The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 26 : Professions and Occupations

Chapter 001 : Accountants

Subchapter 001 : GENERAL PROVISIONS

• § 13. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1)(A) “Attest services” means providing the following services:

  (i) any audit or other engagement to be performed in accordance with the Statements on Auditing Standards (SAS);

  (ii) any review of a financial statement or compilation of a financial statement to be performed in accordance with the Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS);

  (iii) any examination of prospective financial information to be performed in accordance with the Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE);

  (iv) any engagement to be performed in accordance with the auditing standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB); or

  (v) any examination, review, or agreed upon procedures engagement to be performed in accordance with the SSAE, other than an examination described in subdivision (iii) of this subdivision (1)(A).

  (B) The statements on standards specified in this section shall be adopted by reference by the Board pursuant to rulemaking, and shall be those developed for general application by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

  (2) “Board” means the Board of Public Accountancy.

  (3) “Compilation” means providing a service to be performed in accordance with Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS) that is presented in the form of financial statements or information that represents management or owners without expressing any type of assurance on the statements.

  (4) [Repealed.]

  (5) “Firm” means a sole proprietorship, a corporation, a partnership, association, or any other entity that practices public accountancy.

  (6) [Repealed.]

  (7) “Good character” means fiscal integrity, and a lack of any history of acts involving dishonesty, false statements, or fraud.

  (8) “Home office” means the location specified by the client as the address to which a service described in subsection 74c(c) of this title is directed.

  (9) “Peer review” means a systemwide study, appraisal, or review of one or more aspects of the professional work of a person or firm in the practice of public accounting that performs attest services by a person or persons who are licensed under this chapter and who are not affiliated with the person or firm being reviewed.

  (10) “Practice of public accounting” means the performance or the offering to perform by a person or firm holding itself out to the public as being licensed, registered, or otherwise authorized under this chapter, for a client or potential client, of one or more kinds of services involving the use of accounting or auditing skills, including the issuance of reports on financial statements, or of one or more kinds of management advisory, financial advisory, or consulting services, or the preparation of tax returns or the furnishing of advice on tax matters.

  (11) “Principal place of business” means the office location designated by the licensee for the purposes of substantial equivalency and reciprocity.

  (12) “Public accountant” means a certified public accountant or a registered public accountant until July 1, 2003, after which the title of registered public accountant will still exist for those licensed as registered public accountants or having received conditional credit toward licensure as a registered public accountant by that date, but will no longer be a title granted by the Board.

  (13) “Report” when used with reference to any attest or compilation service, means an opinion, report, or other form of language that states or implies assurance as to the reliability of the attested information or compiled financial statements and that also includes or is accompanied by any statement or implication that the person or firm issuing it has special knowledge or competence in accounting or auditing.

  (A) A statement or implication of special knowledge or competence may arise from use by the issuer of the report of names or titles indicating that the person or firm is an accountant or auditor, or from the language of the report itself.

  (B) The term “report” includes any form of language that disclaims an opinion when the form of language is conventionally understood to imply any positive assurance as to the reliability of the attested information or compiled financial statements referred to or special competence on the part of the person or firm issuing the language; and it includes any other form of language that is conventionally understood to imply such assurance or such special knowledge or competence.

  (14) “Sole proprietorship,” when used for the specific purpose of describing the fee category applicable to a firm under this chapter, means a firm that employs only one certified public accountant.

  (15) “State” includes the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other jurisdictions recognized by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). (Added 1975, No. 89, § 7; amended 1981, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1991, No. 167 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2001, No. 129 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; eff. June 13, 2002; 2007, No. 29, § 4; 2009, No. 35, § 4; 2017, No. 48, § 8; 2019, No. 30, § 9.)