The leaders of the US accounting profession have signalled they could cut the education requirements for becoming an accountant, amid growing alarm about a shortage of new recruits.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants on Tuesday dropped its opposition to calls to reduce the amount of university education needed to qualify as a CPA.
That is currently set at the equivalent of five years, one year longer than a typical bachelors degree in the US.
The declaration is a watershed moment in what had become an increasingly tense struggle between the professional body and reformers.
Calls for reform have been growing louder as the number of US students taking accounting courses and going on to sit professional exams has fallen, leaving some accounting firms struggling to hire replacements for the baby boomers who are retiring.
An AICPA advisory group that included representatives from large and small firms said on Tuesday that the profession needed to “address the cost and time of education” as a priority for fixing the shortage.
It called for “a competency-based licensure model not tied to university credit hours”, among other reforms. The AICPA, in turn, expressed “directional support” for the group’s recommendations.
“While expanding approaches to CPA licensure alone will not solve the accounting talent problem, we believe our licensure process does need to acknowledge changing market conditions,” the AICPA said.
Accounting groups in Minnesota are among those lobbying to change state laws to cut the educational requirements for a licence, a movement that the AICPA says threatens long-established reciprocal agreements enabling accountants to practice across state lines unless change is co-ordinated at a national level.
Financial Times
