The board shall grant a license as a certified public accountant to a holder of a permit, license, or certificate issued by a foreign country’s board, agency, or institute, provided that:

Terms Used In Washington Code 18.04.183

  • Board: means the board of accountancy created by RCW 18. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • Certificate: means an alternative license type issued by the board indicating that the certificate holder had passed the CPA examination, but has not verified the certificate holder's experience and was not fully licensed as a certified public accountant to practice public accounting. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • CPE: means continuing professional education. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • License: means a license to practice public accountancy issued to an individual under this chapter, or a license issued to a firm under this chapter. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • Licensee: means the holder of a license to practice public accountancy issued under this chapter. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • Person: means any individual, nongovernmental organization, or business entity regardless of legal form, including a sole proprietorship, firm, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or not-for-profit organization, and including the sole proprietor, partners, members, and, as applied to corporations, the officers. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • Rule: means any rule adopted by the board under authority of this chapter. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • State: includes the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands at such time as the board determines that the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is issuing licenses under the substantially equivalent standards in RCW 18. See Washington Code 18.04.025
  • substantially equivalent: means a determination by the board or its designee that the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in the statutes and administrative rules of another jurisdiction are comparable to or exceed the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in this chapter or that an individual CPA's education, examination, and experience qualifications are comparable to or exceed the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in this chapter. See Washington Code 18.04.025
(1) The foreign country where the foreign permit, license, or certificate was issued is a party to an agreement on trade with the United States that encourages the mutual recognition of licensing and certification requirements for the provision of covered services by the parties under the trade agreement;
(2) Such foreign country’s board, agency, or institute makes similar provision to allow a person who holds a valid license issued by this state to obtain such foreign country’s comparable permit, license, or certificate;
(3) The foreign permit, license, or certificate:
(a) Was duly issued by such foreign country’s board, agency, or institute that regulates the practice of public accountancy; and
(b) Is in good standing at the time of the application; and
(c) Was issued upon the basis of educational, examination, experience, and ethical requirements substantially equivalent currently or at the time of issuance of the foreign permit, license, or certificate to those in this state;
(4) The applicant has within the thirty-six months prior to application completed an accumulation of one hundred twenty hours of CPE as required under *RCW 18.04.215(5). The board shall provide for transition from existing to new CPE requirements;
(5) The applicant’s foreign permit, license, or certificate was the type of permit, license, or certificate requiring the most stringent qualifications if, in the foreign country, more than one type of permit, license, or certificate is issued. This state’s board shall decide which are the most stringent qualifications;
(6) The applicant has passed a written examination or its equivalent, approved by the board, that tests knowledge in the areas of United States accounting principles, auditing standards, commercial law, income tax law, and Washington state rules of professional ethics; and
(7) The applicant has within the eight years prior to applying for a license under this section, demonstrated, in accordance with the rules issued by the board, one year of public accounting experience, within the foreign country where the foreign permit, license, or certificate was issued, equivalent to the experience required under RCW 18.04.105(1)(d) or such other experience or employment which the board in its discretion regards as substantially equivalent.
The board may adopt by rule new CPE standards that differ from those in subsection (4) of this section or RCW 18.04.215 if the new standards are consistent with the CPE standards of other states so as to provide to the greatest extent possible, consistent national standards.
A licensee who has been granted a license under the reciprocity provisions of this section shall notify the board within thirty days if the permit, license, or certificate issued in the other jurisdiction has lapsed or if the status of the permit, license, or certificate issued in the other jurisdiction becomes otherwise invalid.
[ 2001 c 294 § 9; (2018 c 224 § 3 expired June 30, 2023); 1999 c 378 § 3; 1992 c 103 § 18.]

NOTES:

*Reviser’s note: RCW 18.04.215 was amended by 2022 c 85 § 10, changing subsection (5) to subsection (4).
Expiration date—Finding—Intent—2018 c 224: See notes following RCW 18.04.350.
Effective date—2001 c 294: See note following RCW 18.04.015.
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