(1) “Board” means the Board of Accountancy.

(2) “Department” means the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

(3) “Division” means the Division of Certified Public Accounting.

(4) “Certified public accountant” means an individual who holds a license to practice public accounting in this state or an individual who is practicing public accounting in this state pursuant to the practice privilege granted in s. 473.3141. The term “Florida certified public accountant” means an individual holding a license under the authority of this chapter.

(5) “Firm” means any legal entity that is engaged in the practice of public accounting.

(6) “Home office” means the principal headquarters of an entity. An entity may have only one principal headquarters.

(7) “Licensed firm” or “public accounting firm” means a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, firm, or any other legal entity licensed under s. 473.3101.

(8) “Practice of,” “practicing public accountancy,” or “public accounting” means:

(a) Offering to perform or performing for the public one or more types of services involving the expression of an opinion on financial statements, the attestation as an expert in accountancy to the reliability or fairness of presentation of financial information, the utilization of any form of opinion or financial statements that provide a level of assurance, the utilization of any form of disclaimer of opinion which conveys an assurance of reliability as to matters not specifically disclaimed, or the expression of an opinion on the reliability of an assertion by one party for the use by a third party;

(b) Offering to perform or performing for the public one or more types of services involving the use of accounting skills, or one or more types of tax, management advisory, or consulting services, by any person who is a certified public accountant who holds an active license, issued pursuant to this chapter, or who is authorized to practice public accounting pursuant to the practice privileges granted in s. 473.3141, including the performance of such services by a certified public accountant in the employ of a person or firm;

(c) Offering to perform or performing for the public one or more types of service involving the preparation of financial statements not included within paragraph (a), by a certified public accountant who holds an active license, issued pursuant to this chapter, or who is authorized to practice public accounting pursuant to the practice privileges granted in s. 473.3141; by a firm of certified public accountants; or by a firm in which a certified public accountant has an ownership interest, including the performance of such services in the employ of another person. The board shall adopt rules establishing standards of practice for such reports and financial statements; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to permit the board to adopt rules that have the result of prohibiting Florida certified public accountants employed by unlicensed firms from preparing financial statements as authorized by this paragraph; or

(d) Offering to perform or performing for the public one or more types of services involving any attestation engagements in accordance with the Statements on Standards for Attestation Engagements.

(9) “Uniform Accountancy Act” means the Uniform Accountancy Act, Seventh Edition, dated May 2014 and published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.

However, these terms shall not include services provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or any full service association of certified public accounting firms whose plans of administration have been approved by the board, to their members or services performed by these entities in reviewing the services provided to the public by members of these entities.

History.—ss. 2, 25, ch. 79-202; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 10, 11, ch. 85-9; s. 1, ch. 89-87; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 3, ch. 92-292; s. 124, ch. 94-119; s. 155, ch. 94-218; s. 345, ch. 97-103; s. 1, ch. 98-340; s. 2, ch. 2000-154; s. 3, ch. 2009-54; s. 1, ch. 2015-174; s. 1, ch. 2017-148; s. 1, ch. 2019-89.