt.

Active - CPE Exempt affects CPAs who want to maintain their license but are not providing services to an employer or the public and don’t expect to for a period of time.

CPAs who qualify for this status will be allowed to renew their licenses annually by paying the renewal fee and continue to use the CPA title but will not need to fulfill CPE requirements.

A change in status requires approval by VBOA through an application process, including submission of a company bio/resume and job description, if currently employed when applying for the status change.

Please complete the Change of License Status Request Form on our website and return it to the VBOA office for review and approval. We encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns regarding this new status at (804) 367-8505 or by email at boa@boa.virginia.gov.

The idea was simple but profound. What better way to educate future Virginia CPAs on the responsibilities of the Virginia Board of Accountancy than to hold actual board meetings at Virginia colleges and universities? Wade Jewell, VBOA Executive Director, realized the outreach potential of such an idea to accounting faculty and students and took the show on the road.

At least one board meeting a year is held at a Virginia college or university campus.

Since October 2010, board meetings have been held at Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University, Virginia State University, University of Richmond, Longwood University, William & Mary and most recently James Madison University in November 2015.

If you are a faculty member of a Virginia college or university and would like your students to get an on-campus look at the inner workings of the VBOA Board, contact our Communications Manager at kelli.anderson@boa.virginia.gov. We’re reaching out to tomorrow’s CPAs.

CPAverify.org provides an online search for employers, professionals and the general public allowing anyone who may need to verify the status of an individual CPA and/or public accounting firm. Licensing information is provided by participating state boards of accountancy, including the VBOA. This online central repository of information on licensed CPAs and CPA firms is maintained by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to make available a single-search resource covering participating jurisdictions where an individual or firm has been licensed.

With the wide spread mobility legislation, the need for the public to determine if an individual or firm is licensed and in good standing is more important than ever.

CPAverify minimizes the need for consumers to check individually with each state board of accountancy to determine a CPA’s license status. With the support of participating state boards, this tool allows the public an opportunity to check the status of multiple licenses a CPA holds at one website with a single search.

A joint project of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), CPAmobility.org is an online tool to help CPAs navigate the practice privilege requirements that allow CPAs to more easily work across jurisdictional borders. This tool is especially helpful to northern Virginia CPAs whose practice includes clients in Maryland and Washington D.C.

The site works by posing three questions to the CPA:

1. Where is your principal place of business (home state)?
2. Where are you going to perform services (target state)?
3. What services will you perform?

After processing, the site displays requirements on licensing and registration of relevant jurisdictions allowing CPAs to spend valuable time on business opportunities rather than regulatory compliancy. Contact information for state boards of accountancy is also available on the CPAmobility search engine. NASBA and the AICPA hope you will find CPAmobility to be a resourceful tool with the potential to educate CPAs on mobility requirements and regulations.