WAC 4-25-720  

WAC 4-25-720  How do I apply to take the CPA examination? 

(1) Application form and due dates: Your application to take the CPA examination must be made on a form provided by the board's designee and filed with the board's designee by the due date specified by the board on the application form.  Applicants must submit all required documents to complete their application within sixty days of the date their application is received by the board's designee. Applicants are responsible for submitting all required documentation, application forms, and fees.  Your application is not considered complete until all of the following are received by the board's designee:

• A fully completed application form;
• Fee(s);
• Proof that you have met the education requirements;
• Your proof of identity as determined by the board and specified on the application form;
• Other required supporting documents; and
• Proof from NASBA's National Candidate Data Base that you have not previously taken, or applied to take, the same section(s) of the exam during the current examination window.

(2) Fee refund and forfeiture:  Upon submission of your application to the board's designee, no portion of the administrative fee is refundable.  Upon the board's submission of your authorization to test to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, no portion of the total exam fee (both administrative fee and section fee(s)) is refundable.  If you fail to meet the board's scheduling or admission requirements, you forfeit all of the exam fee(s) and you must reapply to take the section(s) of the exam.

(3) Notice of admittance to the examination or denial of your application:  Notice of the denial of your application, or notice of your eligibility to take the examination will be sent to you by the board's designee. You will contact the approved test site to schedule the time and location for your examination. The notice of eligibility to take the examination is called a Notice to Schedule (NTS), the NTS will be valid for one taking of the examination within the six months following the date of the NTS.

(4) Examination content:  The CPA examination shall test the knowledge and skills required for performance as an entry-level certified public accountant. The examination shall include the subject areas of accounting and auditing and related knowledge and skills as the board may require. The examination will consist of the following four sections: Auditing and attestation; financial, accounting and reporting; regulation; and business environment and concepts.

(5) Examination, grading and conditioning:

(a) For examinations held prior to January 1, 2004: The board uses all parts of the uniform CPA examination and the advisory grading services of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Seventy-five or better is a passing grade for each section of the examination. Each time you sit for the examination you must take all sections you have not previously passed. You are required to pass all sections of the examination in order to qualify for a license. If at a given sitting of the examination you pass two or more, but not all sections of the examination, then you will receive credit for those sections that you pass and you will not be required to take those sections again provided:

(i) You took all unpassed sections of the examination at that sitting;

(ii) You attained a minimum grade of fifty on each section of the examination not passed at that sitting;

(iii) You pass the remaining sections of the examination within six consecutive examinations given after the one at which the first sections were passed;

(iv) At each subsequent sitting you take all sections not yet passed and you attain a minimum grade of fifty on those sections taken but not passed at that sitting; and

(v) In order to receive credit for passing additional sections in a subsequent sitting you attain a minimum grade of fifty on sections taken but not passed at that sitting.

(b) For examinations held after December 31, 2003:  The board uses all parts of the uniform CPA examination and the advisory grading services of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

(i) To qualify to apply for a license you must attain a score of seventy-five on all four sections of the examination.

(ii) You may take the required four sections individually and in any order. Credit for any section(s) taken and passed after December 31, 2003, will be valid for eighteen months from the actual date you took the passed section, without having to attain a minimum score on any failed section(s) and without regard to whether you have taken other sections.

(iii) You must pass all four sections of the examination within a rolling eighteen-month period, which begins on the date that the first section(s) is passed. When determining the date that a section is passed the date that is used is the date that you took the exam section and not the date that your grade(s) is released.

(iv) You may not retake a failed section(s) in the same examination window. An examination window refers to a three-month period in which candidates have an opportunity to take the examination (comprised of two months in which the examination is available to be taken and one month in which the examination will not be offered while routine maintenance is performed and the item bank is refreshed).

(v) In the event you do not pass all four sections of the examination within the rolling eighteen-month period, credit for any section(s) passed prior to the eighteen-month period will expire and you must retake that section(s).

(c) Transitioning for candidates obtaining conditional credits under the provisions of (a) of this subsection:

(i) If you earned conditional credit(s) under the provisions of (a) of this subsection and as of February 15, 2004, those conditional credits remained valid under the provisions of (a) of this subsection, you will retain conditional credit for the corresponding sections of the examination as follows:

(ii) If you qualify for conditional credit(s) for a section of the examination under (c)(i) of this subsection, you will lose the conditional credit(s) for the section unless you complete all remaining section(s) of the examination within the transition period which is the lesser of:

• The maximum number of testing opportunities that you had remaining to complete all sections of the examination under the provisions of (a) of this subsection; or
• The number of remaining testing opportunities you had remaining to complete all sections of the examination under the provisions of (a) of this subsection multiplied by six months.

(iii) If you do not pass all remaining sections during the transition period, the conditional credit for the section(s) you passed under the provision of (a) of this subsection will become invalid. Any section you pass after December 31, 2003, will be subject to the provisions of (b) of this subsection with the following exception:

• You will not lose conditional credit for any section passed during the transition period, even though more than eighteen months may have elapsed from the date the section is passed, until the end of your transition period.

(iv) You will retain credit for any and all sections of an examination passed in another state if credit would have been given under the Washington state requirements in effect on the date you took the examination.

(v) If you pass a section of the examination, the date you took the section of the examination is the date you receive credit for passing the section.

(6) Ethics exam: Upon passing the CPA examination, applicants for licensure are required to attain and demonstrate a passing grade of ninety percent or better on the AICPA professional code of conduct examination.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 18.04.105(2). 05-01-137, § 4-25-720, filed 12/16/04, effective 1/31/05; 03-17-041, § 4-25-720, filed 8/15/03, effective 9/30/03.  Statutory Authority:  RCW 18.04.055(5) and 18.04.105(2). 02-04-64, § 4-25-720, filed 1/31/02, effective 3/15/02. Statutory Authority: RCW 18.04.055. 93-12-070, § 4-25-720, filed 5/27/93, effective 7/1/93.]

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