News and Alerts from the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA)

The Winter 2012 VBOA e-Newsletter is now available.  This issue highlights the Fee Increase effective January 1, 2013, the 2013 Virginia – Specific Ethics Course and the Governor’s Regulatory Reform Initiative.

Each issue will contain comments from the Board Chair, link to a listing of new Virginia licensees, Board disciplinary actions and

may include news items from our partner organizations like the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the National Association of State Boards of Accounting (NASBA) and the Virginia Society of CPAs (VSCPA).

The e-Newsletter also contains links to our website for more detailed information that we think you will find helpful.

We value your input! Email your comments on the current newsletter and any ideas on future issues to Chantal K. Scifres, Deputy Director, VBOA, at chantal.scifres@boa.virginia.gov.

The idea was simple but profound. What better way to “educate” future Virginia CPAs on the responsibilities of the Virginia Board of Accountancy than to hold actual board meetings at Virginia colleges and universities? Wade Jewell, Executive Director of the VBOA, realized the outreach potential of such an idea to accounting faculty and students and took the show on the road. Since 2010, the Board has held at least one board meeting a year at a Virginia college or university campus.

In October 2010, the first traveling board meeting was held at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Since that time, the Board has held meetings at Old Dominion University and the University of Richmond.

Recently on November 13, 2012 the Board met at the Reginald F. Lewis School of Business located at Virginia State University.

If you are faculty at a Virginia college or university and want your school to host a VBOA Board meeting contact the Executive Director at: wade.jewell@boa.virginia.gov

The VBOA receives many inquiries regarding services that a CPA may or may not provide as a volunteer to a not-for-profit entity. The Board encourages Virginia CPAs to serve their communities by donating their valuable knowledge and financial expertise as volunteers. Consistent with the role of protecting the public and assisting CPAs the VBOA has developed a guidance document for those providing volunteer services.

The document provides direction on subjects such as 1) the provision of firm-only services, 2) whether services that are not the practice of public accounting are attest services, 3) the compilation and presentation of both historical and prospective financial information, and 4) determining whether providing services would impair independence. Attachments include a roadmap for determining whether volunteer services

are subject to peer review and a chart for identifying types of volunteer services provided to not-for-profit entities that require compliance with technical standards.
The VBOA hopes this document will clarify the ethical and legal considerations of providing pro bono work to not-for-profits so as to ease the efforts of CPAs in giving back and paying forward.

CPAverify.org provides an online search for employers, professionals and the general public allowing anyone who may need to verify the status of an individual CPA and/or public accounting firm. Licensing information is provided by participating state boards of accountancy, including the VBOA. This online central repository of information on licensed CPAs and CPA firms is

maintained by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to make available a single-search resource covering participating jurisdictions where an individual or firm has been licensed. With the wide spread mobility legislation, the need for the public to determine if an individual or firm is licensed and in good standing is more important than ever.

CPAverify minimizes the need for consumers to check individually with each state board of accountancy to determine a CPA’s license status. With the support of participating state boards, this tool allows the public an opportunity to check the status of multiple licenses a CPA holds at one website with a single search.

A joint project of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), CPAmobility.org is an online tool to help CPAs navigate the practice privilege requirements that allow CPAs to more easily work across jurisdictional borders. This tool is especially helpful to northern Virginia CPAs whose practice includes clients in Maryland & D.C.

The site works by posing three questions to the CPA:

1. Where is your principal place of business (home state)?
2. Where are you going to perform services (target state)?
3. What services will you perform?

After processing, the site displays requirements on licensing

and registration of relevant jurisdictions allowing CPAs to spend valuable time on business opportunities rather than regulatory compliancy. Contact information for state boards of accountancy is also available on the CPAmobility search engine. NASBA and the AICPA hope you will find CPAmobility to be a resourceful tool with the potential to educate CPAs on mobility requirements and regulations.

The VBOA has released the 2013 Ethics Outline for the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course. The Board requires that all licensees providing services to the public or to an employer using the CPA title complete a Virginia-specific ethics course on an annual basis that complies with Board Regulation 18VAC5-22-90 and the annual outline approved by the Board. The 2-hour ethics course is a separate and distinct annual requirement from the one time 8-hour AICPA professional ethics course

needed for initial licensure. Sponsors who provide a Virginia-specific ethics course must ensure that the course content is compliant with the VBOA annual outline. Sponsors may not provide the course later than January 31 for the previous calendar year. The VBOA does not currently require licensees to obtain CPE from specific or approved sponsors, does not maintain agreements with sponsors and does not pre-qualify sponsors or individual courses. Sponsors must

provide to licensees at a minimum documentation of a certificate of completion that includes the sponsor's name, participant's name, course and content name, date taken, and CPE hours earned. It is the responsibility of licensees to complete a course that complies with Board Regulations and the annual outline. Licensees who believe the course taught by the instructor does not satisfy the requirements are encouraged to contact the VBOA.

New Board Regulations, 18VAC5-22-10 et seq. came into effect September 16, 2010.  The Board set 5 criteria in developing changes to the regulations that:
1) Removed regulations that are now addressed by Chapter 44 of Title 54.1, Code of Virginia;
2) Added the emergency regulation (education required to take the CPA examination) that became effective May 14, 2009;

3) Added interpretations required as a result of the 2007 revisions to the Code of Virginia;
4) Clarified the existing guidance that continues to be applicable; and
5) Eliminated the time-sensitive regulations no longer needed and the current regulations that only referred to other regulations.

The new regulations eliminated the confusion that existed from

inconsistencies between the statutes revised in 2007 and the previous regulations. Additionally, the new regulations have made compliance with the Code of Virginia easier, which makes it easier for licensees and their firms to conduct business in the Commonwealth.  A summary of key changes to the Accountancy Regulations is available.