When the Board of Accountancy licenses you as a public accountant, it means that you must serve with integrity and professionalism. Any complaint regarding your incompetence, negligence, or unprofessionalism can result in the cancellation of your license. If you acquired the necessary skills to become a certified public accountant because that is how you wanted to earn your living, you must do everything possible to defend your license. This means partnering with the right license attorney to fight any allegation or claim that puts your license at risk.
At Los Angeles License Attorney, we know how defeating it could feel when a minor misunderstanding or an honest mistake puts your entire livelihood at risk. We can help you fight any formal allegation that threatens your career and reputation in Los Angeles. This way, you can continue practicing the career you chose from the beginning.
Reasons Why License Defense is Necessary
It takes a lot of time, money, and dedication to build a career as a certified public accountant. This means years of studying and long practice to acquire the right skills and experience. As if this is not enough, you need a professional license in California to practice as a public accountant. Without this license, you cannot legally offer your services within the state. This requires additional resources and dedication, as you prove your skills and understanding of all the legal requirements to join this noble profession.
However, becoming a licensed certified public accountant does not mean that you can now relax and enjoy the income that comes with it. How you serve your clients every day determines your ability to maintain your license. You can lose your license for a few weeks, months, or years after obtaining your license, depending on how you conduct yourself publicly. The Board of Accountancy, which protects public interests, can easily revoke your license if your actions put the public at risk of losses.
Fortunately, some legal experts specialize in license defense. They work very closely with licensed professionals, especially those whose licenses are at risk of cancellation. If a claim is brought against you, it can affect your reputation and livelihood. A license defense attorney can help you fight against that claim to protect your reputation and license.
Here are some of the reasons you need this kind of help as a certified public accountant:
To Protect Your Income and Livelihood
As a certified public accountant, your license is your primary source of income and livelihood. What you earn under this license meets your needs and those of your dependents. Without this license, you may have to find other ways to earn a living, which can be difficult if you lack proper skills for any other career. Instead of doing nothing about a claim against you and risking losing your license, you should fight for the career that you chose and built for years. This way, you will not need to worry about finding an alternative means of earning a living.
Defending Your Professional Reputation
Certified public accountants are highly regarded in local communities. They are relied upon by individuals and businesses to manage their financial records, conduct audits, prepare tax returns, and provide financial advice. An allegation of a mistake you made (or did not make) can significantly affect your reputation. This will affect how your current and future clients treat you. It may ruin your career in the long run, especially if the allegation is serious, as no one would want to be associated with you or your business. However, you can fight the allegation with the help of an attorney before it becomes a public matter that can ruin your reputation.
Types of Formal Allegations You Can Face as a Certified Public Accountant
When discharging your services as a certified public accountant, you work very closely with individuals and businesses. This makes it easy for conflicts to arise, especially if there is a mistake, misconduct, or dissatisfaction from one or both parties. When this happens, the aggrieved party may file a complaint with the Board of Accountancy for justice, for revenge, or to gain an advantage over you. The board may be compelled to take action, especially if the allegation poses a risk to the public. While some allegations are lenient and do not necessarily affect your career, others can result in severe consequences, such as the cancellation of your license.
Here are the main types of allegations that the board receives from the public regarding certified public accountants:
Negligence and Professional Misconduct
This is the kind of allegation that relates directly to how you perform your tasks or the quality of services you render. You can be accused of negligence or professional misconduct under the following circumstances:
- If you negligently prepare or file tax returns on your clients’ behalf, including when you miscalculate taxes, miss critical deductions, file late, or make significant clerical mistakes.
- If you demonstrate accounting incompetence or malpractice, for example, by failing to perform your tasks according to the generally accepted accounting standards
- Failing to detect fraud or negligently missing or ignoring fraudulent activities or red flags in an accounting review or audit
- Providing improper valuations by providing inflated, inaccurate, or understated asset or business valuations
- Retaining client records or failing to return them promptly upon request, thereby violating the board rules.
Regulatory and Ethical Violations
These violations occur when you breach the code of conduct for professional certified public accountants. You can do this by:
- Failing to manage or disclose work-related situations in which your personal interests conflict with your clients’ interests, for example, when you recommend a product to a client from which you have a financial interest.
- Breaching client confidentiality through unlawful disclosure of a client’s sensitive information
- Being an auditor in a business or organization in which you also have a personal or financial interest
- Being dishonest or lacking integrity when interpreting financial data, including fabricating financial documents
Criminal or Illegal Conduct
Remember that certified public accountants are highly regarded in California. This means that any mistake you make, for example, if you engage in criminal acts, can ruin your reputation and, thereafter, your career. The Board of Accountancy specifies criminal acts that could substantially ruin your professionalism. These include:
- Fraud and embezzlement, which could happen when you cook clients’ books, or misappropriate a client’s money
- Aiding and abetting tax evasion
- Money laundering or any actions that could potentially hide an illicit source of money
- Felony convictions or some misdemeanor convictions related to dishonesty or fraud
Administrative and Technical Violations
If you breach any licensing rule, the Board of Accountancy can take action against you. Some of the common violations under this category include the following:
- Offering services without a valid license, including a suspended, expired, or inactive professional license
- Offering services that require a specific license or permit that your CPA license does not have
- Failing to comply with the board’s requirements of continuing professional education
- Using false, misleading, or deceptive advertising tactics to attract clients to your business
Common Consequences of Formal Allegations by the Board of Accountancy
When the Board of Accountancy receives a claim of professional misconduct by a certified public accountant, it first determines the credibility of the claim before taking further action. If the claim is substantiated, the board may investigate further and hold a hearing to decide the matter. You will be notified of the investigation and the pending hearing as soon as they are settled. Then, you can start preparing to counter the allegation or fight for a reasonable outcome.
You have a chance of negotiating for a settlement before the matter goes to a hearing. With the help of a license attorney, you can negotiate with the board to resolve the matter outside a hearing. This will save your time, and the outcome could be favorable for you and the board. If this does not work, your attorney can help you plan your defense during the hearing.
Administrative hearings are usually overseen by administrative judges, who are appointed by the board to review evidence and recommend a befitting disciplinary action. The judge will review evidence and statements from the board and you to determine your case. If they rule in your favor, the matter can be dismissed, and you can resume work as if the case had not happened. However, if there is compelling evidence of your unprofessionalism, the judges will recommend any of the following disciplinary actions:
A Public Reprimand or Censure
This is a board’s formal way of expressing strong disapproval of what you did. It is meant to sternly warn you against repeating the same mistake. However, since it is publicly delivered, it can ruin your reputation. If your clients or employer finds out about your unprofessional conduct, they may cut their connections with you, causing you to lose valuable clients or your job.
Fines and Restitution
The board can issue a citation against you, requiring you to pay a particular fine to the court for your unprofessional conduct. The amount can be reasonable or high, depending on the nature and severity of the allegations against you. You could also be required to pay restitution in case you caused someone to suffer a financial loss.
License Probation
This is a serious action by the Board of Accountancy. When your license is placed on probation, it means you are under the board’s scrutiny. Although you can continue to render your services, you must do so under strict terms and conditions. Violating any of these conditions could result in the suspension or cancellation of your license. Generally, the board places an accountant’s license on probation during the investigation.
License Suspension or Revocation
This can happen when you are criminally or grossly negligent to the extent of putting the public at risk of financial loss or emotional anguish. Although license suspensions are mainly temporary, you are left without a livelihood for a significant period. License revocations are permanent. This means building against it from scratch when this happens.
How a License Attorney Can Help
When your professional license is at risk, you must do your best to defend it. An experienced license attorney can advise and guide you in protecting your career, regardless of the severity of the allegations you face. They will also help you navigate complex administrative processes and defend your rights against violation.
Thus, you need an attorney right after being notified of the allegation against you by the Board of Accountancy. This way, your attorney will have ample time to review your case and plan a solid defense for your license.
In addition to helping you navigate complex processes, your attorney will help you mitigate severe penalties from the board. Remember that all disciplinary actions by the board have the potential to affect your career in one way or another. Even the lenient ones, like citations and reprimands, can permanently damage your reputation, making it challenging to keep your clients or attract new ones. An experienced attorney will determine ways to minimize your penalties and achieve the best possible outcome.
The presence of your attorney in all administrative processes also ensures that the board treats you fairly and follows due process. Remember that the board exists primarily for public safety. If your actions put the public at risk of harm, the board will take the public’s side. This could leave you sidelined, especially if no one is taking your side. Having an attorney, especially an experienced attorney, ensures that your interests are also considered in all administrative processes. The board will respect your rights, regardless of the severity of the claim.
Find an Experienced License Attorney Near Me
Even after working so hard to obtain a certified public accountant license in Los Angeles, you can lose it in an instant. If you are accused of negligence, unprofessionalism, or incompetence, and there is compelling evidence against you, the Board of Accountancy can suspend or revoke your license. However, you can defend your license to protect your livelihood.
We can help you with that at the Los Angeles License Attorney. We can review your case, determine loopholes in the board’s case, and develop solid strategies that could result in a favorable outcome. Call us at 424-554-1140 to discuss this in detail.
