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General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 112 Registration of Certain Professions and Occupations. - Section 1 Duties of director of registration

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Section 87B. The board shall grant or renew licenses to practice public accountancy to persons who make application and demonstrate their qualifications therefor in accordance with the following paragraphs:—

(a) Licenses shall be initially issued, and renewed, for periods of two years. Each such license shall expire on the last day of June of the next year following the year of issuance of renewal. Applications for such licenses shall be made in such form, and in the case of applications for renewal between such dates, as the board shall by rule specify; and the board shall grant or deny any such application no later than ninety days after the application is filed in proper form. In any case where the applicant seeks the opportunity to show that issuance of a renewal of a license was mistakenly denied, or where the board is not able to determine whether it should be granted or denied, the board may issue to the applicant a provisional license, which shall expire ninety days after its issuance or when the board determines whether or not to issue or renew the license for which application was made, whichever shall first occur.

(b) An applicant for initial issuance of a license under this section shall show that he holds a valid certificate.

(c) If an applicant has received a license which has not been renewed for at least two renewal periods the applicant will be required to complete at least one hundred and sixty hours of qualified continuing professional education within twenty-four months prior to issue, of which at least eighty hours must be in the attest function. On the subsequent renewal of the biennial license, said applicant will be given no credit for the prior said one hundred and sixty hours.

(d) The board shall issue a license to a holder of a certificate issued by another state upon a showing that:—

(1) The applicant passed the examination required for issuance of his certificate with grades that would have been passing grades at the time in the commonwealth;

(2) The applicant

(A) meets all current requirements in the commonwealth for issuance of a certificate at the time application is made; or

(B) at the time of the issuance of the applicant’s certificate in the other state, met all such requirements then applicable in the commonwealth; or

(C) had five years of experience in the practice of public accountancy or equivalent, meeting requirements prescribed by the board by rule, after passing the examination upon which his certificate was based and within the ten years immediately preceding his application; and

(3) The applicant meets the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of (d),

(e) An applicant for renewal of a license under this section shall show that he has fulfilled requirements of continuing professional education since the license was last renewed, or, if never renewed, first issued, of such general kinds and in such subjects and number of hours as shall have been specified by the board by rule. The board may provide by rule that fulfillment of continuing professional education requirements of other states will be accepted in lieu of the foregoing requirements. The board may also provide by rule for pro-rated continuing professional education requirements to be met by applicants whose initial licenses were issued substantially less than two years prior to the renewal date; and it may prescribe by rule special lesser requirements to be met by applicants for license renewal whose prior license lapsed substantially prior to their applications for renewal, and as to whom it would in consequence be inequitable to require a full compliance with all requirements of continuing professional education that would otherwise have been applicable to the period of lapse.

(f) The board shall, after payment of a fee, issue an initial license or renewal.

(g) Applicants for initial issuance or renewal of license under this section shall in their applications list all states and foreign countries in which they have applied for or hold certificates, licenses or foreign licenses; and each holder of or applicant for a license under this section shall notify the board in writing, within thirty days after its occurrence, of any issuance, denial, revocation or suspension of a certificate, license, or foreign license, by another state or country.

Last modified: March 17, 2010