Florida Senate - 2012 CS for SB 1656
By the Committee on Regulated Industries; and Senator Latvala
580-03068-12 20121656c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public accountancy; amending s.
3 473.308, F.S.; revising and updating education and
4 work experience requirements for applicants for
5 licensure as a certified public accountant; revising
6 provisions governing licensure by endorsement;
7 amending s. 473.313, F.S.; revising requirements for
8 reactivation of an inactive license as a certified
9 public accountant; requiring the Board of Accountancy
10 to conduct a study to assess the privatization of the
11 Division of Certified Public Accounting; providing a
12 deadline for completion of the study; providing an
13 effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) and paragraph
18 (b) of subsection (7) of section 473.308, Florida Statutes, are
19 amended to read:
20 473.308 Licensure.—
21 (4)(a) An applicant for licensure after December 31, 2008,
22 must show that he or she has had 1 year of work experience. This
23 experience shall include providing any type of service or advice
24 involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management
25 advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills, all of
26 which must be verified by a certified public accountant who is
27 licensed by a state or territory of the United States and who
28 has supervised the applicant. This experience is acceptable if
29 it was gained through employment in government, industry,
30 academia, or public practice; constituted a substantial part of
31 the applicant’s duties; and was verified by under the
32 supervision of a certified public accountant licensed by a state
33 or territory of the United States. The board shall adopt rules
34 specifying standards and providing for the review and approval
35 of the work experience required by this section.
36 (7) The board shall certify as qualified for a license by
37 endorsement an applicant who:
38 (b)1.a. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
39 issued by another state or territory of the United States, if
40 the criteria for issuance of such license were substantially
41 equivalent to the licensure criteria that existed in this state
42 at the time the license was issued; or
43 b. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
44 issued by another state or territory of the United States but
45 the criteria for issuance of such license did not meet the
46 requirements of sub-subparagraph a.; has met the requirements of
47 this section for education, work experience, and good moral
48 character; and has passed a national, regional, state, or
49 territorial licensing examination that is substantially
50 equivalent to the examination required by s. 473.306; or and
51 c. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
52 issued by another state or territory of the United States for at
53 least 10 years before the date of application; has passed a
54 national, regional, state, or territorial licensing examination
55 that is substantially equivalent to the examination required by
56 s. 473.306; and has met the requirements of this section for
57 good moral character; and
58 2. Has completed continuing education courses that are
59 equivalent to the continuing education requirements for a
60 Florida certified public accountant licensed in this state
61 during the 2 years immediately preceding her or his application
62 for licensure by endorsement.
63 Section 2. Subsections (3) and (4) of section 473.313,
64 Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4) and (5),
65 respectively, a new subsection (3) is added to that section, and
66 subsection (2) of that section is amended, to read:
67 473.313 Inactive status.—
68 (2) A license that has become inactive under subsection (1)
69 or for failure to complete the requirements in s. 473.312 may be
70 reactivated under s. 473.311 upon application to the department.
71 The board may prescribe by rule continuing education
72 requirements as a condition of reactivating a license. The
73 minimum continuing education requirements for reactivating a
74 license shall be those prescribed by board rule and those of the
75 most recent biennium plus one-half of the requirements in s.
76 473.312. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
77 the continuing education requirements are 120 hours, including
78 at least 30 hours in accounting-related and auditing-related
79 subjects, not more than 30 hours in behavioral subjects, and a
80 minimum of 8 hours in ethics subjects approved by the board, for
81 the reactivation of a license that is inactive or delinquent on
82 June 30, 2012 2009, if the Florida certified public accountant
83 notifies the Board of Accountancy by December 31, 2012 2009, of
84 an intention to reactivate such a license and completes such
85 reactivation by June 30, 2014 2011.
86 (3) A license that has become delinquent for failure to
87 report completion of the requirements in s. 473.312 may be
88 reactivated under s. 473.311 upon application to the department.
89 Reactivation requires the payment of an application fee as
90 determined by the board and certification by the Florida
91 certified public accountant that the applicant satisfactorily
92 completed the continuing education requirements set forth under
93 s. 473.311. If the license is delinquent on December 31 because
94 of failure to report completed continuing education
95 requirements, the applicant must submit a complete application
96 to the board by March 15 immediately after the delinquent
97 period.
98 Section 3. Upon approval of the Board of Accountancy, the
99 board shall complete a report on the potential cost savings for
100 privatization of the Division of Certified Public Accounting or
101 its functions as outlined in s. 455.32, Florida Statutes. This
102 report must be completed and submitted to the President of the
103 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later
104 than November 30, 2012.
105 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.