Chap. 454.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571,
and 572 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the State board of accountancy,
and to add a new section relating thereto, designated as section 572a.

[Hi B 286]
Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
five hundred and sixty-six, five hundred and sixty-seven, five hundred
and sixty-eight, five hundred and sixty-nine. five hundred and seventy,
five hundred and seventy-one, and five hundred and seventy-two of the
Code of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted, and that a new section
be added thereto, designated as section five hundred and seventy-two
(a), which sections so amended and re-enacted, and the said new
section shall read as follows:

Section 566. State board of accountancy, number and qualification
of members, vacancies—The State board of accountancy, as created
by chapter one hundred and fiftv-eight of the acts of assembly of ninec-
‘een hundred and ten, is continued, and shall continue to consist of
ive members to be appointed by the governor, one member shall be a
dracticing attorney in good standing in any of the courts of this State;
yne member shall be an educator, and the other three members shall
ye practicing certified public accountants who shall have been actively
engaged in such practice, for at least three years next preceding their
appointment, and who hold certified public accountant’s certificates
issued by the said State board of accountancy.

The persons who constitute said board when this amendatory act
takes effect, shall continue in office until the first day of Julv, nineteen
hundred and twenty-eight; and at least thirty days prior thereto and
every three years thereafter, the governor shall appoint their successors
for terms of three years, respectively.

Vacancies occurring for any cause shall be filled by appointment
by the governor for the unexpired term.

Section 567. Who may become certified public accountants. and
public accountants.—The certificates of “certified public accountants”
shall be granted by the State board of accountancy to any person who
is (a) a citizen of the United States or who has duly declared his or
her intention of becoming such citizen, and who is domiciled in the
State of Virginia, or has a place of business therein at the time of
making application, and (b) who is over the age of twenty-one years.
and (c) who is of good moral character, and (d) who is a graduate of
a high school with a four years’ course or who, in the opinion of
the board. has had equivalent education through commercial experi-
ence, or otherwise, and (e) who shall have continuously for at least
two vears immediately preceding the date of his or her application been
engaged in practice as a public accountant or shall have been in the
eolov ot a practicing certified public accountant, or public accountant
as a staff accountant, or shall have been part of such time in such
practice and part of such time in such employ or who in the opinion
os the board shall have had experience equivalent to that required in
the taregoing or shall have had sufficient experience to entitle him to
practice accountancy in the event he or she passes the examination
herein provided, and (f) who shall have passed examination in theory
Of accounts, In practical accounting, in auditing, in commercial law as
efecting accountancy and in such other related subjects as the baard
mav deem advisable. No applicant shall be examined in these subjects
stated in (ft) above until the board shall have been satisfied in respect
to the other requirements, stated in (a) to (e) above, inclusive, except,
however, that anv person possessing the necessary qualifications, except
the practical experience, who may have completed an accountancy
course In a university or college of recognized standing, or graduated
from an accountancy school acceptable to the board, may be examined
in the subjects specified in (f) above, even though lacking in respect
to the required practical experience, and upon receiving a satisfactory
grade may be granted the certificate of certified public accountant, but
not until the said practical experience shall have been obtained, and
any person receiving such certificate shall be known and styled as a
“certified public accountant.”

Any person or member of a partnership having an office in this
State who, for at least eight months next preceding his application for
registration hereunder, has held himself out to the public generally as
a practicing public accountant for compensation, and who has main-
tained in this State an office for the transaction of such practice and
whose time during the regular business hours of the day was devoted
to the practice of public accountancy, may, within three months after
July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, apply in writing to said
board for registration as a “public accountant,’ and the said board,
upon the production of satisfactory evidence that such applicant was
engaged in the public practice of accountancy and maintained an office
for that purpose, as provided above, shall register such person, provided
he or she, at the time of the application possesses the requisites of
citizenship, age, moral character, and education herein set forth. Such
registration shall be conclusive evidence of the right of such person to
engage in the practice of public accounting in this State, but such regis-
tration shall not be construed in any way as indicating that the State
board of accountancy has assumed any responsibility for the profes-
sional experience and qualifications of the registrant; and any person
so registered, shall be known and styled as a “public accountant.”

Any partnership practicing accountancy in this State may use the
designation or practice as certified public accountants under a firm
name only if all the members thereof are holders of certified public
accountant’s certificates granted under the laws of this State, and any
partnership practicing accountancy in this State may use the designa-
tion or practice as public accountants under a firm name only if all the
members thereof are duly registered and qualified as public accountants
under the provisions hereof or are registered with the board under
the provisions of section 572 (a). Each of the members of any
partnership which shall use the designation “certified public accoun-
tants” or “public accountants” except upon compliance with the re-
quirements hereinbefore made shall be subject to the penalties prescribed
in section 572 of this act.

Section 568. Examination of applicants—AII examinations pro-
vided for in this chapter shall be conducted by the State board of ac-
countancy, or by a majority thereof. The examinations shall be held
in Richmond at least once in each year, or oftener, in the discretion
of the board. The time and place of holding examinations shall be
duly advertised for not less than three consecutive days in at least one
daily newspaper published in Richmond, one published in Norfolk,
one published in Lynchburg, and one published in Roanoke, not less
than thirty days prior to the date of each examination. The board
may make all needful rules and regulations regarding the conduct and
scope of the examination, the method and time of filing applications
for examination and all other rules and regulations necessary to carry
into effect the purpose of this act.

Section 569. When board may waive examination.—The board may,
in its discretion, waive the examination provided in this chapter, and
may issue a certificate of certified public accountant to any person
who possesses the other qualifications stated in section 567, and who
is the holder of a certificate of certified public accountant issued under
the laws of any State or territory or the District of Columbia which
extends similar privileges to certified public accountants of this State,
provided the requirements for such certificate in the State or terr-
tory or the District of Columbia which has granted it to the applicant
are, in the opinion of the board, equivalent to those herein required: or
who is the holder of a certificate of certified public accountant, or the
equivalent thereof, granted under the authority of a foreign nation,
provided the requirements for such certificates are, in the opinion of the

board, equivalent to those herein required.

Section 570. Revocation of certificate and appeals —The board may
revoke any certificates issued, or cancel any registrations made, under
this act 1f the holder or registrant (a) shall be convicted of a felony.

> (b) shall be declared by any court of competent jurisdiction to have
committed any fraud, or (c) shall be declared by any competent court
ur comnission to be insane or otherwise incompetent, or (d) shall be
held by this board to be guilty of any act or default discreditable te
the profession, provided that written notice of the cause of such con-
templated action and bill of particulars thereof and the date of the
hearing thereon by this board shall have been mailed to the holder ot
such certificate or to such registrant at his or her last-known address
at Ieast twenty days prior to such hearing. At all such hearings the
attorney general of this State, or one of his assistants designated by
him, shall upon request of the board or the person accused, sit with the
board with all the powers of a member thereof. Any person whose
certificate 1s revoked or whose registration is cancetled by the board
shall have the night of appeal, within thirty days from date of tinal
decision of the board, to the supreme court of appeals of Virginia.

Section 571. Fees to be paid by applicants per diem and expenses
of members of board, report to gov ernor.—The board shall charge each
applicant for a certificate of “certihed public accountant” a fee of
twenty-five dollars for the examination and certificate provided tor in
this chapter, which fee shall be payable at the time of the application.
In the case of the failure on the part of any applicant to attend the
exannation on the date specified by said board, or to pass a satisfac-
tory examination, said applicant may appear at subsequent examina-
tions of said board for re-examination, within a period of two vears
from the date of the first examination upon the payment of the further
sum of ten dollars. “‘Vhe board shall charge each applicant for
registration as a “public accountant” a fee of ten dollars pavable at
the time registration 1s made.

The board shall, on July first of each year, issue a registration
card to any holder of a certificate of “certitied public accountant” issued
under the laws of this State, or other States, as provided in section
hive hundred and seventy-two (a), or to any duly registered “public
accountant” which card shall be good until June thirtieth of the next
succeeding year charging therefor not more than five dollars per
year. Interim registration cards shall be issued to applicants who
have comphed with the provisions of this act. I*ailure to secure a
registration card in any year shall not disqualify a person previously
duly registered as a “public accountant” from securing a card in a
future year, if said person decides to return to the public practice of
accountancy ; and shall not operate to revoke a certified public accoun-
tant certificate once issued, but shall remove the holder thereof from
those registered and authorized to practice during the year. When
registration cards are secured after July first of each year, such persons
shall not be subject to the penalty prescribed in section five hundred
and seventy-two, provided cards were secured prior to charges having
been preferred against such persons, that were practicing unlawfully.

All fees collected by said board shall be, by it, paid quarterly, into
the State treasury. The members of the board shall receive an amount
not exceeding ten dollars per day to each member, for the time actually
spent in the performance of their duties under this chapter, which as
well as their necessary traveling expenses and other expenses incident
to awarding certificates, et cetera, shall be paid out of the State
treasury, from funds not otherwise appropriated, on warrants drawn
by the comptroller, on certificates issued by the chairman of the
board.

The board shall report annually to the governor, the number of
certificates issued and the amount of receipts and expenses under this
chapter.

Section 572. Penalty for violating provisions of this chapter —From
and after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine,
it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the public practice
of accountancy in the State of Virginia except those possessing certifi-
cates of certified public accountant issued by this State, and or duly
registered public accountants. Any person not certified by the Virginia
State board of accountancy, or any person to whom a certificate was
issued but subsequently revoked who shall practice as a certifjed public
accountant, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction thereof shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or
imprisoned for not more than six months, or both, in the discretion of
the court, or jury. Any person not registered as a public accountant
by the Virginia State board of accountancy, who shall assume to prac-
tice as a public accountant either by the use of the words “public ac-
countant” on his or her door or stationery, or by signing in the capacity
of an accountant a certificate in writing in reference to any financial
statement, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon con-
viction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or
imprisoned for not more than six months, or both, in the discretion of
the court or jury; provided, however, that nothing contained in this
act shall prohibit any person from engaging mn any accountancy work
for one or more persons so long as such person does not hold himself
or herself out to the public as a certified public accountant, public ac-
countant, or accountant or auditor, offering his or her services to
all those who may choose to apply; provided further, that nothing
contained in this act shall prevent the employment of uncertified
persons or non-public accountants in subordinate capacities by a
certified public accountant, or public accountant, or by a firm or part-
nership, the members of which are all holders of certified public
accountant’s certificates granted under the laws of this State or duly
registered public accountants.

Section 572-a. All statements, records, schedules and memoranda
made by a certified public accountant or a public accountant, or by an
employee or employees of a certified public accountant, or public ac-
countant, incident to or in the course of professional service to clients
by such certified public accountant, or public accountant, except reports
submitted by a certified public accountant, or public accountant, to a
client shall be and remain the property of such certified public ac-
countant, or public accountant, in the absence of a written agreement
between the certified public accountant, or public accountant, and the
client, to the contrary.

Nothing contained in the foregoing sections shall be construed as
preventing certified public accountants of recognized standing of other
States, or territories, or the District of Columbia or holding equivalent
certificate, granted under authority of a foreign nation, from under-
taking accountancy engagements in this State, provided they present
to the board evidence showing that they are certified public accountants
in good standing and obtain from the board the registration card
referred to hereinbefore.

2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with any of the provisions
of this act, are hereby repealed.