Montana Board of Public Accountants

Montana Experience Requirements

In order to obtain a Montana CPA license, you must have one year (2000 hours) of acceptable accounting and/or auditing experience obtained within the three years preceding the date of application for licensure.

Experience will be considered acceptable by the Board if satisfactory evidence is presented of having performed accounting and auditing functions ordinarily required in the practice of public accounting.  The experience may be in the private, governmental, academic or public accounting areas.

MCA 37-50-101 Definitions
(10) "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 MCA, 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;
(c) the preparation of tax returns; or
(d) furnishing advice on tax matters.

All applicable experience must be attested to by a US CPA in good-standing, or a supervisor licensed from a professional accounting body with a MRA with NASBA. If your supervisor is not a US CPA, you may use the services of the NASBA Experience Verification Service to obtain attestation by a US CPA. You may also obtain an attestation from an individual who is not your supervisor, but they must comply with the Board rules outlining attesation of experience by a CPA who is not your supervisor

24.201.502 (3) If the attester is not the applicant's supervisor, the attester must:

  • (a) be familiar with the applicant's work and provide a narrative of the step taken to determine the work experience meets professional standards;
  • (b) provide an explanation of how the attested hours were verified; and
  • (c) confirm the hours and work product with the applicant's supervisor.

Or, if applying using military experience and no U.S. CPA can attest to the experience, your commanding officer must provide sufficient information on your duties and responsibilities for the Board to evaluate to determine if you meet the 2000 hour experience requirement. 

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