[hl3confirmed]

Hi everyone, wondering if anyone can answer this question that’s been making me pretty nervous for a while now.

I just graduated with 120 credits this May and started taking the CPA exam. I took FAR in July (and PASSED as of today!). I’ve already scheduled for AUD REG and BEC, so if all goes according to plan and I don’t fail any, I will take my last test at the end of November and have my score by December.

Now here’s where it gets tricky. I’m going to grad school starting in January 2015. I will be done by May 2016. So that’s the education part of the license. I also need 1 year of work experience, which I am exactly 0% done with as of now. What I am worried about is this (from Florida State Board website):

“Applicants must apply for licensure within three years of receiving notification from NASBA of passing the last part of the CPA exam. If an applicant does not apply for licensure within this three year period, CPA examination grades expire and the applicant must reapply and retake the CPA examination.”

So this worries me quite a bit! I’m not sure if it should, but it is, and that’s my question: should it?

The way I interpret that is you have to meet all the requirements and apply for licensure within 3 years of passing the CPA exam. For me, that would be December 2017. What’s really worrying me is: what if I can’t get the work experience? I am being overly cautious here, I do think I will be able to. If I graduate in May of 2016, that gives me about 20 months to get 12 months of experience, so even if I don’t get an internship that leads to a full time offer (which I am definitely going to try very hard to do and feel fairly confident about my chances), I have a pretty comfortable window of time to work with.

The other interpretation, which would make me feel better but I don’t think is correct, is they’re just saying you only have to apply for licensure, as in, send in some forms and an application fee, within 3 years of getting your final score, and then over time send in proof of meeting other requirements like the education and experience as you earn them. If that were the case, I’d have nothing to worry about, there is no pressing time limit or rush to get work experience other than just wanting to be licensed for obvious reasons.

Anyone have any ideas? I know I am worrying too much, and now that I’ve actually typed out this timeline I see that I do have a much more comfortable cushion than I originally thought. But still, I’m going to keep on worrying because that’s what I do. If anyone knows the answer, either way I’d feel better. I suppose I’ll fire off an email to the state board if nobody knows…

[Quinacridone]

I'm in Florida and read it the way you are interpreting it as well. I would suggest that you EMAIL the state of Florida and ask them. By having their reply in email, you have it in writing. It seems that you should be able to get the work experience though, especially if you pick up an internship while you are doing your MAC (or whatever you are going after in grad school). I worked all through my masters program and CPA testing so had the experience done at the time I sent in my application.

REG - Nov 4, 2013: 88
FAR - Feb 27, 2014: 86
AUD - April 5, 2014: 91
BEC - May 6, 2014: 83

Florida CPA 24 July 2014
(Done in seven months - thank you Jesus!!)

[Author]

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