§1-1-4. Certification.
4.1. The Board shall issue a certificate
to any applicant who satisfies each of the requirements of this section. A
certificate will only be issued when all of the requirements listed in this
section are met by the applicant.
4.2. Good moral character. -- An applicant
for certification shall have fiscal integrity and no history of acts involving
dishonesty or acts which would constitute a violation of this Rule. The Board
may deny certification upon a finding supported by clear and convincing evidence
of a lack of good moral character.
4.3. Education. -- An applicant for
certification shall have completed the following educational requirements:
(a) If the initial application for
examination is made prior to February 15, 2000, the obtainment of a
baccalaureate or equivalent degree conferred by an accredited school with a
concentration in accounting or its equivalent. A qualified candidate shall
submit an application on Board approved forms with the required documentation.
(b) If the initial application for
examination is made on or after February 15, 2000, the satisfactory completion
of one hundred fifty (150) semester hours or their equivalent at an accredited
school, including the obtainment of baccalaureate or higher degree.
(i) As part of the required one hundred
fifty semester hours, an applicant shall have completed the following credit
hours at the upper-division baccalaureate and/or graduate levels at an
accredited college or university:
(A) at least twenty-seven (27) credit
hours or equivalent quarter hours in accounting, excluding introductory
accounting courses covering the principles of accounting components, including
the minimum requirements in each of the following subject areas:
(1) six (6) credit hours in financial or
intermediate accounting;
(2) six (6) credit hours in auditing or
accounting information systems with a minimum of three (3) credit hours in
auditing;
(3) three (3) credit hours in taxation;
(4) three (3) credit hours in cost
accounting, managerial accounting, governmental accounting or not-for-profit
accounting; and
(5) nine (9) credit hours in accounting
electives. Accounting internships or independent studies not exceeding three (3)
credit hours may satisfy this accounting elective requirement;
(B) six (6) credit hours in business law;
and
(C) a minimum of twenty-seven (27) credit
hours in business courses, excluding required accounting and business law
courses, with a minimum requirement in each of the following subject areas:
(1) three (3) credit hours in economics;
(2) three (3) credit hours in finance;
(3) three (3) credit hours in marketing;
(4) three (3) credit hours in statistics;
(5) three (3) credit hours in management;
and
(6) twelve (12) credit hours in
business-related electives, excluding the introductory principles of accounting
components and the required six (6) credit hours in business law.
Business-related courses include, but are not limited to, quantitative
application in business, business ethics, business communication skills and
organizational behavior.
(c) Foreign academic credentials shall be
accompanied by a written evaluation from the Foreign Academic Credentials
Service, Inc., or any other credentialing agency which is a member of the
National Association of Credential Evaluation Service, Inc., regarding
equivalency of the credentials to the requirements of this Rule.
4.4. An applicant shall satisfactorily
complete the examination provided for in section 7 of this Rule.
4.5. An applicant shall demonstrate that
he or she has one year of experience in the four year period immediately
preceding his or her application in providing any type of service or advice
involving the use of accounting, attestation, compilation, management advisory,
financial advisory, tax or consulting skills.
(a) Experience may include private,
government, industry, or public practice, as well as experience in academia. In
evaluating the experience of the applicant, the Board shall consider the
complexity and diversity of the work performed as well as any other factor the
Board may consider relevant.
(b) The applicant shall have his or her
experience verified to the Board by the holding of a certificate, registration
or out-of-state certificate.
(i) Any person who has been requested by
the applicant to provide evidence of the applicant’s experience shall comply
with the request. Any person who refuses to provide evidence shall, upon request
of the Board, explain in writing or in person the basis for his or her refusal.
(ii) The Board may require any licensee
who has furnished evidence of an applicant’s experience to substantiate the
information. The Board may require the applicant and/or the licensee to provide
documentation supporting the evidence of experience for review by the Board.
(iii) The Board may require any applicant
to appear before it or its representative to supplement, explain, or verify the
evidence of experience.
4.6. Prior Certificants. -- No person who,
on July 1, 1989, held a certificate previously issued by the Board shall be
required to obtain an additional or substitute certificate or to fulfill an
experience requirement in order to maintain or renew a certificate.
§1-1-7. Examination for Certificate.
7.1. Application. -- An applicant for
certificate examination shall meet the requirements of subsections 4.1, 4.2,
4.3, and 4.5 of this Rule and shall complete the application form prescribed by
the Board and furnish all information, documentation, references, and fees
required in section 19 of this Rule. If the candidate fails to take any part of
the examination in six consecutive windows from the time the application is
filed with the Board, the applicant shall complete a new application for
certification examination under the requirements existing at the time the new
application is completed.
7.2. Administration of Examination. The
Board may make use of all or any part of the Uniform Certified Public Accountant
Examination and Advisory Grading Service of the AICPA and may contract with
third parties to perform any administrative services with respect to the
examination that it considers appropriate to assist it in performing its duties
hereunder.
7.2.3. Cheating
(a) Cheating by an applicant in applying
for or taking the examination shall be considered to invalidate any grade
otherwise earned by a candidate on any part of the examination, and may warrant
summary expulsion from the examination room and disqualification from taking the
examination for a specified number of subsequent sittings.
(b) For purposes of this Rule, the
following actions, among others, may be considered cheating:
(1) Falsifying or misrepresenting
educational credentials or other information required for admission to the
examination;
(2) Communication between candidates
inside or outside the examination room or copying another candidate’s answers
while the examination is in progress;
(3) Communication with others outside the
examination room while the examination is in progress;
(4) Substitution of another person to sit
in the examination room in the stead of a candidate;
(5) Reference to crib sheets, text books
or other material inside or outside the examination room while the examination
is in progress.
(6) Violating the nondisclosure
prohibitions of the examination or aiding or abetting another in doing so.
(7) Retaking or attempting to retake a
Test Section by an individual holding a valid Certificate or by a Candidate who
has unexpired credit for having already passed the same Test Section, unless the
individual has been directed to retake a Test Section pursuant to Board order or
unless the individual has been authorized by the Board to participate in a
"secret shopper" program.
(c) In any case where it appears to the
Board, while the examination is in progress, that cheating has occurred or is
occurring, the Board may either summarily expel the candidate involved from the
examination or move the candidate to a position in the room away from other
examinees where the candidate can be watched more closely.
(d) In any case where the Board believes
that it has evidence that a candidate has cheated on the examination, or where a
candidate has been expelled from the examination, the Board shall conduct a
hearing immediately following the examination session for the purpose of
determining whether or not there was cheating, and if so what remedy should be
applied. In hearing, the Board shall decide:
(1) Whether to give the candidate credit
for any portion of the examination completed in that session; and
(2) Whether to bar the candidate from
taking the examination in future sittings, and if so, for how many sittings.
(e) In any case where the Board permits a
candidate to continue taking the examination, it may, depending on the
circumstances:
(1) Admonish the candidate;
(2) Seat the candidate in a segregated
location for the rest of the examination;
(3) Keep a record of the candidate’s
seat location and identification number, and the names and identification
numbers of the candidates on either side of the candidate; and/or
(4) Notify the AICPA of the circumstances,
furnishing the candidate’s identification number, so that after the initial
grading is completed the candidate’s papers can be compared for unusual
similarities with the papers of others who may have been involved. Upon
introduction of a computer-based examination, notify the National Candidate
Database and the AICPA and/or the Test Center of the circumstances, so that the
Candidate may be more closely monitored in future examination sessions.
(f) In any case where a candidate is
refused credit for parts of the examination taken, or is disqualified from
taking other parts, the Board shall give the candidate a statement containing
its findings, the evidence upon which the findings are based, and a notice of
the right of the candidate to a formal rehearing by the Board, with right of
appeal, pursuant to West Virginia Board of Accountancy Rule, 1 C.S.R. 2,
Contested Case Hearing Procedures.
(g) In any case where a candidate is
refused credit for any part of an examination taken, disqualified from taking
any part of the examination, or barred from taking the examination in future
sittings, the Board will provide to the Board of Accountancy of any other state
to which the candidate may apply for the examination information as to the Board’s
findings and actions taken. Notwithstanding any other provisions under these
rules, the Board may postpone scheduled examinations, the release of grades, or
the issuance of certificates due to a breach of examination security;
unauthorized acquisition or disclosure of the contents of an examination;
suspected or actual negligence, errors, omissions, or irregularities in
conducting an examination; or for any other reasonable cause or unforeseen
circumstance.
7.3. Applications for examination.
(a) Applications to take the Certified
Public Accountant Examination must be made on a form provided by the Board and
filed with the Board by a due date specified by the Board in the application
form.
(b) An application will not be considered
filed until the application fee and examination fee required by these Rules and
all required supporting documents have been received, including proof of
identity as determined by the Board and specified on the application form,
official transcripts and proof that candidate has satisfied the education
requirement.
(c) Candidate who fails to appear for the
examination shall forfeit all fees charged for both the application and the
examination.
(d) The Board or its designee will forward
notification of eligibility for the computer-based examination to NASBA’s
National Candidate Database.
7.4. Time and place of examination. Prior
to the implementation of a computer-based examination, notice of the time and
place of the examination shall be mailed at least ten days prior to the date set
for the examination to each candidate whose application to sit for the
examination has been approved by the Board. Upon the implementation of a
computer-based examination, eligible candidates shall be notified of the time
and place of the examination or shall independently contact the Board or a test
center operator identified by the Board to schedule the time and place for the
examination at an approved test site. Scheduling reexaminations must be made in
accordance with subdivision 7.7(b) of this rule.
7.5. Examination content. The examination
required by Section 5 of the Act shall test the knowledge and skills required
for performance as an entry-level certified public accountant. The examination
shall include the subject areas of accounting and auditing and related knowledge
and skills as the Board may require.
7.6. Determining and Reporting Examination
Grades. A candidate shall pass all Test Sections of the examination in order to
qualify for a certificate. Upon receipt of advisory grades from the examination
provider, the Board will review and may adopt the examination grades and will
report the official results to the candidate. Prior to the implementation of a
computer-based examination, a passing grade for each Test Section shall be 75.
Upon implementation of a computer-based examination, the candidate must attain
the uniform passing grade of 75.
7.7. Retake and Granting of Credit
Requirements.
(a) A candidate shall be required to pass
all sections of the examination in order to qualify for a certificate. Prior to
the implementation of a computer-based examination, if at a given sitting of the
examination a candidate passes two or more but not all sections, then the
candidate shall be given credit for those sections that the candidate has passed
and need not sit for reexamination in those sections, provided that-
(1) at that sitting the candidate wrote
all sections of the examination for which the candidate does not have credit;
(2) the candidate attained a minimum grade
of 50 on each section taken at that sitting;
(3) the candidate passes the remaining
sections of the examination within six consecutive examinations given after the
one at which the first sections were passed;
(4) at each subsequent sitting at which
the candidate seeks to pass any additional sections, the candidate sits for all
sections for which the candidate does not have credit; and
(5) in order to receive credit for passing
additional sections in any such subsequent sitting, the candidate attains a
minimum grade of 50 on sections taken at that sitting.
(b) Upon the implementation of a
computer-based examination, a candidate may take the required Test Sections
individually and in any order. Credit for any Test Sections passed are valid for
eighteen months from the actual date the candidate took that Test Section,
without having to attain a minimum score on any failed Test Sections and without
regard to whether the candidate has taken other Test Sections.
(1) Candidates must pass all four Test
Sections of the Uniform CPA Examination within a rolling eighteen-month period,
which begins on the date that the first Test Sections passed is taken.
(2) Candidates cannot retake a failed Test
Sections in the same examination window. An examination window refers to a
three-month period in which candidates have an opportunity to take the CPA
examination (comprised of two months in which the examination is available to be
taken and one month in which the examination will not be offered while routine
maintenance is performed and the item bank is refreshed). Thus, candidates will
be able to test two out of the three months within an examination window.
(3) In the event four Test Sections of the
Uniform CPA Examination are not passed within the rolling eighteen-month period,
credit for any Test Section(s) passed outside the eighteen-month period will
expire and that Test Section(s) must be retaken.
(c) Candidates having earned conditional
credits on the paper-and-pencil examination, as of the launch date of the
computer-based Uniform CPA Examination, shall retain conditional credits for the
corresponding Test Sections of the computer-based CPA examination as follows:
|
Paper-and-Pencil
Examination |
Computer-Based
Examination |
|
Auditing |
Auditing and
Attestation |
|
Financial Accounting
and Reporting (FARE) |
Financial Accounting
and Reporting |
|
Accounting and
Reporting (ARE) |
Regulation |
|
Business Law and
Professional Responsibilities (LPR) |
Business Environment
and Concepts |
(1) Candidates who have attained
conditional status as of the launch date of the computer-based Uniform CPA
Examination will be allowed a transition period to complete any remaining Test
Sections of the CPA examination. The transition is the maximum number of
opportunities that candidates who have conditioned under the paper-and-pencil
examination have remaining, at the launch of the computer-based CPA examination,
to complete all remaining Test Sections, or the number of remaining
opportunities under the paper-and-pencil examination, multiplied by six months,
whichever is first exhausted.
(2) If a conditional status candidate does
not pass all remaining Test Sections during the transition period, conditional
credits earned under the paper-and-pencil examination will expire and the
candidate will lose credit for the Test Sections earned under the
paper-and-pencil examination. However, any Test Section(s) passed during the
transition period is subject to the conditioning provisions of the
computer-based examination as indicated in the aforementioned conditioning
recommendation, except that a previously conditioned candidate will not lose
conditional credit for a Test Section of the computer-based examination that is
passed during the transition period, even though more than eighteen months may
have elapsed from the date the Test Section is passed, until the end of the
transition period.
(d) A candidate shall retain credit for
any and all Test Sections of an examination passed in another state if such
credit would have been given, under then applicable requirements, if the
candidate had taken the examination in this State.
(e) The Board may in particular cases
extend the term of conditional credit validity notwithstanding the requirements
of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d), upon a showing that the credit was lost by
reason of circumstances beyond the candidate’s control.
(f) A candidate shall be deemed to have
passed the Uniform CPA Examination once the candidate holds at the same time
valid credit for passing each of the four Test Sections of the examination. For
purposes of this section, credit for passing a Test Section of the
computer-based examination is valid from the actual date of the Testing Event
for that Test Section, regardless of the date the candidate actually receives
notice of the passing grade.
7.8. Candidate Testing Fee. The candidate
shall, for each Test Section scheduled by the candidate to the Board or its
designee, pay a Candidate Testing Fee that includes the actual fee charged by
the AICPA, NASBA, and the Test Delivery Service Provider, as well as reasonable
application fees established by the State Board.
7.9. Cheating
(a) Any grade otherwise earned by a
candidate on any part of the examination shall be invalidated and summary
expulsion from the examination room and disqualification from taking the
examination for a specified number of subsequent sittings may be warranted if an
applicant cheats in applying for or taking an examination.
(b) For purposes of this Rule, the
following actions, among others, may be considered cheating:
(1) Falsifying or misrepresenting
educational credentials or other information required for admission to the
examination;
(2) Communication between candidates
inside or outside the examination room or copying another candidate’s answers
while the examination is in progress;
(3) Communication with others outside the
examination room while the examination is in progress;
(4) Substitution of another person to sit
in the examination room in the stead of a candidate;
(5) Reference to crib sheets, text books
or other material inside or outside the examination room while the examination
is in progress.
(6) Violating the nondisclosure
prohibitions of the examination or aiding or abetting another person in doing
so.
(7) Retaking or attempting to retake a
Test Section by an individual holding a valid Certificate or by a candidate who
has unexpired credit for having already passed the same Test Section, unless the
individual has been directed to retake a Test Section pursuant to Board order or
unless the individual has been authorized by the Board to participate in a
"secret shopper" program.
(c) In any case where it appears that
cheating has occurred or is occurring while the examination is in progress, the
Board may either summarily expel the candidate involved from the examination or
move the candidate to a position in the room away from other examinees where the
candidate can be watched more closely.
(d) In any case where the Board believes
that it has evidence that a candidate has cheated on the examination, or where a
candidate has been expelled from the examination, the Board shall conduct a
hearing immediately following the examination session for the purpose of
determining whether or not there was cheating, and if so what remedy should be
applied. In the hearing, the Board shall decide:
(1) Whether to give the candidate credit
for any portion of the examination completed in that session; and
(2) Whether to bar the candidate from
taking the examination in future sittings, and if so, for how many sittings.
(e) In any case where the Board permits a
candidate to continue taking the examination, it may, depending on the
circumstances:
(1) Admonish the candidate;
(2) Seat the candidate in a segregated
location for the rest of the examination;
(3) Keep a record of the candidate’s
seat location and identification number, and the names and identification
numbers of the candidates on either side of the candidate;
(4) Notify the AICPA of the circumstances,
furnishing the candidate’s identification number, so that after the initial
grading is completed the candidate’s papers can be compared for unusual
similarities with the papers of others who may have been involved; or upon
introduction of a computer-based examination, notify the National Candidate
Database and the AICPA and/or the Test Center of the circumstances, so that the
candidate may be more closely monitored in future examination sessions.
(f) In any case where a candidate is
refused credit for parts of the examination taken, or is disqualified from
taking other parts, the Board shall give the candidate a statement containing
its findings, the evidence upon which the findings are based, and a notice of
the right of the candidate to a formal rehearing by the Board, with right of
appeal, pursuant to West Virginia Board of Accountancy Rule, 1 C.S.R. 2,
Contested Case Hearing Procedures.
(g) In any case where a candidate is
refused credit for any part of an examination taken, disqualified from taking
any part of the examination, or barred from taking the examination in future
sittings, the Board will provide to the Board of Accountancy of any other state
to which the candidate may apply for the examination information as to the Board’s
findings and actions taken.
7.10. Security and Irregularities.
Notwithstanding any other provisions under these rules, the Board may postpone
scheduled examinations, the release of grades, or the issuance of certificates
due to a breach of examination security; unauthorized acquisition or disclosure
of the contents of an examination; suspected or actual negligence, errors,
omissions, or irregularities in conducting an examination; or for any other
reasonable cause or unforeseen circumstance.
