15 PROPOSED ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

 

 

ORR # 2002-066

 

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AND INDUSTRY SERVICES DIRECTORS OFFICE

ACCOUNTING

 

Filed with the Secretary of State on

These rules take effect 7 days after filing with the Secretary of State.

 

(By authority conferred on the department of consumer and industry services by sections 308 and 721 of 1980 PA 299, MCL 339.308 and 339.721, and Executive Reorganization Order No.1996-2, MCL

445.2001)

 

R 338.5105, R 338.5215, R 338.5230, and R 338.5405 of the Michigan Administrative Code are amended, and R 338.5109 is added to the Code.

 

PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

R 338.5105 Board meetings.

Rule 105. Board meetings are conducted The board shall conduct board meetings in accordance with 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 et seq., and are open to the public. Act No. 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended, being '15.261 et seq. of the Michigan Compiled Laws, and known as the open meetings act. All board meetings are open to the public.

 

PART 2.  EXAMINATIONS

 

R 338.5109 Computerized Examination Procedures.

Rule 109. Upon implementation of a computer-based examination, the following procedures shall apply:

(a)      Applicants may take the required examination sections individually and in any order.

(b) Applicants shall pass all sections of the examination within a rolling 18-month period beginning on the date that the first section is passed. If all sections are not passed within the rolling 18-month period, then credit for any section passed outside the 18-month period shall expire and must be retaken.

(c)      Applicants shall not retake failed sections of the examination within the same examination window.

(d)         Applicants who earned conditional credit on the paper and pencil examination shall be given conditional credit for the corresponding sections of the computer-based examination, as follows:

Pencil & Paper Examination	Computer-Based Examination
Auditing	Auditing & Attestation
Financial Accounting & Reporting	Financial Accounting & Reporting

 

 

Accounting & Reporting			Regulation
Business           Law Responsibilities	&	Professional	Business Environment & Concepts

(e)        Candidates who earned conditional credit on the paper and pencil examination shall be given a transition period to complete remaining sections of the computer based exam. The transition period is the maximum number of attempts that the conditioned candidate had at the time of the launch of the computer-based examination to pass all remaining sections of the paper and pencil examination. Candidates who do not pass all remaining examination sections during the transition period shall lose credit for sections passed under the paper and pencil examination.

(f)       Until implementation of a computerized examination, candidates may continue to utilize the paper and pencil version of the examination, and the provisions of R 338.5110, R 338.5111 AND R 338.5112 shall apply.

 

PART 3.  Educational Requirements PART 2 4. Continuing Education

R 338.5215 Measurement of continuing education hours; “continuous instruction” defined.

Rule 215. (1) The department shall give continuing education credit for whole hours only. Based on the length of a qualifying program, with A minimum of 50 minutes of continuous instruction constituting constitutes 1 qualifying hour. one-half-credit of continuing education shall be granted for every additional 25 minutes of instruction, after the first hour of credit is earned. The department shall not allow credit for continuing education hours for time expended for outside study, except as provided under R 338.5218.

(2) For the purpose of this rule, “continuous instruction” means education time exclusive of breakfast, lunch, or dinner periods, coffee breaks, or any other breaks in the program.

 

R 338.5230 Entry or reentry into practice of public accounting; continuing EDUCATION requirements.

Rule 230. (1) The department shall issue a license to a licensure applicant applying for reciprocity or reentering the practice of public accounting upon receiving proof from the applicant that he or she has completed 40 hours of continuing education credit within the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application. Eight of the 40 hours shall be in auditing or accounting, or both, and 2 of the 40 hours shall be in ethics. within the 12 months immediately preceding the date of application.

(2)   The department shall prorate, from the month following the date of licensure, the qualifying hours required for the continuing education period in which the license is granted.

(3)   The department shall deem a person granted an original certificate of certified public accountant to have complied with all continuing education requirements through the continuing education period ending June 30 of the year in which the certificate was granted.

 

PART 5 3. PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

 

R 338.5405 Independence rule; adoption by reference.

Rule 405. A licensee, including a firm, may express an opinion on financial statements of an enterprise only if the licensee is independent from the enterprise. For the purpose of defining the impairment of independence,  the  board  adopts  the  American  institute  of  certified  public  accountants  rule  on

 

 

independence contained in the publication entitled A “Code of Professional Conduct” dated May 1997 November 2001. Copies of the code are available for inspection at the board of accountancy office in Lansing, 2501 Woodlake Circle,  Okemos, Michigan and may be purchased from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Harborside Financial Center, 201 Plaza Three, Jersey City NJ 07311, at a cost of $5.50 as of the time of adoption of these rules. Copies are also available on the AICPA web site: http://www.aicpa.org/about/code/sec100.htm, and may be downloaded without charge.