Licensure/Certification FAQs
The Colorado State Board of Accountancy has authorized CPA Examination Services (CPAES), a division of NASBA, to process its applications for the exam and for licensure.
What are
the requirements for initial licensure/certification?
There are four requirements - education, the Uniform CPA exam, experience
and the AICPA ethics course.
Education. The requirements are the equivalent of a US bachelor's degree with 27 semester hours of accounting courses and 21 semester hours of general business courses. The Board also requires three of the accounting semester hours to be in Audit. No more than six of the general business semester hours can be in any one area. (See Chapter 2 of the Board Rules.)
Foreign Candidates: The Board is no longer accepting Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) certificates as evidence of having met education Rule 2.4. Chartered Accountant certificates from the following countries will be accepted as part of the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board (IQAB) MRA agreement: Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand.
To Applicants who submitted applications with experience verified by supervisors with ACCA and CA certifications:
At the February 2010 meeting the Board voted to no longer accept experience gained under the supervision of individuals who hold the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) certification or Chartered Accountant certification from certain countries to satisfy the experience requirements for licensure in Colorado. Only experience verified by supervisors who are Chartered Accountants from the following countries will be accepted as part of the U.S. International Qualifications Appraisal Board Mutual Recognition Agreements: CPA Australia, Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. This change was effective October 28,2009.
If you have any questions concerning this change, please contact NASBA Licensing Services
(866) 350-0017.The CPA Exam. There are four sections to the exam. You must pass each section with a grade of 75 or higher. The total length of the examination is 14 hours. The candidate is not required to take all sections of the examination at the first session or in any particular order. Candidates retain credit for any section(s) passed for eighteen months, without having to attain a minimum score on failed sections. Candidates must pass all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination within a "rolling" eighteen month period, which begins on the date that the first section(s) passed is taken. In the event all four sections of the examination are not passed within the rolling eighteen month period, credit for any section(s) passed outside the eighteen month period will expire and that section(s) must be retaken. Candidates who have earned conditional credits on the paper-and-pencil exam, as of January 1, 2004, will be given credit for the corresponding sections of the computer-based CPA examination. (See Chapter 3 of the Board Rules.)
Experience. The Board requires one year of experience in "public accounting" under the direct supervision of a CPA or Chartered Accountant, or experience that the Board deems to be equivalent. Public accounting work means the performance of any combination of services involving the use of accounting, auditing or attestation skills, one or more types of consulting services, the preparation of tax returns, or the furnishing of advice on tax matters. (See Chapter 4 of the Board Rules.)
The work must be of an independent aspect, in fact and appearance, comparable to that required in connection with commercial, financial audit relationships. The independent aspect is defined by AICPA professional audit literature; and, specifically involves experience gained while working for an entity, in which there is no financial interest owned, or management control exercisable by the applicant's employer. The work must be performed for clients other than your employer.Education in Lieu of Experience. You may also meet the experience requirement by taking an additional 30 semester hours (beyond a bachelor's degree - 120 semester hours) of non-duplicative study or a master's degree. You need a total of 45 semester hours (both graduate and undergraduate) of accounting courses and a total of 36 semester hours of business administration courses (both graduate and undergraduate). (See Rule 2.5 in the Board Rules.)
Foreign candidates applying for certification via education in lieu of experience (See Rule 2.5 in the Board Rules) are required to have their credentials evaluated whether they are members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The applicant should inform the evaluator that the review should be conducted for qualification under Colorado Rule 2.5 - Education in Lieu of Experience (see the Board Rules).
The AICPA Ethics Course. The AICPA Ethics Course is an 8-hour self-study course that may be taken online or through correspondence. The course hours are subject to change.
What
is the procedure for reinstating a license?
To reinstate in an active status if your license is expired two
years or less, you need:
- 80 hours
of CPE in the two years immediately preceding the application
to reinstate;
- Two of the
80 hours must be in CR&R (only), not general ethics;
- At least
80% of the CPE must be in Code A subjects;
- Fill out an application and pay a fee (See Rule 5.3 in the Board Rules).
To reinstate in an active status if your license is expired between two years and six years, you need to meet the same requirements as above except you need 100% of the CPE in Code A subjects.
To reinstate in an active status if your license is expired more than six years, you need to meet the same requirements as above plus you need one year of experience in accounting within the two years immediately preceding the date of the application. It is not necessary for this experience to meet the independence requirement in Rule 4.1 (c) (see the Board Rules) or to be supervised by a CPA.
You may also apply with education or teaching experience. (See Rule 5.3(D)(2)(c) in the Board Rules.)
At the time of reinstatement, a certificate holder becomes current with continuing education requirements. Thereafter, the continuing education requirement for the next renewal is 10 hours for each full quarter remaining in the reporting period following reinstatement. The 2 hours of ethics for the following renewal is deemed to be satisfied following reinstatement.
In order to reinstate in an inactive status, the Board waives the CPE requirements from the requirements listed above.
How
do I go from inactive to active status?
To go from inactive to active status if your license has been inactive
up to five years, you need:
- 80 hours
of CPE in the two years immediately receding the application to
reactivate;
- Two of the
80 hours must be in CR&R (only), not general ethics;
- At least
80% of the CPE must be in Code A subjects;
- Fill out an application and pay a fee. (See Rule 5.4 in the Board Rules.)
To go from inactive to active status if your license has been inactive for more than five years, you need to meet the same requirements as above except you need 100% of the CPE in Code A subjects.
What
is the definition of active and inactive status?
Active Status means the certificate holder has complied with
continuing education requirements for renewal of an active status
certificate and has reported it on the renewal application. The
certificate holder is eligible to use the CPA designation and to
issue attestation reports as those reports are defined in C.R.S.
12-2-120(6).
Inactive Status means the certificate holder is not required
to comply with continuing education requirements to renew an inactive
status certificate and has not reported sufficient continuing education
on the renewal application. A certificate holder with a certificate
in an inactive status is prohibited by law from holding out as a
CPA and from issuing attestation reports as those reports are defined
in 12-2-120(6).
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