Populating the NCID in the Accountancy Licensee Database (ALD)

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Published: June 20, 2024

Currently, NASBA does not have a unique identifier that links CPA Exam candidates and their Exam scores to licensed CPAs in the Accountancy Licensee Database (ALD). A value that could link the data between the systems would greatly enhance the data included in the ALD and provide added efficiencies. The National Candidate Identification Number (NCID) can be the key between these NASBA applications.

Presently, each application creates its own unique identifier that serves different purposes in each system. The Gateway application houses the NCID number for each Exam candidate, which is a unique identifier for Exam candidates across jurisdictions. The Accountancy Licensee Database (ALD) uses an algorithm (“hashing” algorithm) that transforms three pieces of unique information from a licensee to create a unique value to identify the same licensee across jurisdictions.

Making the NCID number the link between the two systems serves multiple purposes. First, having the Exam scores in the ALD would reduce, or possibly eliminate, the need for boards to request Exam scores from other boards using Interstate Exchange Forms for license applicants who did not sit for the Exam in their state.

Also, jurisdictions that do not have or cannot share the pieces of information that could create the unique hashing value in the ALD to link licenses would be able to use the NCID number as the linking mechanism. Their licenses would be linked in the ALD and they would become eligible to participate in the use of the CPE Audit Service. Having their licensees linked across state lines also allows them to receive alerts for their CPAs when they are disciplined in another state, or their license status indicates that they are deceased.

With the NCID as the primary key between the Gateway and ALD applications, candidate and licensee information can be linked together to achieve multiple goals including more robust data analysis of the Exam to licensure path. Connecting the data in the Gateway with the information in the ALD and populating CPA Exam information to the ALD would provide a more comprehensive picture of the Exam to licensure path and more robust data analytics options. In addition, linking licenses in the ALD via the NCID number in addition to, or eventually in replacement of, the hashing algorithm will allow even more boards to link their licensees and ensure that the data will continue to be linked regardless of the boards’ access to social security numbers.

The ALD Task Force and the NASBA ALD team will begin reaching out to boards to encourage and facilitate this effort beginning August 1, 2024, with a goal to complete the effort by July 2026.