News

The VBOA is looking for volunteers to serve on the Ethics Committee and the Peer Review Oversight Committee.

Both committees encourage Active CPAs who have experience with ethics and peer review to serve in this volunteer role. Learn more and apply for the Ethics Committee or PROC online through the VBOA website.

The Ethics Committee meets at least annually to develop and make a recommendation to the VBOA for a proposed outline for next year’s Virginia-Specific Ethics Course. Members on the committee serve 3-year terms with the next term beginning July 1, 2020. Ethics Committee members cannot be current VBOA members or members of the Virginia Society of CPAs Board of Directors. Members must also be in good standing with all governing bodies, including state boards of accountancy.

The Peer Review Oversight Committee monitors sponsoring organizations to provide reasonable assurance that peer reviews are being conducted and reported on in accordance with the relevant standards. The Committee reports the conclusions and recommendations to the VBOA annually. Members serve 3-year terms. PROC members should have extensive experience in accounting and auditing and currently or recently be in the practice of public accountancy at the partner level or an otherwise appropriate level, as determined by the VBOA. They must be members of the VSCPA and AICPA but cannot be current members of the VBOA or its committees, the VSCPA Board of Directors, Peer Review or Professional Ethics Committee or the AICPA’s Peer Review Board or the Professional Ethics Executive Committee, including any subcommittees.

License renewals opened on March 1, 2020, for individual and firm licenses.

CPAs and CPA firms have until June 30, 2020, to renew an individual or firm license. The annual renewal fee for an individual license is $60 and the renewal fee for a firm license is $75.

Login to renew on the VBOA website at https://cpaportal.boa.virginia.gov/eGov.

Please contact the VBOA by email at boa@boa.virginia.gov or by phone at (804) 367-8505 with any questions.

The Virginia Board of Accountancy has contracted with the Virginia Society of CPAs as the sole provider of the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course content and material for the 2020 course.

All sponsors of the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course must be pre-approved annually by VBOA staff before offering the course to CPAs. Sponsors will be required to demonstrate their compliance with the VBOA’s policy on content/material and instructor requirements prior to approval. Beginning in 2020, all instructors must also be pre-approved by the VBOA.

Potential sponsors and instructors must follow the guidelines for the Virginia-Specific Ethics Course including certifying the ethics material will be obtained from the VSCPA, provide a list of course instructors and submit it to the VBOA for approval.

Once approved, the sponsor and instructors will appear on the VBOA website.

The VBOA will not accept any Virginia-Specific Ethics Course completed from a non-approved sponsor and the licensee will be penalized for not completing the approved course.

Please contact the VBOA by phone at (804) 367-8505 or by email at boa@boa.virginia.gov with any questions.

The Virginia Board of Accountancy’s newsletter, Accrued Interest, is now available online. The winter 2020 issue is filled with news and updates from the last few months. Articles include information tailored to individual licensees, firms and CPA exam candidates.

The winter issue includes information on license renewals, the launch of a redesigned VBOA website, changes to Inactive status and a question and answer with Aubrey Layne, the Virginia Secretary of Finance. Other vital information for CPAs about CPE and the CPE Audit Service, disciplinary actions and much more.

The newsletter remains one of the VBOA’s central sources of communicating to licensees and exam candidates. The VBOA distributes Accrued Interest twice each year, in January and in July.

Contact Kelli Anderson, VBOA Communications Manager, at kelli.anderson@boa.virginia.gov or at (804) 367-1586 with any comments and suggestions.

Also, please don’t forget to take a look back at the VBOA’s previous newsletters.

As of January 1, 2020, the Active – CPE Exempt status was renamed Inactive but the requirements and guidelines remain the same.

CPAs who hold the Inactive status can still use the CPA title in their name but must be pre-approved by the VBOA. In order to qualify for the Inactive status a licensee’s current job duties cannot require a substantial use of accounting, financial, tax or other skills that are relevant, as determined by the VBOA.

If a licensee is not currently providing services to the public or to or on behalf of an employer, they may not be required to meet the VBOA’s CPE requirements.

Other state boards of accountancy use the term Inactive and the VBOA approved to make a change in the status name to alleviate any confusion or misunderstandings with the Active – CPE Exempt name.

Every November, the Virginia Board of Accountancy travels to a Virginia college or university to hold their campus board meeting. The on-location board meeting is a wonderful opportunity to educate and inform future Virginia CPAs on the responsibilities and workings of the VBOA.

Students and faculty members have the opportunity to talk with board members individually and ask staff member’s questions.

Since October 2010, board meetings have been held at Old Dominion University, Virginia State University, University of Richmond, Longwood University, William & Mary, James Madison University, Christopher Newport University, Virginia Tech, George Mason University, and most recently Virginia Commonwealth University in November 2019.

Please contact the VBOA Communications Manager at kelli.anderson@boa.virginia.gov if you are interested in having the VBOA travel to your campus.

During the Monday, Sept. 30, 2019, meeting, the Board reviewed and approved changes to the following policies:

• Policy #4: Continuing Professional Education Guidelines for CPAs
• Policy #9: Active – CPE Exempt Status Procedure for Approval/Denial/Appeal
• Policy #10, Electronic Participation in Virginia Board of Accountancy Meetings

These changes will be effective Dec. 11, 2019.

Questions or comments regarding updates to the policy can be directed to VBOA Communications Manager Kelli Anderson at (804) 367-1586 or at kelli.anderson@boa.virginia.gov.

Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Nadia A. Rogers, CPA, as the newest Board Member of the Virginia Board of Accountancy.

Rogers, of Blacksburg, is Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Master of Accounting and Information Systems Program at Virginia Tech. She will serve as the Educator member on the Board. Rogers has served as the Chair of the VBOA’s Peer Review Oversight Committee.

Before joining Virginia Tech, she was in public practice, most recently as a Partner of Creedle, Jones & Alga, P.C. and previously as a Senior Manager in KPMG LLP’s Audit Practice.

Rogers began her four-year term on July 1, 2019. She succeeds previous Board Member Susan Quaintance Ferguson, CPA.

The Virginia Board of Accountancy moved to a single renewal date of June 30 each year for all CPA licensees and firms.

Licenses can be renewed 120 days prior to expiration.

The renewal fee is $60 for individuals and $75 for firms. This fee has not changed.

Renew online on the VBOA website at:

• Individuals
• Firms

In May 2019, NASBA transitioned from the previous CPE Tracking System to the new CPA Audit Service for individual CPAs.

For CPAs who used the previous CPE Tracking System, all historical data, including past course and attendance records, has been transitioned to the new system.

When the CPE Audit Service launched, CPAs received an email containing information to register a new account in the new system. Access information is included in the first registration email.

Learn more about the CPE Audit Service.