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5 Steps to Becoming a CPA in Delaware

Get your Education in Delaware
Take the Uniform CPA Exam in Delaware
Gain the Necessary Experience in Delaware
Get your Delaware CPA License
Continuing Education in Delaware

1. Get Your Education

a. Request information from Delaware universities offering programs in accounting. The Delaware State Board of Accountancy requires CPAs to hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and complete 150 semester hours of college education.

b. If you’re already enrolled in an accounting program or have already earned your degree, confirm that your program is approved by the Delaware State Board of Accountancy. In Delaware, programs are required to be accredited by one of the following accrediting bodies:

FEATURED BACHELOR PROGRAMS

2. Take The Uniform CPA Exam

Once you have completed 120 of Delaware’s 150 credit hour requirement and earned a bachelor degree, with those credits including the 24 credit hour accounting concentration requirement, you may apply to take the Uniform CPA Exam.

a. Apply through the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s (NASBA) CPA Examination Services (CPAES) to take the Uniform CPA Examination. Applications may be submitted online or downloaded from CPAES. You can register online with CPAES or download application forms here.

b. Submit the appropriate documents to CPAES with your application. These include:

Having your academic institution(s) send official transcripts directly to CPAES
Completed, signed and notarized Attestation Form submitted by you to CPAES
ADA Accommodation Form, if necessary
International Evaluation, if necessary, from evaluation agency directly to CPAES

If you applied via paper application, submit application and examination fees by check, money order or credit card form. If you applied online, pay all fees via credit card. Send completed application and supporting documentation to:

CPA Examination Services – DE
PO Box 198469
Nashville, TN 37219

c. The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) will issue your Notification to Schedule (NTS) the Uniform CPA Examination within two days of paying your examination fee. The NTS will be issued in the manner you chose when you applied for the test (mail, fax or email). This will include a password for each of the four parts of the examination for which you have registered and dates that you are eligible to take each part of the exam.

d. Visit Prometric’s website where you can schedule your exam at a participating Delaware testing site.

e. Report to the exam site on the day of your examination prepared for testing.

f. NASBA’s CPA Exam Services will send your exam scores to the Board. In turn, the Board will send your scores to you via mail.

For further information or to make special testing accommodations, call the Delaware Coordinator of CPA Examination Services at 800-CPA-EXAM. For detailed information on the Uniform CPA Exam, click here.

3. Gain The Necessary Experience

Once you have passed the Uniform CPA Exam, you must satisfy Delaware’s practical experience requirements to receive a CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice Certified Public Accountancy.

a. Before beginning the experiential piece of your Delaware CPA licensing requirement, you must complete Professional Ethics: The AICPA Comprehensive Course. This home study course is given by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and may be purchased at the link provided. Upon completion, you will receive a certificate that you must send to the Delaware State Board of Accountancy Cannon Building, 861 Silver Lake Blvd, Suite 203, Dover, Delaware 19904-2467 with your Combined Application for CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice.

b. You must complete one year of accounting experience under Delaware law. All paid employment opportunities may be researched through your college’s career center.

Experience must involve providing services or advice involving the use of any of the following:

Consulting skills
Tax skills
Financial advisory skills
Management advisory skills
Compilation skills
Attest skills
Accounting skills

Experience must be gained through employment in public practice, academia, industry or government.
Experience must have occurred within the past 10 years.Experience must be verified through notarized affidavit by your supervising certified public accountant who holds a valid license. The Affidavit of Supervised Work Experience is found in the Combined CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice form.

Responsibilities of the verifying CPA

Must be a licensed, certified public accountant holding a valid Permit to Practice Certified Public Accountancy in Delaware or another jurisdiction
Document the applicant’s dates of employment on the Affidavit of Work Experience
Document the duties performed by the applicant
State the time devoted to practicing each duty
Affirm the competency and professionalism of the applicant
Include a statement of jurisdiction of the verifying CPA
Sign document and have document notarized
If applicant is a sole practitioner, he or she may document his or her own experience

Responsibilities of the applicant

Select a licensed, certified public accountant holding a valid Permit to Practice Certified Public Accountancy
Submit an affidavit from each employer with whom experience is claimed
Submit the completed, notarized Affidavit of Work Experience along with your Combined CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice application to the Delaware State Board of Accountancy, Cannon Building, 861 Silver Lake Blvd, Suite 203, Dover, Delaware 19904-2467

4. Get Your Delaware CPA License

After passing the Uniform CPA Exam and completing Delaware’s practical experience requirement, you’re ready for licensure. Delaware’s accountancy licensing system is classified as a “two tier” licensing structure. According to the Delaware State Board of Accountancy, this means that all CPAs in the state must first hold a certificate and then obtain a permit to practice (which in other states is known as a license) in order to legally practice public accounting. The following is a checklist of everything you should have completed up to this point:

a. Checklist

Complete educational requirements of a bachelor’s degree with 150 total credit hours and a 24 semester hour accounting concentration. Your school must send your official transcript directly to the Delaware State Board of Accountancy, Cannon Building, 861 Silver Lake Blvd, Suite 203, Dover, Delaware 19904-2467
Apply through CPA Examination Services to take the Uniform CPA Examination
Complete the home study course Professional Ethics: The AICPA Comprehensive Course given by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Accomplish one year of practical work experience under the supervision of a certified public accountant holding a valid Permit to Practice Certified Public Accountancy
Complete the experience requirements based upon your degree level. Have your supervising CPA complete, sign and notarize the Affidavit of Work Experience. This will be submitted with your Combined CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice application in the next step.

b. Apply for your Delaware CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice Certified Public Accountancy. Delaware requires all CPAs to have both documents in order to practice legally in the state.

The Delaware State Board of Accountancy provides a Combined Application for CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice. After you have passed the Uniform CPA Examination and completed the AICPA ethics course, you may apply for both the certificate and the permit simultaneously via this form.
The form requires you to provide basic information, such as education, examination score, passage of the AICPA ethics course, and experience. Along with the application, be sure to send all of the supporting documentation from Step 1.
Submit application, supporting documents and required fees to the Delaware State Board of Accountancy, Cannon Building, 861 Silver Lake Blvd., Suite 203, Dover, Delaware 19904-2467.
Allow 8 to 12 weeks for your application to be approved and to receive your CPA Certificate and Permit to Practice by mail.

Interstate Reciprocal License

If you hold a CPA license from another state and are seeking a Delaware Permit to Practice, you must prove that you meet the requirements of the State. You must also:

Sign a sworn statement that you have not participated in any activities for which the Board would have to discipline you
Obtain a statement from the board of accountancy in your state certifying that there are no disciplinary proceedings pending against you
Provide an active certified public accountant license in good standing issued by a state that is equivalent to Delaware’s public accountancy standards under NASBA and AICPA rules (or if your state is not NASBA verified, a statement that your qualifications have been NASBA verified)

You must also satisfy one of the following requirements:

Meet all current Delaware requirements for licensure
Have met all Delaware requirements for licensure at the time of issuance of your license from another state
Have five years’ professional experience in the practice of certified public accountancy

International Reciprocal License

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) along with NASBA has determined that being a CPA or Chartered Accountant from any of the following international jurisdictions is equivalent to requirements for CPA licenses and certificates in each of the United States:

Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA)
Instituto Mexicano De Contadores Publicos (IMCP)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI)
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA)
New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (NZICA)

The Delaware Board of Accountancy accepts these recommendations for international reciprocity. If you are a chartered accountant or CPA from one of these approved international jurisdictions, you must:

Request a Letter of Good Standing to be submitted from your country’s credentialing agency to NASBA
Apply here to take the International Uniform Certified Public Account Qualification Examination (IQEX). Mail your application and fees to: NASBA, Attn: IQEX, P.O. Box 440555, Nashville, TN 37244
You will receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS) the IQEX by mail or email (whichever method you have previously chosen) and be able to schedule your test via Prometric’s website.
Test results will be mailed to you as they are available.

If you’re a chartered accountant or CPA not from one of these approved international jurisdictions, you must follow the standard procedures to apply to take the Uniform CPA Exam in Delaware and have your educational credentials evaluated by a member organization of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services.

5. Stay Current Through Continuing Professional Education in Delaware

In order to maintain licensure, the Delaware State Board of Accountancy requires each CPA holding a Permit to Practice to attain a certain number of continuing professional education (CPE) hours biannually. Programs that have been approved by NASBA qualify for credit. These programs must be deemed formal programs of learning that contribute directly to a CPA’s professional competence.

a. Each CPA holding a Permit to Practice must complete at least 80 hours of CPE in every two-year licensing period. This must include:

8 hours in accounting and/or auditing
8 hours in taxation
4 hours in a Delaware-specific ethics course approved by the Board
20 additional hours in accounting, auditing or taxation

b. All programs must satisfy the following conditions:

Each CPE program must be at least 50 minutes in length and conducted by a qualified instructor
Webinars or internet seminars qualify only if there is opportunity for live interaction between participants and instructor and a certificate is issued upon completion
Correspondence and individual study programs qualify with the amount of credit for each determined by the Board
Published articles and books may be used up to 50 minutes for each publication on a self-declaration basis, to a maximum of 20 hours per renewal period

c. Each CPA must maintain CPE documentation for at least 5 years, including date, location, field of study, sponsor of course, title and description, number of hours claimed, and type of instructional or delivery method.

Now that you're a CPA in Delaware

Well done! You’re now a licensed, certified CPA in Delaware who holds a CPA Certificate and a Permit to Practice Certified Public Accounting! One professional organization to consider becoming a member of is the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). This national organization provides continuing professional education and development opportunities, networking prospects, professional guidance, and discounted office and shipping items. Delaware also has some professional accounting societies definitely worth becoming a member of The Delaware Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants – Delaware Chapter.

Think about concentrating in a sub-discipline of accounting! Specializations that exist in Delaware include general accounting, business accounting, accounting technology, international accounting, accounting information systems, auditing, federal tax accounting, management accounting, and financial statement analysis.

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