I got a nice little packet in the mail last Saturday containing my four passing scores and their respective dates along with info about getting certified/licensed etc. The packet was from my state board of accountancy, but the scoring letter was from NASBA. NASBA apparently sends your state BOA the letter with your scores and then your state BOA sends it onto you in their “welcome to the club – sort of” packet.

After I got my passing score online for FAR, I bought the ethics course from the AICPA, passed it, and submitted my paperwork to my state BOA before ever receiving any *official* confirmation from my state BOA. My state BOA had my certificate paperwork ($25 check for the certificate + a signed oath that I believe in the US Constitution and witnessed by another CPA who has to write down their certificate # along with their signature) before they had received anything official from NASBA.

It only took a day or so to process and I got a letter on Monday this week congratulating me and recognizing me as a CPA – sort of. I am officially a Certified Public Accountant in my state and have my certificate number (the board needs to convene and sign the actual certificate before they mail it to me). However, for the purposes of putting it on a business card or signing a tax return as Jeff, CPA – I must get licensed. I have the work requirement fulfilled – which is to work as an accountant in some capacity (tax, compilations, audit, etc) for one year and have a CPA sign off that I have done this. I’m not going to use my old boss…I’ve moved since then. I’ll use an internal auditor that I used to work with at a different job.

I took the plunge yesterday and added “, CPA” to my work e-mail signature line. This was a weird moment. First of all – it felt surreal. I stared at it. ‘Can this be right?’ I pondered. After deciding that since my state BOA declared me a CPA (with the caveat that I can’t use it in public yet) – then I *am* a CPA and could represent myself as such internally at work. My work e-mails rarely leave the building, so no worries there.

In honor of adding CPA to my e-mail signature at work, I thought of a reason to e-mail the VP of my division That felt good.

If you’re still going through the exam process – you’ll be there soon enough.

Thanks for reading.

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