In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state boards of accountancy have decided to grant a blanket credit extension. CPA exam credits expiring between April 1 through December 30, 2020 were all extended until December 31, 2020.  

This one-size-fits-all approach is the easy way but it is absolutely inequitable.  A candidate with an exam expiring in April 1 was effectively granted a 9-month extension, while a candidate with an exam expiring in December 30 receives a 1 day extension.  However, every single candidate still on the CPA journey was affected by the pandemic, including those with credits expiring after December 31 by losing 3-4 months of the opportunity to sit for the CPA exam due to test site closures.  This has caused further delays in our studies, which is why a blanket date of December 31 for those falling between the April 1 - December 30 makes no sense.

This puts us at a significant disadvantage by only having approximately 14 months instead of the 18-month window that should be equally afforded to all.  

For such a prestigious license for which we pay tremendous amounts of money, not to mention the time and efforts to prepare, we expect more than the easy response to this pandemic that has equally affected us all.  The current blanket-approach is not equitable for obvious reasons. 

Exam credit extensions should be fair across the board.  Not 9 months for some and 1 day for others.  State boards of accountancy need to do the right thing and provide everyone an equal chance because it the obvious right thing to do for CPA candidates.