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ICYMI: Prometric Has Extended Site Closures Until May 1 Due to Coronavirus

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

Tomorrow was due to be the glorious day Prometric centers across the United States threw open their doors, sprayed off their keyboards, and welcomed eager future licensees back into their loving embrace (figuratively, of course) after COVID-19 forced them closed back in March. As pretty much everyone knew would happen, that date has been extended.

On Friday, Prometric announced it would remain closed until May 1. NASBA has already extended the delayed second quarter, which was due to begin April 1, from June 10 to June 30. There’s no doubt the impact coronavirus has had on CPA exam testing is significant.

From Prometric:

Early after the situation was officially characterized as a pandemic, we made the difficult but necessary decision to close all Prometric test centers in the U.S. and Canada until April 16th. Based on updated information and after careful consideration, we have decided to extend the closure of test centers in the U.S. and Canada through April 30th, with planned resumption of testing on May 1st.

This should surprise no one. In fact, we were hearing of post-April 16 test dates being canceled by Prometric as early as two weeks ago. We would have passed this information along but didn’t want to worry anyone just in case those were simply isolated incidents.

What remains unclear is how Prometric will proceed in states such as my own. Virginia is under statewide lockdown until June 10, one of the furthest-out dates of any stay-at-home state I’m aware of. One then has to wonder if Prometric would even be allowed to open its doors in a state like mine should things go according to plan and the grand re-opening happens on May 1. I contacted the Virginia Society of CPAs to see if they knew anything we don’t and was informed that it appears as though our board of accountancy is monitoring the situation, but we have no further information beyond that. So it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

For now, all anyone can do is wait and see. This is obviously an unprecedented situation and surely they’re acting with the best information they have, information that changes rapidly from day to day. I wouldn’t be surprised if Prometric delays re-opening further closer to May 1, but for now that’s what they’re going with. Friendly reminder for the time-challenged such as myself, that’s just two weeks away. Try to be patient and let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re doing the best they can given the circumstances.

Look on the bright side, at least CPA exam candidates will have an awesome story to tell when all this is over and the old-timers are complaining about how easy kids have it these days. “Back in my day you had to take all four parts at once in a darkened room by only candlelight.” “Yeah, well, in my day, my exam was pushed off by four months because of a GLOBAL PANDEMIC that crippled the entire world economy and sitting for the exam could literally kill me. Take a seat, Steve.”

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NASBA Takes the Guesswork Out of Reciprocity with Its Accounting License Library

While most of you are either in the process of getting licensed as a CPA or perfectly content to stick around in the state in which you are already licensed, NASBA reminds everyone that those of you with licenses in different states should not simply let them expire now that mobility (mostly) allows you to hold one license but work in multiple states.


From the NASBA blog (which I didn’t even know existed until now):

Mobility has meant that many CPAs no longer need to keep an active license in a state in order to practice there. But even if the license is no longer needed, there’s more involved than just letting it expire. If you don’t file the proper paperwork to let the board know that you’re voluntarily relinquishing that license, you could face disciplinary action. Without communication from you, the board may assume that you’ve allowed your license to lapse.

The distinction between reciprocity and mobility is an important one, which is why NASBA is enhancing ALL in this regard. If your work in a state were likely to be short-term, then the state’s mobility guidelines would likely cover you for the project’s duration. But if you are licensed in one state and plan to relocate to another, then you’ll need a secondary or reciprocal license from that state’s board. Most states, even with mobility, are requesting that CPAs obtain reciprocal licenses if they are making such a permanent move. Either way, if you find yourself with redundant licenses, ALL can help you relinquish them properly.

Now, NASBA wants to use their Accountancy Licensing Library tool to figure out the rules in your state for relinquishing your license, which is fine. But you can also check with your state board directly for rules on this.

Keep in mind if you relinquish your license in any state you may have to re-apply and retake the exam all over again, assuming you somehow also relinquish your other licenses in other states and have no license to transfer to that state. But who is going to do that?!

The key word here is redundancy. In this day and age, it no longer makes sense to carry multiple licenses, even if your work means you need practice privilege in states other than your own.