Report of the Committee on the Professions Regarding Licensing Petitions

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANCY 08-12-07 Elaine Matthews Montclair, NJ 07042 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, Bachelor of

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

SUBJECT: Report of the Committee on the Professions Regarding

Issue for Decision (Consent Agenda)

Should the Regents approve the recommendations of the Committee on theProfessions pertaining to licensing petitions as listed on the attachment?

Proposed Handling

This question will come before the Professional Practice Committee at itsDecember 2008 meeting where it will be voted on and action taken It will then comebefore the full Board at its December 2008 meeting for final action

Procedural History

Section 6506(5) of the Education Law and Section 24.7 of the Rules of the Board

of Regents authorize the Regents to waive education, experience and examinationrequirements for a professional license as well as to confer the degree Doctor ofMedicine

Background Information

There are 7 licensing petitions and 37 requests for the conferral of the degreeDoctor of Medicine for review and approval

It is recommended that the Regents approve the recommendations of theCommittee on the Professions regarding licensing petitions

Timetable for Implementation

Approval of the Committee on the Professions’ recommendations will be effectiveDecember 16, 2008

Cases Presented to Board of Regents on: December 16, 2008 SUMMARY REPORT

PROFESSION

Experience

Confer Degree Doctor of Medicine

Three-Year Limited License

To 08-168-60C

Total for calendar year to date: 238

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANCY

08-12-07

Elaine Matthews

Montclair, NJ 07042

(Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, Bachelor of

Science in Accounting, May 2003)

Petition for: Acceptance of passing grades on the Uniform Certified Public Accountancy(CPA) Examination

Statement of Problem: Elaine Matthews is an applicant for licensure as a certified publicaccountant through endorsement of a CPA license issued by New Jersey in February

2007 New Jersey issued Ms Matthew’s CPA license under conditioning requirementsfor passing the Uniform CPA Examination that were significantly different than NewYork’s conditioning requirements She is petitioning to accept her passing examinationscores from New Jersey

Ms Matthews passed the Auditing (AUD), Business Law and ProfessionalResponsibility (LPR), and Accounting and Reporting (ARE) sections of the paper-basedexamination in May 2003 When the examination transitioned to a computer-basedexamination in 2004, New Jersey allowed candidates who had passed one or moresections of the examination in May 2003 to take five years to pass the remainingsections of the examination At that time, however, New York required applicants topass the remaining sections of the examination within three years Ms Matthewspassed the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section in August 2006, threemonths outside of New York’s three-year conditioning period but well within NewJersey’s five-year period

Ms Matthews has been employed by public accounting firms since 2003, with asignificant portion of her experience being in audit services Because her New Jerseylicense was issued in 2007; however, she is not eligible for a waiver of the conditioningperiod under the endorsement provisions of section 70.4(b) of Commissioner’sRegulations

Given New Jersey’s acceptance of her passing examination scores and herdemonstrated professional knowledge, the Executive Secretary of the State Board forPublic Accountancy supports her petition to waive the three-year requirement to pass allfour parts of the Uniform CPA Examination

APPLICABLE REQUIREMENTS: QUALIFICATIONS:

Section 7404 of Education Law and Part

70 of the Commissioner’s Regulations

(2) Passing scores on the Uniform CPA

Examination

(2) (a) May 2003: Business Law and Professional Responsibility, Auditing, and Accounting and Reporting (passing scores) Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(b) November 2003: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(c) August 2004: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score) (d) May 2005: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(e) August 2006: Financial Accountingand Reporting (passing score)

(3) One year of satisfactory experience (3)

RECOMMENDATION: The Committee on the Professions, in concurrence with theExecutive Secretary of the State Board for Public Accountancy, recommends that theapplicant’s petition for acceptance of passing grades on the Uniform CPA Examination

be accepted

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008 CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANCY

Ms Migliaccio passed the Auditing (AUD) and Business Law and ProfessionalResponsibility (LPR) sections of the paper-based examination in November 2001 Whenthe examination transitioned to a computer-based examination in 2004, Pennsylvaniaallowed candidates who had passed one or more sections of the examination inNovember 2001 to take five years to pass the remaining sections of the examination Atthat time, however, New York required applicants to pass the remaining sections of theexamination within three years Ms Migliaccio passed the Regulation (REG) section inNovember 2003 and the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section in October

2005, eleven months outside of New York’s three-year conditioning period but wellwithin Pennsylvania’s five-year period

Ms Migliaccio has been employed by public accounting firms since 1998, with asignificant portion of her experience being in audit services Because her Pennsylvanialicense was issued in 2006; however, she is not eligible for a waiver of the conditioningperiod under the endorsement provisions of section 70.4(b) of Commissioner’sRegulations

Given Pennsylvania’s acceptance of her passing examination scores and herdemonstrated professional knowledge, the Executive Secretary of the State Board forPublic Accountancy supports her petition to waive the three-year requirement to pass allfour parts of the Uniform CPA Examination

Section 7404 of Education Law and Part

70 of the Commissioner’s Regulations

(2) Passing scores on the Uniform CPA

Examination (2) (a) May 2000: Business Law and Professional Responsibility,

Auditing, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing scores)

(b) November 2000: Business Law and Professional Responsibility, Auditing, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing scores)

(c) May 2001: Business Law and Professional Responsibility, Auditing, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing

scores)

(d) November 2001: Business Law and Professional Responsibility, Auditing (passing scores); Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing scores)

(e) May 2002: Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing scores)

(f) November 2002: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(g) May 2003: Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Accounting and Reporting (failing scores)

(h) November 2003: Accounting and Reporting (passing score); Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(i) May 2007: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(j) November 2004: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(k) May 2005: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(l) October 2005: Financial Accounting and Reporting (passing score)

(3) One year of satisfactory experience (3)

RECOMMENDATION: The Committee on the Professions, in concurrence with theExecutive Secretary of the State Board for Public Accountancy, recommends that theapplicant’s petition for acceptance of passing grades on the Uniform CPA Examination

be accepted

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008 CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANCY

Mr Susanto originally received credit for passing the Financial Accounting and

Reporting (FAR) and Auditing and Attestation (AUD) sections of the examination in the

October/November 2006 testing window He subsequently passed the Business

Environment and Concepts (BEC) section of the examination in January 2007 Heneeded to pass the fourth section, Regulation (REG), by June 30, 2008 He passed theREG in August 2008, two months after losing conditional credit for FAR

Mr Susanto states that his ability to effectively prepare for the examination wasimpeded by his role as a primary care giver, in addition to being responsible formanagement of the household and finances, due to the medical condition of animmediate family member, which has been corroborated by attending physicians

Based on Mr Susanto’s unique personal situation described above and hiscontinued efforts to pass the FAR section of the examination, the Executive Secretary ofthe State Board for Public Accountancy supports his petition to waive the 18-monthrequirement to pass all four parts of the Uniform CPA Examination

Section 7404 of Education Law and Part

70 of the Commissioner’s Regulations

(2) Passing scores on the Uniform CPA

Examination (2) (a) October 2006: Financial Accounting and Reporting (passing

score)

(b) November 2006: Auditing and Attestation (passing score)

(c) January 2007: Business Environment and Concepts (passing score).

(d) April 2007: Regulation (failing score)

(e) July 2007: Regulation (failing score)

(f) November 2007: Regulation (failing score)

(g) February 2008: Regulation (failing score)

(h) May 2008: Regulation (failing score)

(i) August 2008: Regulation (passing score)

(3) One year of satisfactory experience (3)

RECOMMENDATION: The Committee on the Professions, in concurrence with theExecutive Secretary of the State Board for Public Accountancy, recommends that theapplicant’s petition for acceptance of passing grades on the Uniform CPA Examination

be accepted

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008 CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANCY

Mr Weinstock originally received credit for passing the Business Environment

and Concepts (BEC) section of the examination in November 2006 He needed to passthe three remaining sections by June 30, 2008 to retain credit for the BEC section Hepassed the Auditing and Attestation (AUD) section in February 2007 and the Regulation(REG) section in February 2008 He did not pass the Financial Accounting andReporting (FAR) section until August 2008, which was two months after his conditionalperiod ended

Mr Weinstock scheduled and sat for the FAR section in November 2007;however, he experienced significant hardware problems with the equipment that led tosome of his answers not being recorded Mr Weinstock reported his troubles to theexamination administrator during his test and followed up with them afterwards Theadministrator reviewed Mr Weinstock’s complaint and determined that he hadexperienced a significant workstation hardware issue over which he had no control.Based on this review, they allowed him to sit for the section again at no cost Oncenotified of his free retest, Mr Weinstock immediately scheduled and sat for the FARsection in May 2008 He then sat again for the FAR section in the next testing window,August 2008, two months after he lost conditional credit for BEC Once notified of hispassing score on FAR, Mr Weinstock notified the State Board for Accountancy andbegan the waiver process

Given the hardware failures that Mr Weinstock experienced while sitting for theFAR section of the examination, the Executive Secretary of the State Board for PublicAccountancy supports his petition to waive the 18-month requirement to pass all fourparts of the Uniform CPA Examination

APPLICABLE REQUIREMENTS: QUALIFICATIONS:

Section 7404 of Education Law and Part

70 of the Commissioner’s Regulations

(b) April 2006: Auditing and Attestation (failing score)

(c) November 2006: Business Environment and Concepts (passing score)

(d) February 2007: Auditing and Attestation (passing score)

(e) August 2007: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score) (f) November 2007: Financial

Accounting and Reporting (failing score) (g) February 2008: Regulation (passing score)

(h) May 2008: Financial Accounting and Reporting (failing score)

(i) August 2008: Financial Accountingand Reporting (passing score)

(3) One year of satisfactory experience (3)

RECOMMENDATION: The Committee on the Professions, in concurrence with theExecutive Secretary of the State Board for Public Accountancy, recommends that theapplicant’s petition for acceptance of passing grades on the Uniform CPA Examination

be accepted

Board of Regents: December 16, 2008 PHARMACY

The applicant provided photocopies of his results on the TSE from April 2003through May 2006, which indicate that he consistently received scaled scores of either

45 or 40 FPGEC certification requires a minimum score of 50 as the NationalAssociation of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) determined that the score level of 50 isneeded on the TSE for the professional practice of pharmacy

The Department also received unverified copies for the TOEFL iBT examinationtaken by the applicant in July 2006 and May 2007 NABP set minimum scores for theTOEFL iBT as 21 for Reading, 18 for Listening, 26 for Speaking, and 24 for Writing.The applicant reports scores respectively of 17, 21, 19, 22 on the first examination and

18, 20, 22, 15 on the second examination NABP indicates that a candidate mustachieve scores above the minimum on each of the four sections to obtain a passingscore for that sitting of the examination He obtained a satisfactory score for NABP only

on the Listening section

Mr Varkey is a native of India and moved to America with his family in 1977 Hesubsequently graduated from high school in New York State in 1980 and from SUNYCollege of Technology with a B.S degree in 1987 In 1994, he was issued a pharmacyintern permit after completing a pre-pharmacy program at Long Island University Theapplicant states that for “personal and financial reasons,” he decided to pursue hispharmacy degree in India rather than completing the pharmacy program at Long IslandUniversity He studied at the Indian pharmacy school from 1995 to 2002