(A) The board shall grant a license to practice as a certified public accountant to persons who make application and provide the following:

(1) evidence of good moral character, which includes a lack of a history of:

(a) any conviction of a felony that has an element of dishonesty or fraud or any other crime that has an element of dishonesty or fraud, under the laws of the United States, of this State, or of any other state if the acts involved constitute a crime under state laws;

(b) an active or stayed revocation or suspension of any occupational license, privilege, or other authority to practice any licensed occupation by or before any state, federal, foreign, or other licensing or regulatory authority, provided that the grounds include wrongful conduct, such as fraud, dishonesty, or deceit, or any other conduct that evidences any unfitness of the applicant to practice public accountancy; and

(c) any acts that would be grounds for the revocation or suspension of a license if committed by a licensee;

(2) a transcript or transcripts showing that the candidate meets the educational requirements pursuant to subsection (C);

(3) evidence of a passing score on a standardized test of accounting knowledge, skills, and abilities approved by the board and substantially equivalent to the Uniform CPA Examination;

(4) evidence of a passing score on an examination in professional ethics as approved by the board and an affidavit by the candidate acknowledging that he or she has read the statute and regulations governing the practice of accountancy in South Carolina and subscribes both to the spirit and letter of the statute and regulations and agrees to observe them faithfully in the performance of his or her professional work; and

(5) evidence of appropriate experience.

(B)(1) In addition to other requirements established by law and for the purpose of determining an applicant’s eligibility for licensure to practice as a certified public accountant, the board may require a state criminal records check, including fingerprints, performed by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and a national criminal records check, including fingerprints, performed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The results of these criminal records checks must be reported to the board. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is authorized to retain the fingerprints for certification purposes and for notification of the board regarding criminal charges. The board shall keep information received pursuant to this section confidential, except that information relied upon in denying licensure may be disclosed as may be necessary to support the administrative action.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the dismissal of a prosecution of fraudulent intent in drawing a dishonored check by reason of want of prosecution or proof of payment of restitution and administrative costs must not be used as evidence of a lack of good moral character for the purposes of disqualifying a person seeking licensure or renewal of licensure pursuant to this chapter.

(3) The applicant must bear all costs associated with conducting criminal records checks.

(C)(1) To meet the educational requirement as part of the one hundred fifty semester hours of education needed for licensure, the applicant must demonstrate successful completion of:

(a) a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree;

(b) at least twenty-four semester credit hours, or the substantial equivalent, of accounting courses that are applicable to a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree and that cover some or all of the following subject-matter content, excluding principles or introductory accounting courses: financial accounting for business organizations, financial statement auditing and attestation services, taxation, accounting information systems, financial accounting for government and not-for-profit entities, managerial or cost accounting, mergers and acquisitions, accounting-based data analytics and interrogation techniques, financial planning, fraud examination, internal controls and risk assessment, financial statement analysis, accounting research and analysis, tax research and analysis, accounting professional ethics, and other areas approved by the board taught at the junior level or above; and

(c) at least twenty-four semester credit hours, or the substantial equivalent, of business courses, other than accounting, that are applicable to a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree and that cover some or all of the following subject-matter content: business law, economics, management, marketing, finance, business communications, statistics, quantitative methods, data analytics, data interrogation techniques, business data acumen, information systems or technology, business ethics, and other areas approved by the board and which may include semester credit hours, or the substantial equivalent, in accounting content not used toward meeting the requirement in subitem (b).

(2) The board may review and accept individual courses and educational programs determined to be substantially equivalent to the foregoing.

(D) The board shall accept transcripts from a college or university holding an accreditation from an accreditation body approved by the United States Department of Education and shall accept education, training, and experience completed by an individual as a member of the military in § 40-1-640. Official transcripts signed by the college or university registrar and bearing the college or university seal or verification through any service provided by NASBA must be submitted to demonstrate education and degree requirements. Photocopies of transcripts must not be accepted.

(E) An applicant may apply for examination by submitting forms approved by the board. In order for an application to be considered a completed application, all blanks and questions on the application form must be completed and answered and all applicable documentation must be attached and:

(1) the application must be accompanied by the submission of photo identification, fingerprints, or other identification information as considered necessary to ensure the integrity of the exam administration;

(2) application fees must accompany the application. Fees for the administration of the examination must recover all costs for examination administration. The fees required for each examination must be published to applicants on the application form. If any payment form used in payment of examination fees fails to clear the bank, the application is considered incomplete and the application must be returned to the candidate; and

(3) the applicant must have on record with the board official transcripts that meet the education requirement and that demonstrate successful completion of at least one hundred twenty semester hours credit, including:

(a) at least twenty-four semester hours of accounting in course areas that are applicable to a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree, including a minimum of six semester credit hours at the undergraduate level or three semester credit hours at the graduate level of principles or introductory accounting. The remaining semester credit hours, or the substantial equivalent, must cover some or all of the following subject-matter content: financial accounting for business organizations, financial statement auditing and attestation services, taxation, accounting information systems, financial accounting for government and not-for-profit entities, managerial or cost accounting, mergers and acquisitions, accounting-based data analytics and interrogation techniques, financial planning, fraud examination, internal controls and risk assessment, financial statement analysis, accounting research and analysis, tax research and analysis, accounting professional ethics, and other areas approved by the board; and

(b) at least twenty-four semester hours of business courses that are applicable to a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree and that cover some or all of the following subject-matter content: business law, economics, management, marketing, finance, business communications, statistics, quantitative methods, data analytics, data interrogation techniques, business data acumen, information systems or technology, business ethics, and other areas approved by the board, which may include semester credit hours, or the substantial equivalent, in accounting content not used toward meeting the requirement in subitem (a).

(F) To meet the exam requirement, a candidate must pass all sections of the Uniform CPA Examination.

(1) A candidate may take the required test sections individually and in any order. Credit for any test section passed is valid for eighteen months from the actual date the candidate took that test section, without having to attain a minimum score on any failed test section and without regard to whether the candidate has taken other test sections.

(a) A candidate must pass all sections of the Uniform CPA Examination within a rolling eighteen-month period, which begins on the date that the first test section is passed. The board by regulation may provide additional time to an applicant on active military service. The board also may accommodate any hardship which results from the conditions of administration of the examination.

(b) A candidate who applies for a license more than three years after the date upon which the candidate passed the last section of the Uniform CPA Examination must also document one hundred twenty hours of acceptable continuing professional education in order to qualify, in addition to all other requirements imposed by this section.

(2) A candidate may arrange to have credits for passing sections of the Uniform CPA Examination under the jurisdiction of another state or territory of the United States transferred to this State. Credits transferred for less than all sections of the examination are subject to the same conditional credit rules as if the examination had been taken in South Carolina.

(G) An applicant shall attain the following experience:

(1) at least one year of accounting experience, which must include providing a service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills verified by a CPA in industry, academia, or public practice or verified by a valid report from NASBA’s Experience Verification. This experience may be supervised by a non-licensee but must be verified by a CPA with direct knowledge of the experience who is licensed to practice accounting in some state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia;

(2) teaching experience to include at least twenty-four semester hours of teaching courses that are applicable to a baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral degree and which may cover subject matter areas such as financial accounting, taxation, and auditing, taught at the intermediate accounting level or above. This experience may be supervised by a non-licensee but must be verified by a CPA with direct knowledge of the experience who is licensed to practice accounting in any state or territory of the United States;

(3) submitting Substantial Equivalency Evaluation report from the NASBA National Qualification Appraisal Service verification that his CPA qualifications are substantially equivalent to the CPA licensure requirements of the AICPA and NASBA Uniform Accountancy Act; or

(4) any combination of experience determined by the board to be substantially equivalent to the foregoing.

(H) Qualifying experience for licensure cannot be earned until an applicant meets the requirements of subsection (E)(3)(a).

(I)(1) An applicant may demonstrate experience as follows:

(a) to meet the one-year accounting experience requirement:

(i) accounting experience may be gained in either full-time or part-time employment;

(ii) two thousand hours of part-time accounting experience is equivalent to one year;

(iii) accounting experience may not accrue more rapidly than forty hours per week; and

(iv) the applicant must show evidence of meeting the accounting experience requirement in a manner prescribed by the board;

(b) to meet the twenty-four semester hour teaching experience requirement in academia:

(i) teaching experience may not accrue more rapidly than elapsed chronological time;

(ii) an applicant must not be granted credit for teaching more than twenty-four semester hours completed in less than one academic year; and

(iii) semester hours must not be granted for teaching subjects outside the scope of the Uniform CPA Examination;

(c) to meet other qualifying experience requirements:

(i) experience other than accounting experience and teaching experience counts only in proportion to duties which, in the opinion of the board, contribute to competence in public accounting; and

(ii) the board may require other information as it considers reasonably necessary to determine the acceptability of experience.

(2) Any applicant using experience obtained seven or more years before submitting an application shall have obtained additional experience within the two-year period prior to submitting the application, as defined in subsection (G).