A qualified public accountant or external auditor is a person who:

(a) Holds a valid and unrevoked certificate, issued to such person by a legally constituted State authority, identifying such person as a certified public accountant;

(b) Is licensed to practice as a public accountant by an appropriate regulatory authority of a State or other political subdivision of the United States;

(c) Is in good standing as a certified and licensed public accountant under the laws of the State or other political subdivision of the United States in which is located the home office or corporate office of the institution that is to be audited;

(d) Is not suspended or otherwise barred from practice as an accountant or public accountant before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or any other appropriate Federal or State regulatory authority; and

(e) Is independent of the institution that is to be audited. For the purposes of this definition, the term “independent” has the same meaning as under the rules and interpretations of the authoritative body governing overall audit performance. At a minimum, an accountant hired to audit a System institution is not independent if he or she functions in the role of management, audits his or her own work, or serves in an advocacy role for the institution.

[71 FR 76119, Dec. 20, 2006, as amended at 74 FR 28599, June 17, 2009]