CLEAR News - Winter 2002

CLEAR News - Winter 2002

Other News

Security Breach Halts NABP Examination
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy announced that a sizeable security breach has been located in its Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE), causing the examination to be withdrawn until a replacement is available. The exam was suspended from 7 a.m. on Tuesday, November 19 and NABP will provide candidates with future dates for the new examination in the early part of 2003.

NABP's North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX), Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination (MPJE) or Disease State Management (DSM), are unaffected. NABP President John A. Fiacco made the following statement, "We deeply regret having to take such serious actions, but feel that it needs to be made clear to candidates that NABP does not tolerate such security breaches. We are also creating additional security measures to protect against possible future breaches."

The FPGEE is part of the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee (FPGEC) Certification Program, established to determine the equivalency of the foreign pharmacy education of an overseas education, license and/or registration.

As a result of the security breach, NABP has announced the following: computer-based FPGEE scores affected by the breach will be invalidated; certificates awarded by the FPGCE to candidates who passed the exam that was affected by the breach will be invalidated; current appointments for the FPGEE are cancelled and no new appointments are being accepted.

California Accountancy Board First With Public Majority
As of January 2003, California's Board of Accountancy will be the first such state board to be made up of a majority of non-accountants. Governor Gray Davis signed the bill into law on August 23, along with changes to auditing practices. The latter two changes will mandate a one-year cooling off period for those accepting a position with a company they have previously audited, as well as requiring the retention of audit work papers for seven years.

California General Assembly Bill (AB) 270 requires a public member majority, while AB 2873 requires record retention for a minimum of seven years. AB 2970 bars an auditor of a public traded company from working for a company in a position that allows significant control over the accounting functions in the 12 months following the provision of auditing services. The full text of each of the bills can be found on the General Assembly web site.

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