CPA firm ownership

CPA firm ownership. (a) A certified public accountant firm located inside of the State of Mississippi shall be required to show that: (1) it is wholly owned by natural persons and not owned in whole or in part by business entities; (2) a simple majority of the ownership of the firm in terms of financial interests and/or voting rights hold Mississippi certified public accountant licenses; and (3) the certified public accountant members of the firm are registered and in good standing with the Board, unless said CPA members qualify for practice privileges pursuant to Section 73-33-17 (4) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended. In addition, each resident manager of each CPA firm office in Mississippi must reside in Mississippi and hold a current license to practice public accountancy in Mississippi. Exempted from the requirement of Mississippi residency is a resident manager who spends a majority of his or her work year on-site in the Mississippi offices for which the licensee is the firm resident manager. The exemption is intended to address licensees residing outside of Mississippi but are able to commute to the Mississippi offices for which the licensee is the firm resident manager on a routine and regular basis. (b) Except as otherwise provided by Section 73-33-17 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, a certified public accountant firm or office thereof having its principal place of business located outside of the State of Mississippi that offers to perform or practices public accounting for a client or a potential client who is a Mississippi resident, has a principal place of business or is domiciled in Mississippi shall be required to show that: (1) it is wholly owned by natural persons and not owned in whole or in part by business entities; (2) a simple majority of the ownership of the firm in terms of financial interests and/or voting rights hold certified public accountant licenses from a statutorily authorized licensing jurisdiction; (3) the certified public accountant members of the firm offering to perform or performing work for a Mississippi client qualify for practice privileges pursuant to Section 73-33-17 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended; and (4) the firm is in compliance with all appropriate licensing and registration requirements of the state of its principal place of business. (c) Any certified public accountant firm may include non-licensee owners provided that: (1) the firm designates a licensee of this state or licensee of another state where the firm is registered if qualifying for the practice privilege pursuant to Section 73-33-17 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, who is responsible for the proper registration of the firm and identifies that individual to the Board; (2) all non-licensee owners are natural persons and are active individual participants in the certified public accountant firm or affiliated entities; (3) all non-licensee owners are identified as owners in connection with the registration of the firm and do not hold, in the aggregate, more than forty-nine percent of the firm financial interest or voting rights; (4) all services as defined herein are under the charge of a Mississippi CPA licensee or CPA qualified for practice privileges pursuant to Section 73- 33-17 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended; (5) all services are performed within the requirements set out in Section 73- 33-15 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 and the professional standards for such services; (6) no person not holding a valid CPA licensee shall use or assume the title certified public accountant or the abbreviation CPA or any other title, designation, words, letters, abbreviation, sign, card or device likely to be confused with or tending to indicate that such person is a certified public accountant unless said person is qualified for practice privileges pursuant to Section 73-33-17 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended; (7) non-CPAs shall not have ultimate responsibility for the performance of audits, reviews or compilations of financial statements or other forms of attestation related to financial statements and may not use language in any statement related to the financial affairs or a person or entity which is conventionally used by licensees in reports on financial statements; (8) non-CPA owners are responsible for compliance with the Act and these Rules and Regulations; and (9) the firm complies with other requirements as set by the Board. (d) When the death of a licensee owner, whether shareholder or member or partner, would cause licensee ownership of a firm to fall below 50%, the executive director may authorize the firm to continue to operate for up to 12 months following the death of such owner. The Board’s ratification of the executive director’s authorization will require submission of the following: (1) a copy of the owner’s death certificate, (2) a copy of appropriate legal documents designating a CPA licensee or registration holder in good standing with the Board to manage the firm on behalf of the non-licensed owners, and (3) written evidence that a disruption in the continuation of the firm’s operations would jeopardize the survivability of the firm.