What happens if the Department of Business and Professional Regulation chooses to discipline my Certified Public Accountant license?

If you are a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and the Department seeks to discipline you, they will first give you notice via a legal document called an administrative complaint. This will tell you what factual findings they are claiming and what disciplinary violations they are accusing you of, as well as to the penalties they have requested the Board of Accountancy enforce against your CPA license. Attached to the administrative complaint will be an election of rights form. This is your opportunity to challenge the allegations the Department has brought against you.

Most importantly, you only have 21 days to respond to the administrative complaint by filing the election of rights form. If you decline or neglect to take action the Board of Accountancy will accept the factual findings against your license as true and assess whatever penalty they see fit. If this happens, you will lose your right to dispute the factual findings of the Department.

Once properly challenged, it may be possible to resolve the administrative complaint against you by reaching a settlement agreement, depending on your case. The advice of an experienced attorney is crucial to negotiating your case with the attorneys of the Department to possibly reach a settlement of your case.

If you have received an administrative complaint from the Board of Accountancy, then time is of the essence. Call the law offices of Howell, Buchan & Strong at (850) 877-7776 now to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation. Our experienced administrative lawyers want to protect your license and livelihood.