PERMANENT RULES
Date of Adoption: October 29, 1999.
Purpose: To clearly prescribe the board's continuing professional education requirements.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: New section WAC 4-25-830.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 18.04.055(7), 18.04.215(4), 18.04.105(8).
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 99-19-042 on September 13, 1999.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0. Effective Date of Rule: January 1, 2000.
November 9, 1999
Dana M. McInturff, CPA
Executive Director
OTS-3159.2
NEW SECTION
WAC 4-25-830
What are the CPE requirements?
(1) For CPE reporting periods beginning January 1, 2000, or later, the following CPE is required during the three calendar year period prior to renewal:
Category |
Maximum CPE Allowed in Nontechnical Subject Areas | Minimum CPE in Ethics Applicable to Practice in WA State | Total CPE |
| (a) A licensee. | 24 |
4 |
120 |
| (b) A certificateholder whose activities during the 3-year calendar period prior to renewal do not require a license to practice public accounting. | Exempt |
4 |
120 |
(a) Licensees are limited to a maximum of 24 CPE credit hours in nontechnical subject areas during the CPE reporting period.
(b) If you are a certificateholder, you are exempt from the limitation of CPE credit hours in nontechnical subject areas.
(3) Ethics applicable to practice in WA state: During each CPE reporting period all licensees and certificateholders are required to complete a four-hour course on professional ethics with specific application to the practice of public accounting in Washington state.
(4) 20 hours a year minimum: For CPE reporting periods beginning after December 31, 1999, you must complete a minimum of 20 hours of CPE each calendar year.
(5) Reasonable cause exemption: In order to renew your license and/or certificate you must complete the required CPE unless you can demonstrate your failure to meet the CPE requirements was due to reasonable cause. The board may make exceptions to the CPE requirements for reasons of individual hardship including health, military service, foreign residence, or other reasonable cause. You must request such an exemption in writing to the board. The request should include justification for the exemption and your plan to correct your CPE deficiency.
If you are retired, or you are a certificateholder and did not make any public, professional, commercial, or occupational use of the title CPA during the prior three years, you are deemed to have met the reasonable cause exemption.
(6) Return to previous status: If you seek to change your status as a certificateholder exempted from the CPE requirements under the reasonable cause exemption to a:
(a) Licensee, you must satisfy the requirements of subsection (1)(a) of this section within the three-year period immediately preceding the date the application for change in status was received by the board; or
(b) Certificateholder, you must satisfy the requirements of subsection (1)(b) of this section within the three-year period immediately preceding the date the application for change in status was received by the board.
(7) Reinstatement of a lapsed, suspended, or revoked license and/or certificate: If you seek to reinstate a lapsed, suspended, or revoked license and certificate, you must satisfy the requirements of subsection (1)(a) of this section within the three-year period immediately preceding the date the application for reinstatement was received by the board. If you seek to reinstate a lapsed, suspended, or revoked certificate, you must satisfy the requirements of subsection (1)(b) of this section within the three-year period immediately preceding the date the application for reinstatement was received by the board.
(8) Reciprocity: If you are applying for an initial Washington state CPA license and/or certificate under the reciprocity provisions of RCW 18.04.180 or 18.04.183, you must satisfy the applicable requirements in subsection (1) of this section within the three-year period immediately preceding the date the application was received by the board. For purposes of an initial license and/or certificate, you do not need to satisfy the ethics requirements of subsection (3) of this section.
Thereafter, in order to renew your Washington state CPA license and/or certificate, you must comply with all the applicable renewal requirements in subsection (1) of this section, including the ethics requirements in subsection (3) of this section.
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