(1) Nothing in this chapter prohibits any individual not holding a license and not qualified for the practice privileges authorized by subsection (2) of this section from serving as an employee of a firm licensed under RCW 18.04.195 and 18.04.215. However, the employee shall not issue any report as defined in this chapter, on the information of any other persons, firms, or governmental units over his or her name.

Washington Code 18.04.025

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

Compilation: means providing a service to be performed in accordance with statements on standards for accounting and review services that is presenting in the form of financial statements, information that is the representation of management (owners) without undertaking to express any assurance on the statements. See Washington Code 18.04.025

Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.

CPA: means a person holding a certified public accountant license or certificate. See Washington Code 18.04.025

Firm: means a sole proprietorship, a corporation, or a partnership. See Washington Code 18.04.025

Inactive: means the status of a license that is prohibited from practicing public accounting. See Washington Code 18.04.025

Individual: means a living, human being. 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

Peer review: means a study, appraisal, or review of one or more aspects of the attest or compilation work of a licensee or licensed firm in the practice of public accountancy, by a person or persons who hold licenses and who are not affiliated with the person or firm being reviewed, including a peer review, or any internal review or inspection intended to comply with quality control policies and procedures, but not including a quality assurance review. 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

Principal place of business: means the office location designated by the licensee for purposes of substantial equivalency and reciprocity. See Washington Code 18.04.025

Report: includes any form of language which disclaims an opinion when such form of language is conventionally understood to imply any positive assurance as to the reliability of the attested information or compiled financial statements referred to and/or special competence on the part of the person or firm issuing such language; and it includes any other form of language that is conventionally understood to imply such assurance and/or such special knowledge or competence. 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

(2) An individual whose principal place of business is not in this state shall be presumed to have qualifications substantially equivalent to this state’s requirements and shall have all the privileges of licensees of this state without the need to obtain a license under RCW 18.04.105 if the individual:

(a) Holds a valid license as a certified public accountant from any state that requires, as a condition of licensure, that an individual:

(i) Have at least one hundred fifty semester hours of college or university education including a baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a college or university;

(ii) Achieve a passing grade on the uniform certified public accountant examination; and

(iii) Possess at least one year of experience including service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills, all of which was verified by a licensee; or

(b) Holds a valid license as a certified public accountant from any state that does not meet the requirements of (a) of this subsection, but such individual’s qualifications are substantially equivalent to those requirements. Any individual who passed the uniform certified public accountant examination and holds a valid license issued by any other state prior to January 1, 2012, may be exempt from the education requirements in (a)(i) of this subsection for purposes of this section.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an individual who qualifies for the practice privilege under subsection (2) of this section may offer or render professional services, whether in person or by mail, telephone, or electronic means, and no notice, fee, or other submission shall be provided by any such individual. Such an individual shall be subject to the requirements of subsection (4) of this section.

(4) Any individual licensee of another state exercising the privilege afforded under subsection (2) of this section and the firm that employs that licensee simultaneously consent, as a condition of exercising this privilege:

(a) To the personal and subject matter jurisdiction and disciplinary authority of the board;

(b) To comply with this chapter and the board’s rules;

(c) That in the event the license from the state of the individual’s principal place of business is no longer valid, the individual will cease offering or rendering professional services in this state individually and on behalf of a firm; and

(d) To the appointment of the state board which issued the certificate or license as their agent upon whom process may be served in any action or proceeding by this state’s board against the certificate holder or licensee.

(5) An individual who qualifies for practice privileges under subsection (2) of this section who performs any attest service described in RCW 18.04.025(1) may only do so through a firm which has obtained a license under RCW 18.04.195 and 18.04.215 or which meets the requirements for an exception from the firm licensure requirements under RCW 18.04.195(1) (a)(ii) or (b).

(6) A licensee of this state offering or rendering services or using their CPA title in another state shall be subject to disciplinary action in this state for an act committed in another state for which the licensee would be subject to discipline for an act committed in the other state. Notwithstanding RCW 18.04.295 and this section, the board shall cooperate with and investigate any complaint made by the board of accountancy of another state or jurisdiction.

(7) Nothing in this chapter prohibits a licensee, a licensed firm, any of their employees, or persons qualifying for practice privileges by this section from disclosing any data in confidence to other certified public accountants, quality assurance or peer review teams, partnerships, limited liability companies, or corporations of certified public accountants or to the board or any of its employees engaged in conducting quality assurance or peer reviews, or any one of their employees in connection with quality or peer reviews of that accountant’s accounting and auditing practice conducted under the auspices of recognized professional associations.

(8) Nothing in this chapter prohibits a licensee, a licensed firm, any of their employees, or persons qualifying for practice privileges by this section from disclosing any data in confidence to any employee, representative, officer, or committee member of a recognized professional association, or to the board, or any of its employees or committees in connection with a professional investigation held under the auspices of recognized professional associations or the board.

(9) Nothing in this chapter prohibits any officer, employee, partner, or principal of any organization:

(a) From affixing his or her signature to any statement or report in reference to the affairs of the organization with any wording designating the position, title, or office which he or she holds in the organization; or

(b) From describing himself or herself by the position, title, or office he or she holds in such organization.

(10) Nothing in this chapter prohibits any person or firm composed of persons not holding a license under this chapter from offering or rendering to the public bookkeeping, accounting, tax services, the devising and installing of financial information systems, management advisory, or consulting services, the preparation of tax returns, or the furnishing of advice on tax matters, or similar services, provided that persons, partnerships, limited liability companies, or corporations not holding a license who offer or render these services do not designate any written statement as a report as defined in RCW 18.04.025(20) or use any language in any statement relating to the financial affairs of a person or entity which is conventionally used by licensees in reports or any attest service as defined in this chapter.

(11) Nothing in this chapter prohibits any person or firm composed of persons not holding a license under this chapter from offering or rendering to the public the preparation of financial statements, or written statements describing how such financial statements were prepared, provided that persons, partnerships, limited liability companies, or corporations not holding a license who offer or render these services do not designate any written statement as a report as defined in RCW 18.04.025(20), do not issue any written statement that purports to express or disclaim an opinion on financial statements that have been audited, and do not issue any written statement that expresses assurance on financial statements that have been reviewed. The board may prescribe, by rule, language for the written statement describing how such financial statements were prepared for use by persons not holding a license under this chapter.

(12) Nothing in this chapter prohibits any act of or the use of any words by a public official or a public employee in the performance of his or her duties.

(13) Nothing contained in this chapter prohibits any person who holds only a valid license in an inactive status from assuming or using the designation “certified public accountant-inactive” or “CPA-inactive” or any other title, designation, words, letters, sign, card, or device tending to indicate the person is in an inactive status, provided, that such person does not perform or offer to perform for the public one or more kinds of services involving the use of accounting or auditing skills, including issuance of reports or of one or more kinds of management advisory, financial advisory, consulting services, the preparation of tax returns, or the furnishing of advice on tax matters.

(14) Nothing in this chapter prohibits the use of the title “accountant” by any person regardless of whether the person holds a license under this chapter. Nothing in this chapter prohibits the use of the title “enrolled agent” or the designation “EA” by any person regardless of whether the person holds a license under this chapter if the person is properly authorized at the time of use to use the title or designation by the United States department of the treasury. The board shall by rule allow the use of other titles by any person regardless of whether the person holds a license under this chapter if the person using the titles or designations is authorized at the time of use by a nationally recognized entity sanctioning the use of board authorized titles.

Effective date—2022 c 85 §§ 8, 10, 15, and 17: See note following RCW 18.04.195.

Expiration date—2022 c 85 §§ 7, 9, 14, and 16: See note following RCW 18.04.195.

Expiration date—2018 c 224: “The amendments contained in sections 2 through 6 of this act expire June 30, 2023.” [ 2018 c 224 § 7.]

Finding—Intent—2018 c 224: “The legislature finds the current restrictions that prohibit accounting firms in the Canadian province of British Columbia from providing attest or compilation services to wholly or majority-owned subsidiaries of British Columbia companies residing in and registered in Washington to be an unnecessary constraint. There are a number of such entities in Washington that require specific financial services and reports for issuance solely in Canada but are unable to utilize the services of British Columbia accounting firms, thus resulting in high audit costs. The legislature intends to allow British Columbia accounting firms to provide specific engagements for these subsidiaries residing in Washington.” [ 2018 c 224 § 1.]

Finding—Intent—2008 c 16: See note following RCW 18.04.025.

Effective date—2001 c 294: See note following RCW 18.04.015.