as I understand it, you only have to be licensed as a cpa in florida to own a public accounting practice.  So if you are licensed CPA in another state, doesn't really matter.

Further, in new hampshire, the experience counts whenever you get it, not only after you finish your classes like idiotic florida.  And when you finish the classes for florida, you just transfer the cpa license.

cflas08 wrote: rudy1094 wrote: Hey if you're in Florida and you want to take the exam in New Hampshire or Maine, how do you do that? Do you have to physically take the test in New Hampshire? I'm in Florida. And no, because the test are computer-based, you can take the test wherever you are. I don't recommend taking the test and being licensed for another state if you are going to reside in Florida. If you don't take the test in Florida, you cannot hold yourself out to be a CPA in the state of Florida. In other words, if you call yourself a CPA and DBPR finds out about it, you will be in trouble. You will be assumed to not be a CPA if you are not licensed in Florida, even if you are licensed in another state. So think about that before you go down that road. I have to take two more accounting courses to get my license as well as obtain the 1 year experience. It's all worth it though since I will be residing in Florida.

I gathered from DBPR's website that you cannot advertise yourself as a CPA, period. I will check with the FICPA to be sure. But from the research I did, you need to be licensed in the state you will be residing in if you're going to be calling yourself a CPA. If you're not going to be holding yourself out as a CPA then I guess it doesn't matter.

If I'm wrong, heck I will prefer to get my license through Colorado so I won't have to go back to school. But I'm almost positive whether you own a public firm or not, you still need to be licensed in Florida to call yourself a CPA down here.

_____________________________________ 

ADDED AFTERWARDS:

I called DBPR and they said if you are going to operate in Florida as a CPA, you MUST be licensed down here and meet the requirements to become licensed. So taking your exam and getting licensed in Colorado for example, is a huge waste because you will still have to meet Florida's requirements to become licensed. So you may as well just take Florida's exam unless you have immediate plans to move to the state you're getting your license from.

But, you can save your exam score from expiration. FL require to apply for a license within 1 year. Otherwise, your exam score will expire and you will need to retake the exam. However, if you are licensed in another state, you don't fall under this **crazy** statute.

Am I right?

You're right. But, the candidate will still have to meet Florida's 150 credit hour requirement and work experience requirement. So, the original point was why bother getting licensed in another state with less strict educational and work requirements when you will still have to meet Florida's requirements in order to qualify for endorsement.   :-)

You gotta love Florida!