Chap. 208.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 567 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to who may become certified public accountants.

[H B 365]
Approved March 13, 1942

' 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
five hundred and sixty-seven of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:
Section 567. Who may become certified public accountants, and
public accountants.—The certificate of “certified public accountant” 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 Staté 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) whois 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 experience, or otherwise, and (e) who
shall have continuously for at least two years immediately preceding the
date of his or her application been engaged in practice as a public account-
ant or shall have been employed as a staff accountant of a practicing certi-
fied public accountant, or public accountant; or who shall have: been
actively employed for at least four years preceding the date of his or her
application by the United States Treasury Department as an internal
revenue agent ; or who shall have been actively employed for at least four
years preceding the date of his or her application by any Federal or State
supervisory agency or instrumentality as an auditor or examiner, whose
duties entail the audit or verification of accounts and records and the
preparation, based thereon, of reports to such agency or instrumentality
for the purposes of supervision or regulation ; and provided further that
the experience required in subsection (e) of this: section shall include
the preparation of balance sheets and operating statements from general
books, or who in the opinion of the Board shall have had experience
equivalent to that required in the foregoing, and the Board shall recog-
nize that the said equivalent experience may be obtained independently
of employment with a practicing certified public accountant, public ac-
countant, the United States Treasury Department, or any Federal or
State supervisory agency or instrumentality, as hereinabove set forth
and (f) who shall have passed examination in theory of accounts, in
practical accounting, in auditing, in commercial law as affecting account-
ancy and in such other related subjects as the board may deem advisable.
No applicant shall be examined in these subjects stated in (f) above until
the board shall have been satisfied in respect to the other requirements,
stated in (a) to (e) above, inclusive, except, however, that any person
possessing the necessary qualifications, except the practical experience,
who may have completed an accountancy course in a university or col-
lege 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”. Applicants who prior
to January first, nineteen hundred and forty-two, have passed successfully
the examination but whose certificates have been withheld until they
complied with practical experience requirements provided in this section,
shall, upon presenting to the board evidence of their having substantially
complied with practical experience requirements as herein defined, shall
be entitled to receive, and the board shall forthwith issue to them the
certificate of certified public accountant, 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 maintained
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 prac-
tice 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 evi-
dence of the right of such person to engage in the practice of public
accounting in this State, but such registration shall not be construed in
any way.as indicating that the State board of accountancy has assumed
any responsibility for the professional ‘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 accountants’
certificates granted under the laws of this State, and any partnership
practicing accountancy in this State may use the designation 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 pro-
visions hereof or are registered with the board under the provisions of
section five hundred and seventy-two (a), Each of the members of any
partnership which shall use the designation “certified public accountants”
or “public accountants” except upon compliance with the requirements
hereinbefore made shall be subject to the penalties prescribed in Section
five hundred and seventy-two of this act.