Activity Review
North Carolina State
Board of Certified Public
Accountant Examiners
1101 Oberlin Road, Suite 104, Post Office Box 12827, Raleigh, NC 27605-2827 (919) 733-4222 No. 1 2002
Preventing Identity Theft
Identity theft, the fastest-growing fi¬
nancial crime, has acquired a darker
edge lately.
One of the first things the FBI dis¬
covered about the September 11, 2001,
terrorism attacks was that as many as a
half-dozen of the hijackers were using
credit cards and drivers' licenses with
identities lifted from stolen or forged
passports.
In the weeks since, Americans have
suffered some erosions of privacy pro¬
tection. While a dozen or so consumer-
protection bills in Congress have moved
to the back burner, new laws have given
financial institutions more snooping
rights, a move aimed at spotting trans¬
actions that might be funding terrorist
activity.
Although you may not be able to
deter the government's new-found in¬
terest in your personal business, you
can protect yourself from criminals
determined to exploit your personal
financial information.
The theft can be as simple as some¬
one pilfering your credit card number
and charging merchandise to your ac¬
count or it can be as elaborate as a crook
usingyour name, birth date, and Social
Security number to take overyourcredit
card and bank accounts, or set up new
ones.
Guarding against identity theft is
much like locking the door and activat¬
ing the burglar alarm when you leave
your home. By and large, the crime is a
low-tech operation, despite well-publi¬
cized instances of hackers breaking into
a Web site and stealing millions of credit
card numbers. Usually , someone fishes
a bank statement or credit-card offer out
of your trash, or a dishonest employee
peeks at your personnel file.
Agood tool for combating the crooks
is a paper shredder. Place it someplace
convenient, such as under your desk,
and shred every piece of data -laden junk
mail you get.
Identity Theft
continued on page 7
Certificate Renewals to be Mailed in February
The Board will mail 2002-2003
certificate renewal forms to licensees
in mid- to late February. This is the
second year that the Board has mailed
certificate renewals early.
Although the certificate renewal
forms will be mailed about two
months earlier than in the past, the
renewal deadline remains June 30.
To ensure that you receive your
renewal form, as well as other corre¬
spondence from the Board, submit, in
writing (via fax, e-mail, or US Postal
Sendee), any address changes as soon
as possible.
For
у
our convenience, a N otice of
Address Change is printed on page 8
of each issue of the Activity Review.
Board Approves
Increase in Exam Fee
At its December 18, 2001, meeting,
the NC State Board of CPA Examin¬
ers approved an increase in the ap¬
plication fee for the Uniform CPA
Examination.
Effective with the May 2002
Uniform CPA Examination, the ap¬
plication fee for the exam is $250.00.
The fee was increased to allow
the Board can recover its costs of
administering the exam— specifi¬
cally, the cost of grading the exam.
The application fee is the same
for initial and re-exam applicants,
regardless of the number of sections
for which the applicant is sitting.
www.state.nc.us/cpabd
Inside this issue...
Board Meetings . 3
Certificates Issued . 5
Conditional Status . 5, 6
Contact the Board . 7
Disciplinary Actions . 2
Exam Application Deadlines . 5
Forfeitures . 6
In Memoriam: Koonce . 4
Notice of Address Change . 8
Reclassifications . 4, 5
