I have been working for several years, but not in public accounting firms.

I have worked at a hospital as an accountant for 3 years and 2 years at a non-profit organization.  My supervisor was not CPA.  She held herself as CPA but never held one. Can you guys believe this?

And I was laid off.

As I was going through the license application, it says to be signed by CPA.

Can you please give me some suggestions what I should do about this? I never worked for CPA and non of my supervisors were CPAs.

Sorry to hear your story dukbap.

I was in a similar situation back in 2006. I was work for a temp agency and they assigned me to a job working for a "CPA." She never had a license. I was fired from this job after three months and it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

My best suggestion is to start sending out the resumes again and check with the state boards to make sure your new employer is indeed a CPA. I don't know how the rules are different in Virginia, but that was the first thing I did when I found new work after being canned.

Thanks for your reply gm_Simon.

I think this is the worst experience I have had in my life.  I took the position at this non-profit organization because I was excited to work with a supervisor who was CPA.  After working there for a year, she laid me off due to budget cut.  Because I had a high doubt about her skills and background, I filed a complaint with Virginia Board of Accountancy.  Not surprisingly, she had been a fake CPA for 5 years at this firm and many more years prior to it.

Now, I am unemployed, terminated by this crazy person.  The case is on-going.  She just removed 'CPA' title next to her name and is still keeping her CFO title; being compensated at the executive level ($160K/year)

I will probably finish with my exams by middle of next year.  She knew I was CPA candidate.  She probably decided to get rid of me because she was in fear that she had to sign my license application when I pass all the exams. 

Now, I am worried that it will just delay the process of obtaining a license in Virginia if I don't find a CPA supervisor.  Does it only have to be signed by CPA?  What if you work for an organization that doesn't have CPA?  I am just so worried and frustrated.

It is not easy to find a job, especially, I have to go through explaining why I was laid off and all.  The interviewers wouldn't like to hear that kind story at the interview and there are enough candidates that are out there with similar backgrounds and skills.

I will confirm whether the supervisor is CPA or not, before I even apply for the job. However, it is not that easy when you are rather concentrating with finding a job in this economy.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for your reply LeadFoot.

I sent them an email and received a response stating the form needs to be signed by an active CPA.

I think there should be a stricter background check procedure about one's license status although small organizations like non-profit wouldn't do it -- especially, someone is referred by someone within the organization.