CPA Journal editorial board members were recently asked to rank what they consider will be the most pressing issues for CPAs in public practice, industry, government, and education in the year 2000.
According to the board members responding, the No. 1 issue facing CPAs in public practice in 2000 is recruiting qualified people. The rest, ranked in order of importance, are--
* keeping pace with technology
* developing or acquiring new services to offer clients
* balancing work and family life
* being paid fairly for the value of work performed
* keeping up to date on professional standards
* being able to offer one-stop shopping to clients
* obtaining the licenses and registrations needed to accept commissions.
Editorial board members said the No. 1 issue facing the CPA no longer in public practice in 2000 is keeping pace with technology. The rest, ranked in order of importance, are--
* developing new skills to meet the demands of the "new finance"
* recruiting qualified people
* balancing work and family life
* keeping up to date on professional standards
* complying with and the cost of governmental regulation.
Editorial board members believe that the most challenging professional issues facing the CPA in 2000, ranked in order of importance, are--
* maintaining the integrity of the CPA designation in the minds of the public
* convincing the public, the SEC, and the profession that attest services are not being de-emphasized as consulting services earn a greater share of CPA firm revenues
* keeping politics out of the standards-setting process
* persuading state licensing boards to adopt the latest Uniform Accountancy Act
* removing compilations from the definition of attest services
* allowing CPAs in non-CPA firms to issue compilation reports
* eliminating pooling of interests accounting.
The editorial board members believe--by an overwhelming margin--that 2000 will be better than 1999, because of the additional services that CPAs have to offer, the robust economy, and the fact that Y2K uncertainties will finally be resolved. Forty-one percent of board members felt the AICPA vision process will have "little" effect on their strategy for success in 2000, 48% said it would have "some" effect, and 10% said it would have a "significant" effect.
The high rankings given by the board to personnel and technology concerns are not surprising. Of interest, however, were the low rankings given to the elimination of pooling of interests accounting and the issue of CPA firms receiving commissions from clients. Also noteworthy was the board's strong feeling that maintaining the integrity of the profession in the minds of the public is professional issue No. 1. *
The CPA Journal is broadly recognized as an outstanding, technical-refereed publication aimed at public practitioners, management, educators, and other accounting professionals. It is edited by CPAs for CPAs. Our goal is to provide CPAs and other accounting professionals with the information and news to enable them to be successful accountants, managers, and executives in today's practice environments.
©2006 CPA Journal.
Legal
Notices
Visit the new cpajournal.com.