Pennsylvania Code › Title 49 - PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STANDARDS › Part I - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › Subpart A - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL AFFAIRS › Chapter 11 - STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTANCY › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 11.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
						have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						otherwise:
AICPA
-American Institute of Certified
						Public Accountants.
Act
-The CPA Law (63 P.S.
						§§
												9.1-9.16b).
Attest activity
-The provision of any of
						the following financial statement services together with the issuance of a
						report expressing or disclaiming an opinion or other assurance on the
						information:
(i) An audit or other
					 engagement performed in accordance with Statements on Auditing
					 Standards.
(ii) A review or
					 compilation of a financial statement performed in accordance with
					 SSARS.
(iii) An engagement
					 performed in accordance with SSAE.
(iv) An audit or other engagement performed
					 in accordance with Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller
					 General of the United States.
(v)
					 Other engagement performed in accordance with attestation standards established
					 by an organization granted authority by statute or regulation to establish
					 attestation standards, such as the AICPA or the PCAOB.
Board
-The State Board of Accountancy of
						the Commonwealth.
CPA
-Certified public accountant.
CPE
-Continuing professional
						education.
CPE program sponsor
-An individual or
						entity that assumes responsibility for presenting a CPE program that is
						structured as a group study program, interactive individual study program or
						noninteractive individual study program.
Candidate
-A person sitting for an
						examination.
Certificate
-A certificate as a
						"certified public accountant" issued under the act or a corresponding right to
						practice as a certified public accountant issued after examination under the
						law of another jurisdiction.
Certificate of completion
-A document
						prepared by a CPE program sponsor evidencing a participant's completion of a
						group study program, interactive individual study program or noninteractive
						individual study program.
Certified public accountant
-An
						individual to whom a certificate has been issued.
Client
-A person that agrees orally, in
						writing or in electronic form with a certified public accountant, public
						accountant or firm to receive a professional service.
Commission
-
(i) Compensation for recommending or
					 referring a product or service to be supplied by another person.
(ii) The term does not include a referral
					 fee.
Compilation
-A service performed in
						accordance with SSARS that presents, in the form of financial statements,
						information that is the representation of management or the owners without
						undertaking to express any assurance on the statements.
Contingent fee
-A fee established for the
						performance of a service under an arrangement in which no fee will be charged
						unless a specified finding or result is attained, or in which the amount of the
						fee is otherwise dependent upon the finding or result of the service.
Engagement
-An undertaking by a licensee
						embodied in an agreement between the licensee and the client which defines the
						scope and terms of the services.
Enterprise
-A person or entity, whether
						organized for profit or not, with respect to which a licensee performs
						professional services.
Financial statement
-
(i) A statement and footnotes related to the
					 statement that purport to show financial position which relates to a point in
					 time or changes in financial position which relate to a period of
					 time.
(ii) The term includes
					 statements which use a cash or other incomplete basis of accounting.
(iii) The term also includes balance sheets,
					 statements of income, statements of retained earnings, statements of changes in
					 financial position and statements of changes in owner's equity.
(iv) The term does not include incidental
					 financial data included in management advisory services reports to support
					 recommendations to a client, tax returns or supporting schedules.
Firm
-A qualified association that is a
						licensee.
GAAP
-Generally Accepted Accounting
						Principles.
GAAS
-Generally Accepted Auditing
						Standards.
GAGAS
-Generally Accepted Government
						Auditing Standards.
Group study program
-A CPE program that
						is designed to permit a participant to learn a given subject through
						interaction with an instructor and other participants.
Inactive status
-
(i) Status of a CPA or public accountant who
					 has returned his license to practice public accounting to the Board and who has
					 requested in writing that the Board place his name on the inactive
					 roll.
(ii) The term does not apply
					 to the status of a CPA or public accountant whose license to practice public
					 accounting has expired for failure to comply with requirements for biennial
					 renewal of licensure.
Instructional design
-A teaching plan
						that considers the organization and interaction of program materials as well as
						the method of presentation such as lecture, seminar, workshop or program
						instruction.
Interactive individual study program
-A
						CPE program that is designed to use interactive learning methodologies that
						simulate a classroom learning process by employing software, other courseware
						or administrative systems that provide significant ongoing interactive feedback
						to the participant regarding the learning process.
Licensee
-
(i) An individual who is certified by or
					 registered with the Board and holds a current license to practice under section
					 8.2 of the act (63 P.S. §
												9.8b) or a
					 qualified association that holds a current license to practice under section
					 8.8 of the act (63 P.S. §
												9.8h).
(ii) The term does not include an individual
					 who is on inactive status under section
					 8.2(a.1) of the
					 act or who does not otherwise hold a current license.
NASBA
-National Association of State
						Boards of Accountancy.
New candidate
-A candidate who is taking
						the examination in this Commonwealth for the first time.
Noninteractive individual study
						program
-A CPE program that is designed to permit a participant to
						learn a given subject without interaction with an instructor or interactive
						learning methodologies and requires the participant to achieve a 70% minimum
						grade on a written examination or workbook.
PCAOB
-Public Company Accounting
						Oversight Board.
Professional competence
-Having requisite
						knowledge, skills and abilities to provide quality professional service as
						defined by the technical and ethical standards of the profession.
Professional services
-Services performed
						by a certified public accountant, public accountant or firm as part of the
						practice of public accounting or services that would be part of the practice of
						public accounting except that the individual performing the services does not
						hold out as a certified public accountant or public accountant.
Public accounting
-Offering to perform or
						performing for a client or potential client:
(i) Attest activity.
(ii) Other professional services involving
					 the use of accounting skills, including management advisory or consulting
					 services, business valuations, financial planning, preparation of tax returns
					 or furnishing of advice on tax matters by a person holding out as a CPA, public
					 accountant or firm.
Public communication
-A communication
						made in identical form to multiple persons as to the world at large, such as by
						television, radio, motion picture, newspaper, pamphlet, mass mailing,
						letterhead, business card or directory.
Qualified association
-An association as
						defined in
						15 Pa.C.S. §
												102
						(relating to definitions) that is incorporated or organized under the laws of
						the Commonwealth or any other state or foreign jurisdiction if the organic law
						under which the association is incorporated or organized does not afford the
						shareholders, partners, members or other owners of equity interest in the
						association or the officers, employees or agents of the association greater
						immunity than is available to the shareholders, officers, employees or agents
						of a professional corporation under
						15 Pa.C.S. §
												2925
						(relating to professional relationship retained).
SEC
-Securities and Exchange
						Commission.
SSAE
-Statements on Standards for
						Attestation Engagements.
SSARS
-Statements of Standards on
						Accounting and Review Services.
Statements on auditing standards
-The
						Statements on Auditing Standards of the Auditing Standards Board of the AICPA,
						or similar professional standard which supersedes these statements.
Substantial equivalency
-Either of the
						following:
(i) The education,
					 examination and experience requirements in the statutes and regulations of
					 another jurisdiction are comparable to or exceed the education, examination and
					 experience requirements in the act.
(ii) A certified public accountant's
					 education, examination and experience qualifications are comparable to or
					 exceed the education, examination and experience requirements in the
					 act.
The provisions of this §
													11.1 issued under section 506 of
						  The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. §
														186); and section 3 of the CPA Law
						  (63
						  P.S. §
														9.3); amended under sections
						  3(a)(10)-(12), 6 and 8.2 of the CPA Law (63 P.S.
						  §§
														9.3(a)(10)-(12), 9.6 and
						  9.8b)).