I would like to add my comments to those presented in the November Journal. I am against non-CPAs being partners in CPA firms. Rather than repeat arguments already presented, I would like to address a problem that I have not seen discussed.

A CPA firm has three partners: two CPAs and one non-CPA. One of the CPAs dies, and immediately this firm, now 50/50, is not a CPA firm. What if the firm is in the middle of an attest engagement?

The larger firms won't have this dilemma; they currently have owners who don't know all of their partners. A small firm will need time to become acquainted with and decide upon a new partner, or decide to terminate the firm in its present 50/50 form.

In the interim, does the firm notify clients that it is temporarily not a CPA firm?

I see this as a completely negative situation except for the laugh I'd get when the employment firm renames itself, The Robert more-than-Half Agency. *