CPA Day at the Capitol

By Johanna Sweaney Salt, CPA & Scott Hofferber, CPA

CalCPA descended on our state’s capitol during what can only be described as the budget battles. As you might guess, the atmosphere of CPA Day at the Capitol was quite different from the one in May 2008. Armed with folders featuring our Dollars and Sense financial literacy initiatives, more than 200 CPAs were all over the corridors in the capitol, sporting a bright blue “150” button.

Our first priority was to educate the legislators about our financial literacy programs. And with the economic meltdown, they were more than ready to listen. CalCPA has been at the forefront of this financial literacy effort starting about five years ago. And folks are finally starting to take notice that there is a huge need for this kind of education. With more than 100 CPAs signed up on the financial literacy volunteer lists, there are tremendous amounts of resources available for a public that is in desperate need. The AdCouncil’s “Feed the Pig” campaign and the AICPA’s “360 Degrees of Financial Freedom” program are garnering more national recognition and we in CalCPA can continue to lead in these efforts through our volunteerism.

Our second priority was to lobby for support of legislation that will be soon be introduced to eliminate pathway 1 to licensure, which requires 120 semester hours and two years’ experience in addition to passing the CPA Exam. There are 46 states that have already mandated 150 semester hours to be licensed as a CPA. If we expect to have reciprocity with other states, California must also require the 150 hours.

Aiming for an effective date of 2014, licensed CPAs would be grandfathered in, and California will immediately become a “substantially equivalent” state the moment the legislation is passed. The average accounting major is already graduating with 143 semester hours, and two-thirds of CPAs are opting for pathway 2 (which requires 150 semester hours and one year of experience in addition to passing the CPA Exam). Look for further updates and be sure to communicate with your local state senators and assembly representatives regarding the importance of passing this legislation and allowing California CPAs to remain competitive with their counterparts across the nation.

Another step toward substantial conformity with the Uniform Accountancy Act is already working its way through the Legislature in the form of AB 117. This bill will require CPAs who are not current with their CPE requirements, and thus maintaining an inactive license with the California Board of Accountancy, to indicate “inactive” next to their CPA designation on business cards, résumés, etc. To achieve reciprocity with other states in performing services under our California licenses, this additional change must occur. Another reciprocity-related matter needing to be addressed in the near future to become a substantially equivalent state under the UAA is mandatory peer review. Stay in tune with these issues by monitoring CalCPA’s website and networking with your peers at chapter and state events.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Chapter News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.