cpa and parafanellia charge?

March 20, 2008 9:44 AM

Anyone know if having a marijuana paraphernalia charge will prevent someone from becoming a CPA in Texas? Its a class B misdemeanor but I went to the site but when I went to the site, tsbpa.state.tx.us, it is very vague about which misdemeanors are considered for denial of certification.
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (2 answers total)

I think these are the relevant rules. See especially sub-section (d). Possession of drug paraphernalia is not a dishonesty crime and I don't think it is a crime of moral turpitude either.
posted by grouse at 9:55 AM on March 20, 2008

I used to work at the accountancy boards in one of the US states (I would prefer not to say which one, but it wasn't Texas). We got this question all the time, and from experience I can say that the things that excluded a person from CPA candidacy were major crimes (we knocked someone back for attempted murder), anything fraud/dishonesty related, robbery, things like that. It was really on a case-by-case basis too, depending on how old the incident was, any supporting documentation that the candidate included, etc. I don't recall anyone being rejected on the basis of a drug paraphernalia misdemeanor though.

This wasn't Texas though, and it does of course vary from state to state. The best thing you can do is call the board and ask anonymously.
posted by madforplaid at 7:32 PM on March 20, 2008