2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 37. Professions and Occupations › Chapter 50. Public Accountants › Part 1. General › 37-50-101. Definitions

37-50-101. Definitions.
Unless the context requires otherwise, in this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Affiliated entity" means an entity owned, leased, or controlled by a firm through common employment or any other service arrangement, including but not limited to financial or investment services, insurance, real estate, and employee benefits services.
(2) "Agreed-upon procedures engagement" means an engagement performed in accordance with applicable attestation standards and in which a firm or person is engaged to issue a written finding that:
(a) is based on specific procedures that the specified parties agree are sufficient for their purposes;
(b) is restricted to the specified parties; and
(c) does not provide an opinion or negative assurance.
(3) "Attest" means providing the following services:
(a) an audit or other engagement to be performed in accordance with the statements on auditing standards;
(b) a review of a financial statement to be performed in accordance with the statements on standards for accounting and review services;
(c) an examination of prospective financial information to be performed in accordance with the statements on standards for attestation engagements;
(d) an engagement to be performed in accordance with the auditing standards of the public company oversight board; and
(e) an examination, other than an examination as provided in subsection (3)(c), a review, or an agreed-upon procedures engagement to be performed in accordance with the statements on standards for attestation engagements.
(4) "Board" means the board of public accountants provided for in 2-15-1756.
(5) "Compilation" means providing a service to be performed in accordance with statements on standards for accounting and review services that presents, in the form of financial statements, information that is the representation of owners without undertaking to express any assurance on the statements.
(6) "Department" means the department of labor and industry provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 17.
(7) "Firm" means a sole practice, sole proprietorship, partnership, professional corporation, or limited liability company engaged in the practice of public accounting.
(8) "Peer review" means a board-approved study, appraisal, or review of one or more aspects of the attest or compilation work of a licensee of a registered firm in the practice of public accounting, by a person or persons who hold licenses in this or another jurisdiction and who are not affiliated with the person or firm being reviewed.
(9) "Practice of public accounting" means performing or offering to perform, by a person licensed as a certified public accountant or holding a practice privilege under 37-50-325, for a client or potential client one or more types of services involving the use of accounting or auditing skills, including:
(a) the issuance of reports or financial statements on which the public may rely;
(b) one or more types of management advisory or consulting services as determined by the board;
(c) the preparation of tax returns; or
(d) furnishing advice on tax matters.
(10) "Principal place of business" means the office location designated by the licensee for the purposes of substantial equivalency.
(11) "Satellite office" means a secondary location of a registered public accounting firm.
(12) "Substantial equivalency" or "substantially equivalent" means a determination by the board or its designee that the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in the statutes and rules of another jurisdiction are comparable to or exceed the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in the Uniform Accountancy Act or subsequent acts or that an individual certified public accountant's education, examination, and experience qualifications are comparable to or exceed the education, examination, and experience requirements contained in the Uniform Accountancy Act. In ascertaining substantial equivalency, the board shall take into account the qualifications without regard to the sequence in which the experience, education, and examination requirements were attained.
History: En. 66-1807.1 by Sec. 160, Ch. 350, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 66-1807.1; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 274, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 382, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 143, Ch. 483, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 41, Ch. 109, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 169, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 162, L. 2017.