| Choosing
to Participate in the Political Process
It
is rare for people to be able to see that regulation of
the accounting profession is a highly political issue, both
inside and outside of the professional community. Regulation
and legislation involve political choices. Choosing not
to participate in the political process relieves one of
responsibility for making tough decisions, but, on the other
hand, not participating is akin to giving up. People who
don’t participate in the process cannot complain about
legislation or regulation that they think is a mistake.
Senate
and Assembly Bills
Here
in New York, State Senator Ken LaValle introduced a bill
that would update the state accountancy law for the first
time in decades. This bill passed the State Senate unanimously
for the second consecutive year. The NYSSCPA has endorsed
this bill because it would finally bring the profession
up to date in many key areas, including making peer review
mandatory for all CPAs in public practice; regulating all
CPAs, including those in industry; and enhancing requirements
for continuing professional education (CPE). This is the
only bill affecting public accountancy to come out of the
Senate Higher Education Committee in the last few years,
and the reforms are much needed, by both the professional
community and the public interest that it serves.
In
the State Assembly, an alternative proposal was introduced
by Assemblyman Ron Canestrari that not only omitted some
important reforms included in the Senate bill, such as mandatory
peer review and enhanced CPE, but also contained provisions
that would be extremely harmful to the profession’s
ability to serve the public, including setting exorbitant
penalties against CPAs and CPA firms, authorizing nonlicensees
to perform compilations, and adapting provisions of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act in ways that would create conflicting
state and federal regulations. Fortunately, efforts by CPAs
throughout New York showed State Assembly members that this
proposal was strongly opposed by the profession. As a result,
this bill was stopped in the Assembly Rules Committee and
did not reach the floor for a vote. This was a prime example
of grassroots politics—legislators hearing directly
from their constituent local CPAs and CPA firms—and
it made a huge difference.
Acting
on Priorities
The
legislature’s first priority upon returning from its
recess will have been to finalize and approve the annual
state budget; this is as it should be, given that the actual
deadline was April 1.
Thus
far, the Senate has reached out to the Assembly, indicating
its interest to build on areas of common ground regarding
regulation of accountancy, and our hope is that both houses
will work together toward meaningful reform. It is important
that legislators hear from their constituent CPAs at this
time. I ask all NYSSCPA members, if they haven’t already
done so, to contact their state legislators and ask them
to support the Senate and Assembly collaborating in this
vital area. As long as it’s taken to get here, there’s
no reason not to get it right.
Louis
Grumet
Publisher, The CPA Journal
Executive Director, NYSSCPA
lgrumet@nysscpa.org
|