[Tom]

Just a heads up to anyone else in Massachusetts who was planning on applying for a non-reporting license:

Source: email from Massachusetts Society of CPAs

“Below are the highlights regarding the changes to the rules and regulations governing the accounting profession, approved by the Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy last year, that took effect on Friday, May 19, 2017.
1. Community college credits earned at a regionally-accredited institution will be accepted to satisfy the 150 hour requirement. Credits earned before the implementation date of May 19 will be accepted.
2. Students will be able to take the exam 90 days before their official graduation date. Candidates will ultimately need to provide an official transcript to prove that they have earned a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 120 credits and coverage in the required subjects.

3. A non-reporting license will no longer be issued. No waivers of experience will be offered to students currently enrolled in a graduate program.

4. ALL candidates for a CPA license will be required to have an equivalent of 1 year of public accounting experience. Three years of nonpublic accounting experience will be deemed equivalent to one year of public if the position is above entry level, under the supervision of the CPA, and the responsibilities are substantially equivalent to public accounting.

5. Candidates for a CPA license will no longer be required to have experience that includes a total of 1000 hours of attestation.

6. There will no longer be a time limit to reach the 150 hour requirement after passing the CPA Exam.

7. Anyone who tested in April – May 2017 who is at risk of losing conditional credit because of the delayed score release will automatically be given a 3 month extension (there is no need to make a special request).

The FAQs and information available on the websites of the Board of Public Accountancy and NASBA will be updated in the coming weeks.”

AUD - 91
BEC - 86
FAR - 87
REG - 79

I'm done!

FAR - 87!!!
AUD - TBD (8/15/16)
REG - TBD (10/01/16)
BEC - TBD

[Jj]

Thank you for that post. So if I read that correctly there is no longer a time limit to get the 150 credit req?

[FAR_out]

@tomsmall3 so does this mean they are not issuing non-reporting license even to candidates who passed some of the exams? I passed 3 and waiting on the score of the 4th one, and was planning to apply for the non-reporting license…

AUD - 90
BEC - 77
FAR - 90
REG - 83

DONE!!

[Shovel]

For the automatic 3 month extension, do they mean if I took my last exam on May 30th and my first exam that I already passed was set to expire on May 31, then when I receive my score on August 17th, if I failed, I have 3 more months to pass the 4th exam before losing credit for the first one?

AUD 11/15 91
BEC 1/16 83
REG 2/16 79
FAR 7/16

[Tom]

Sorry. I don't know any more than you do.

You will have to contact the board.

Their number is 617-727-1806.

AUD - 91
BEC - 86
FAR - 87
REG - 79

I'm done!

FAR - 87!!!
AUD - TBD (8/15/16)
REG - TBD (10/01/16)
BEC - TBD

[FAR_out]

Yep, just confirmed with the MA board, no more non-reporting licenses.

AUD - 90
BEC - 77
FAR - 90
REG - 83

DONE!!

[Anonymous]

my concern was that the Massachusetts board website still has an old version of the full reporting license application which has the 1,000 attest hours requirement but that has been removed (guess they haven't updated their paperwork yet). you need 150 hours and 3 hours of non-public experience under a CPA in a non-entry level position or 1 year of public accounting experience.

[Pat]

Hi there,

I am curious what does it mean for no more non-reporting license? I do not have audit experience. Does it mean even though I pass the 4 sections of CPA exam, it's nothing….I will not get the license, right? T__T

AUD - 86
BEC - 79
FAR - 87
REG - 85

I'mpossible!

[Radez]

This is a boot to the gut. I spent 4 years getting an MS in accounting to qualify to sit for the exam, and I hope to be done with the exam this year. I've never had public experience. I have 7 years of private accounting experience, 3 as staff, 4 as a senior in 3 different companies, but never any attestation work, certainly no tax prep work. This introduces a significantly unwelcome level of uncertainty to this whole endeavor.

Here are relevant sections of the application:

2. Public Accountancy Experience: Applicants that have met the MA 150 hour rule. All applicants for a
certificate as a Certified Public Accountant shall obtain experience providing any type of services or advise
using accounting attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax and consulting skills.
Applicants must have completed at least 2,000 hours and 1 year of full-time or part-time employment.
Applicants that sat for the exam prior to November 2002 and do not meet the 150 hour education but
have a Bachelors Degree, need to have completed 3 years of the above prescribed public accountancy
experience or 2 years for applicants with Master degrees (252 CMR 2.07(2)(b)).

In the below, where it references (1) above, that section references section 2, which is quoted above.

Non-Public Accountancy Experience: Full or part-time employment in non-public accounting that
extends over a period of no-less than three years and no more than nine-years and includes no-fewer
than 2,000 hours of performance of services as described in (1) above. Acceptable experience shall
include employment in industry, government, academia, or non-profit. The Board shall look at such
factors as the complexity and diversity for the work. Applicants must submit a letter that describes the
applicant’s experience, it must be attested to, under the pains and penalties of perjury and signed. Letter
must be attested to, under the pains and penalties of perjury by a licensed CPA employer,
partner/shareholder of such public accounting firm, government CPA supervisor or CPA supervisor of
non-public employer.

Also, here is the link to the MA statue. The relevant section is 2.07b

AUD - 98
BEC - 93
REG - 84
FAR - 91

[Pat]

Hi there,

I am international student and do not understand this clause

“under the pains and penalties of perjury by a licensed CPA employer”

Could anyone explain what does it mean?

Thank you!

AUD - 86
BEC - 79
FAR - 87
REG - 85

I'mpossible!

[Anonymous]

@Radez-they attestation requirement has been removed… It is now 1 year of public is equivalent to 3 years in non-public in a non-entry position under a CPA….

[SetMeFree]

@FAR_out – I see that you have received exam score you have been waiting on. Congratulations on passing! Have you received by the chance letter from Nasba on how to proceed on getting license? I was wondering if requirements change was somehow reflected on it?

[FAR_out]

@SetMeFree not yet…

AUD - 90
BEC - 77
FAR - 90
REG - 83

DONE!!

[parvaluemethod]

For the experience requirement, why do they set an upper limit on the number of years of experience? For public accounting the limit is 3 and for non-public the limit is 9…Doesn't make sense to me why there would be an upper limit.

AUD - 94
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - 83
REG - NINJA in Training

Using Becker.

[parvaluemethod]

Also for the non-public experience, they require uninterrupted periods of 12 months to get credit…meaning you can only take a vacation every 12 months? (Sickness and legal holidays don't count as interruptions). Wow. For public the uninterrupted requirement is just 2 months.

AUD - 94
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - 83
REG - NINJA in Training

Using Becker.

[Missy]

Haven't seen anything that mentions uninterrupted periods but I doubt vacation time is considered an interruption, if that appears anywhere it's more likely referring to unemployment or full time work in an unrelated field. You're still employed while on vacation. The upper limit is to maintain some integrity in the experience, working four hours a week for 15 years isn't really the kind of experience they want.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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