La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § XIX-503

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section XIX-503 - Educational Requirements

A. To be eligible for examination by and under auspices of the board, an applicant shall possess a baccalaureate or higher degree, duly conferred by an accredited university or college recognized and approved by the board. The applicant shall present evidence which shall consist of one or more official transcripts certifying that the applicant has attained the foregoing degree and educational hours, and said transcripts shall evidence award of credit for satisfactory completion of the following courses and credit hours, according to whether such courses and credits are taken as an undergraduate course and semester hour or a graduate course and semester hour.

Undergraduate Semester Hours	Graduate Semester Hours
Accounting Courses
Intermediate	6	3
Cost	3	3
Income tax	3	3
Undergraduate Semester Hours	Graduate Semester Hours
Accounting Courses
Auditing	3	3
Accounting Electives above the basic and beyond the elementary level	9	9
Total Accounting Courses	24	21
Undergraduate Semester Hours	Graduate Semester Hours
Business Courses (other than Accounting Courses)	24	24
Including at least 3 semester hours in Business Law
Total Business Courses	24	24

1. The board will accept for business course credit semester hours earned in courses offered through the institution's College of Business and reported on official transcripts in the following areas:

a. business law;

b. economics;

c. management;

d. marketing;

e. business communications including technical writing;

f. statistics;

g. finance;

h. information technology systems;

i. mathematics (as it pertains to business);

j. data analytics (college of business or any other college);

k. other business-related content areas included in the Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints or as may be approved by the board.

l. CPA examination review courses if the curriculum is developed and taught by a faculty member under contract at the accredited college or university which is offering the course for credit.

2. Up to six semester hours in industry-specific business courses may be used to satisfy the business courses requirement described in §503.A 1

3. Up to nine semester hours for internship and independent study may be applied to the education requirement. However, of the nine hours, a maximum of three semester hours may apply to the accounting courses, three semester hours toward the required business courses, and three semester hours toward the general education requirement.

4. Standard conversion (four quarter hours equals three semester hours) will be applied whenever a school is not on the semester basis.

5. Remedial courses may be applied to the education requirement, but may not be used to satisfy the accounting or business courses requirement.

6. Credit hours for repeated courses for which credit has been previously earned may not be applied to the education requirement.

B. In the event that the applicant's degree does not reflect the credit hours in the courses prescribed by §503 A, the board may, on good cause shown by the applicant, allow the substitution of other courses that, in the board's judgment, are substantially equivalent to any of such prescribed courses or to the credit hours prescribed therein. Documentation of good cause for any such requested substitution shall be submitted by the applicant to the board upon affidavit sworn to and subscribed by the applicant and an officer of the university, college or other educational institution where the course to be substituted was taken. Such affidavit shall set forth a course description of the course sought to be substituted and a comparison of the content of such course to that of the course for which substitution is requested.

C. If the applicant's degree does not reflect the credit hours in the courses prescribed by §503 A, an applicant may become eligible for examination by and under the auspices of the board by having otherwise taken and completed the courses required by this rule and received credit for satisfactory completion thereof awarded by an accredited university, college, vocational or extension school recognized and approved by the board.

D. With respect to courses required for the degree, other than those specified by §503 A, the board does recognize credit received for courses granted on the basis of advanced placement examinations (such as CLEP, ACT or similar examinations). Except for online courses at an accredited university or college approved by the board, the accounting and business course credits specifically listed in §503.A shall have been awarded pursuant to satisfactory completion of a course requiring personal attendance at classes in such course.

E. To be eligible for licensure by and under auspices of the board, an applicant shall have received credit for not less than 150 hours of postsecondary, graduate, or postgraduate education at and by an accredited college or university recognized and approved by the board.

La. Admin. Code tit. 46, § XIX-503

Adopted by the Department of Commerce, Board of Certified Public Accountants, January 1974, promulgated LR 6:6 (January 1980), amended LR 11:757 (August 1985), LR 13:13 (January 1987), amended by the Department of Economic Development, Board of Certified Public Accountants, LR 15:616 (August 1989), LR 17:1072 (November 1991), LR 23:1120 (September 1997), LR 26:1969 (September 2000), Amended by Office of the Governor, Board of Certified Public Accountants, LR 431900 (10/1/2017), Amended LR 49650 (4/1/2023), Repromulgated LR 49864 (5/1/2023).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 37:71 et seq.