The case of the double Czech
Ethics
Charles Selcer, CPA, MBA | February/March 2022 Footnote
Editor's note: Updated January 27, 2022
Cassius Czech, CPA received a notice that he had been randomly selected for a Minnesota Board of Accountancy (BOA) CPE audit. In the process of renewing his license, he had previously reported 42, 44 and 40 hours for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 CPE years. He gathered his documentation and submitted it for the audit process.
For 2020, he could only document 35 hours of CPE and a four-hour class on “Administering CPR in the Workplace,” which was deemed to not qualify. Therefore, for 2020, he was nine hours short.
He carried back nine hours of 2021 CPE to get the qualifying hours and paid the required fees and penalty. He believed the matter was over.
However, he received a letter from the BOA informing him of possible further action stemming from the CPE audit.
Q: Wasn’t the matter finished?
A. No. Cassius had previously reported 40 hours for 2020. But only 31 hours were accepted because he could only document 35 hours and four of those hours didn’t qualify. His submission of 40 hours was, therefore, untruthful and can be referred to the BOA Complaint Committee for possible further action.
Ethics Corner
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