Wyoming Statutes

Wyo. Stat. § 33-3-109 (2026)

Certified public accountant; qualifications.

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section WY-LEGwyoleg.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
(a) An active certificate of "certified public accountant"
shall be granted by the board to any person:

          (i) Who is a resident of Wyoming or has a place of
business in Wyoming, or as an employee, is regularly employed in
Wyoming; and

          (ii)    Who has attained the age of majority in Wyoming;
and

          (iii)   Repealed by Laws 2005, ch. 1, § 2.

          (iv) Who has passed a written examination in
accounting and auditing and other related subjects the board
determines to be appropriate; and

          (v) Who, prior to January 1, 2012, meets the
requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) or subparagraphs (C)
and (D) of this paragraph or, on or after January 1, 2012, meets
the requirements of subparagraphs (C) and (D) of this paragraph:

               (A) Earned a baccalaureate degree conferred by a
college or university recognized by the board, with a total
education program to include an accounting concentration or
equivalent as determined to be appropriate by the rules and
regulations of the board, or what the board determines to be
substantially the equivalent of the foregoing;

               (B) Completed at least four (4) years of full-
time experience in the practice of public accounting. The
experience shall include providing any type of service or advice
involving the use of accounting skills, any auditing, review or
compilation service, any management advisory or financial
advisory service, or any tax or consulting service. Experience
shall be verified by an active certified public accountant or
the equivalent as determined by the board, or by providing
representative samples of work as determined by the board. The
experience shall be acceptable if it is gained through
employment in government, industry, academia or public
accounting;

               (C) Completed at least one hundred fifty (150)
semester hours of college education including a baccalaureate or
higher degree conferred by a college or university acceptable to
the board, the total educational program to include an
accounting concentration or equivalent as determined to be
appropriate by the rules and regulations of the board;

               (D) Completed at least one (1) year of full-time
experience in the practice of public accounting. The experience
shall include providing any type of service or advice involving
the use of accounting skills, any auditing, review, or
compilation service, any management advisory or financial
advisory service, or any tax or consulting service. Experience
shall be verified by an active certified public accountant or
the equivalent as determined by the board, or by providing
representative samples of work as determined by the board. The
experience shall be acceptable if it is gained through
employment in government, industry, academia or public
accounting.

    (b)     Repealed by Laws 1993, ch. 77, § 2.

     (c) As used in this act, "the practice of certified public
accounting" means holding oneself out to the public or otherwise
in such a manner as to state or imply that one is:

            (i)   Skilled in the practice of accounting and
auditing;

          (ii) Qualified to express any form of assurance on
financial statements;

          (iii) Qualified to express opinions on financial
statements for credit purposes, for use in the courts or for
other purposes involving third party reliance on these financial
statements; or

          (iv) Skilled in the provision of any accounting
service including recording and summarizing financial
transactions, analyzing and verifying financial information,
reporting financial results to an employer, clients or other
parties and rendering tax or management advisory services to any
employer, clients or other parties.

     (d) There shall be a reasonable annual certificate fee to
be established by board rules in accordance with W.S. 33-1-201.
All certificates shall expire on the last day of December of
each year and may be renewed annually for a period of one (1)
year by certificate holders and registrants who meet the
requirements specified in subsection (e) of this section and
upon payment of the annual fee. In accordance with W.S. 33-1-
201 the board may by rule establish a fee in addition to the
annual certificate fee to reactivate an expired certificate.

     (e) Applications for renewal of an active certificate
shall be accompanied by evidence of satisfaction of the
continuing education requirements during the three (3) years
preceding the application. Failure by an individual applicant
to furnish this evidence shall constitute grounds for nonrenewal
under W.S. 33-3-121, unless the board determines the failure is
due to reasonable cause or excusable neglect. The board may
renew a certificate despite the failure to furnish evidence of
satisfaction of the requirements of continuing education upon
the condition that the applicant follow a particular future
program or schedule of continuing education. In issuing rules,
regulations and individual orders regarding requirements of
continuing education, the board may use and rely upon guidelines
and pronouncements of recognized educational and professional
associations, may prescribe the content, duration and
organization of courses, shall take into account the applicant's
access to continuing education courses and any impediments to
the interstate practice of certified public accounting which may
result from differences in these requirements in other states
and may provide for relaxation or suspension of the requirements
for applicants who certify that they do not intend to engage in
the practice of certified public accountancy or for instances of
individual hardship.

     (f) Persons holding a certificate issued under W.S. 33-3-
109 or 33-3-116 but who do not practice public accounting in
Wyoming and have not lost the right to active status may place
the certificate on an inactive status. A person with a
certificate on inactive status shall pay an annual inactive fee
not exceeding one-half (1/2) the annual fee charged to active
certificate holders. All inactive status certificates shall
expire on the last day of December of each year and may be
renewed annually for a period of one (1) year. If the fee is not
paid by December 31, a late fee as set by board rule in
accordance with W.S. 33-1-201, may be added to the annual fee.
A person classified as inactive may assume or use the title or
designation "certified public accountant" or the abbreviation
"CPA" and shall use the words "inactive" adjacent to the
designation "CPA" or "certified public accountant".

     (g) The board by regulation may allow persons to retire
the certificate. A person classified as retired shall pay a fee
to be established by board rule in accordance with W.S.
33-1-201. A person classified as retired may assume or use the
title or designation "certified public accountant" or the
abbreviation "CPA" and shall use the words "retired" adjacent to
the designation "CPA" or "certified public accountant".

     (h) Any individual certificate holder or individual with
practice privileges who is responsible for supervising
attestation services or compilation services or who signs or
authorizes someone to sign the accountant's report on the
financial statements shall meet the experience or competency
requirements set forth in the professional standards for such
services.

     (j) Nothing in subsection (c) of this section shall be
construed to prohibit public accountants from providing the
services listed in subsection (c) of this section as long as the
public accountant does not hold himself out to be a certified
public accountant.

     (k) The board shall issue a certificate to a holder of a
substantially equivalent foreign designation who meets the
requirements of paragraphs (a)(i) and (ii) of this section
provided that:

          (i) The foreign authority which granted the
designation makes similar provision to allow a person who holds
a valid certificate issued by this state to obtain the foreign
authority's comparable designation; and

         (ii)   The foreign designation:

               (A) Was issued by a foreign authority that
regulates the practice of certified public accountancy and the
foreign designation has not expired or been revoked or
suspended;
               (B) Entitles the holder to issue reports upon
financial statements; and

               (C) Was issued upon the basis of educational,
examination and experience requirements established by the
foreign authority or by law; and

         (iii)   The applicant:

               (A) Received the designation based on
educational and examination standards substantially equivalent
to those in effect in this state at the time the foreign
designation was granted;

               (B) Completed an experience requirement
substantially equivalent to the requirements of subparagraph
(a)(v)(D) of this section in the jurisdiction which granted the
foreign designation or has completed four (4) years of
professional experience in this state or meets equivalent
requirements within the ten (10) years immediately preceding the
application as prescribed by board rule; and

               (C) Passed a uniform qualifying examination in
national standards acceptable to the board.

     (m) An applicant for a certificate under subsection (k) of
this section shall list in the application all jurisdictions,
foreign and domestic, in which the applicant has applied for or
holds a designation to practice public accountancy. Each holder
of a certificate issued under subsection (k) of this section
shall notify the board in writing within thirty (30) days after
its occurrence of any issuance, denial, revocation or suspension
of a designation or commencement of a disciplinary or
enforcement action by any jurisdiction.

     (n) The board has sole authority to interpret the
application of the provisions of subsections (k) and (m) of this
section.

     (o) An active certificate of "certified public accountant"
shall be granted by the board to any person who makes
application and demonstrates eligibility under the substantial
equivalency standard when the person establishes a principal
place of business in this state. Qualifications may be
established through a designee as provided in board rule.
     (p) An active certificate of "certified public accountant"
may be granted by the board to any person who makes application
but does not meet the eligibility under the substantial
equivalency standard upon a showing:

          (i) The applicant passed the uniform certified public
accountant examination; and

          (ii) The applicant had four (4) years of experience
of the type set forth in subparagraph (a)(v)(D) of this section
within the ten (10) years immediately preceding the application
as prescribed by board rule.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 2006–2006 · leading case: Dorr v. Wyoming Bd. of Certified Pub. Accountants, 2006 WY 144 (Wyo. 2006).
Dorr v. Wyoming Bd. of Certified Pub. Accountants, 2006 WY 144 (Wyo. 2006). “Dorr claims that, despite the fact he was the sole owner of CPA Network, the business entity was not restricted in its ability to conduct audits by the terms of the settlement agreement.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.