The UAA and you: plenty of reasons to care about Uniform Accountancy Act.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: Governmentrelations

The Uniform Accountancy Act is jointly developed by the AICPA and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. It is essentially a model for how the CPA profession is regulated in the United States.

Among other issues related to the CPA profession, the UAA includes model statutes for education, experience, peer review, continuing education, reciprocity and cross border practice. The vision of the UAA is that every state would adopt laws that mirror it.

Education

The UAA requires everyone sitting for the CPA exam to have completed 150 semester units/hours that includes a bachelor's of arts degree or bachelor's of science degree with 24 units of accounting and 24 units of business.

The majority of states have adopted this requirement in that a bachelor's of arts is required and 30 additional units. Some states have modified the 24/24 recommendation and require more units in accounting or only allow upper division units to count toward the requirement.

States that have the requirement are considered "substantially equivalent" under the UAA, which means their CPAs, whether or not they personally meet the requirement, are considered substantially equivalent for purposes of mobility.

There are 48 states or jurisdictions that have passed the 150-hour requirement, and it is effective in 47. California is one of the few states that allows CPAs the option of becoming licensed without completing the 150 units.

Because California does not have the 150-hour requirement as the only option, it is not considered a "substantially equivalent" state. Individuals must go through a difficult process to establish their personal credentials, rather than take advantage of practice privilege statutes that allow CPAs from substantially equivalent states to practice temporarily in another state through a notification process.

New Hampshire, Vermont, and Colorado have not passed a 150-hour requirement.

Experience

The UAA also requires one year of general experience working under the supervision of a CPA with an active license prior to licensing.

California law allows candidates meeting the 150-hour requirement to become licensed with one year of general experience. However, candidates who want to sign audits and reviews must work under the supervision of a CPA, including a minimum of 500 hours of attest experience, for a minimum of one year. Successful candidates must document that they can plan and complete an audit with minimal supervision.

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