Will internal audit experience qualifies for the CPA work experience?

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  • #179389
    tcdarkness
    Member

    Please help!!! My ethic exam is expiring and my supervisor is hesitate about signing me off for the CPA working experience requirement. I am currently working at the Internal Audit Department for a bank. I conduct financial, operational, and compliance audit. I am not sure if my work is sufficient for the CPA working experience. I read the California Handbook over and over again, but the guidelines are very vague. I even reach out to the board regarding my job responsibilities for the bank, but all they did was quote the CA Handbook guidelines (basically, they weren’t much help). I need to prove to my supervisor that my job responsibilities should qualify for the CPA working experience but I need help.

    Has everyone worked in the IA dept. and got signed-off (non-public industry)?

    OR know the answer to my inquiry. I need all the help I can get. Thanks!

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  • #431028
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    *bump*

    Anyone have any experience with this and can help tcdarkness?

    Have you called your local board for clarification?

    #431029
    jelly
    Participant

    I'm not in CA, but I don't see why the compliance and financial audits wouldn't qualify, as described on page 20 of the handbook. It seems that both of those types of audits, even though they are internal, would hit each of the 5 points required.

    Couldn't pass again!

    #431030
    tcdarkness
    Member

    Here's the update:

    I contacted the CA Board of Accountancy and basically they didn't give me a definite answer. I contacted them twice, one via email and other over the phone. Both of which didn't really me a clear cut answer, but what I got out of it is at the end of the day is all comes down to the person who is signing off on your experience. As long as the person who signs off on your experience thinks your work is suffice, and that he/she is CPA active during the period that they are supervising your work should do it for them.

    So my challenge at that point was to convince my supervisor that my work is suffice for the general accounting requirement. I provided my supervisor the definition of general accouting requirement from the CA licensing handbook, “general accounting experience may include providing any type of service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax or consulting skills”. In addition, I provided him the definition of internal auditing according to IIA, Internal Auditing is define as “an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations….” I pointed out that general accounting requirement does not necessary has to deal w/ financial statement audits (since he was from public accounting, he thought I wanted to get the attestation CPA, which does require 500 attestation hours). So since internal auditing is consider a consulting activity that means we do use consulting skills during our audits, therefor it would suffice for the CPA work experience requirment. I also noted to my supervisory that in Texas, internal audit work does qualifiy for general accounting requirement.

    And it also helped that I told him that the education requirement for the CPA will change in 2014 (which I will not have), and that I need to get sign-off this year before it's implemented. After showing him all my research, he finally agreed to sign-off on my experience. WOOHOO!!! So I submitted my application last week. Hope all goes well! =)

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