150-HOUR REQUIREMENT GAINS MOMENTUM, NOW IN 41 JURISDICTIONS

In the last year, four more states (Colorado, Maine, North Carolina and Oregon) have passed legislation or enacted regulations to require 150 hours of college education in order to become a CPA. The addition of these states brings the total number of jurisdictions with the 150-hour requirement to 41, according to data maintained by the AICPA.

The requirement is currently in effect in 15 states and will become effective in the near future in 26 jurisdictions. See the accompanying chart for more details.

At press time, legislation was pending in Massachusetts. (The State Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill in March.) In New York, the issue is a regulatory responsibility and is slated for discussion at the April meeting of the Board of Regents, which regulates the professions in the state.

The primary objective of an increased education requirement is to improve the overall quality of work performed by CPAs confronted with advancing technology, an increasingly complex business environment, and society's continuing demand for accounting and assurance services. Those in support of the change think expanding the education requirement to 150 hours will provide the opportunity for a well-rounded education and will enable CPAs to acquire the basic accounting and business knowledge to develop the skills needed to support lifelong professional careers.

The recent momentum on the issue can be attributed in part to the concerted efforts the profession has placed on passing the 150-hour requirement by the year 2000, when the AICPA will impose the additional hours of college education as a prerequisite for membership.

Moreover, to encourage uniformity among the states as they change their laws to increase the education requirement, the AICPA and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy crafted model language that appears in the AICPA/NASBA Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) and Uniform Accountancy Rules. The 150-hour requirement is a component of the concept of "substantial equivalency" contained in the UAA. (Watch for an in-depth discussion of the UAA in an upcoming article in The CPA Journal.)

In addition to the AICPA and NASBA, the American Accounting Association and the Federation of Schools of Accountancy also support the 150-hour education requirement.