Florida May Find Out What Happens If We Replace CPAs With Fantastic From Fallout New Vegas
This is Fantastic if you aren’t familiar with New Vegas lore.
Several years back, the AICPA seemingly out of nowhere announced it had detected a huge threat to CPA licensure and started warning its members of a vague movement to do away with licenses completely that could somehow affect accountants. In the same breath, the AICPA acknowledged that there weren’t actually any active threats against the CPA license, this was more of a just-in-case thing based on deregulation chatter happening at the time.
I wrote two articles about it:
Remember, this seemed absurd back then. Let’s quickly revisit what I wrote in 2018:
“[W]hen I saw this recent article on the AICPA blog I totally had to share it with you guys. Forget the Philadelphia Experiment, this right here is some primo, paranoid shit.
Writes Skip Braziel, vice president of state regulatory and legislative affairs at the AICPA:
A powerful narrative is taking shape across the country that could define the future of licensure. State legislators are coming together to challenge the necessity and value of occupational licensing.
So far, there have been no direct challenges to whether CPAs should be licensed. However, there’s a national anti-licensure legislative strategy that does not distinguish between occupations and learned professions such as CPAs.
Listen, I understand that our country is in turmoil right now, but I highly doubt the issue of whether or not nail technicians should be licensed is taking priority over, say, immigration or even whether or not trans people should be in certain bathrooms. And even if it were so pressing an issue that it would take precedence over the innumerable other issues facing our country at this particular moment, it’s highly unlikely that the CPA license, of all licenses, would be in front of the firing squad.”
When the issue came up again a year later, even friend of GC and popular accounting podcaster Blake Oliver was wondering what the AICPA was smoking to suddenly be making this an issue.
What are the threats to professional licensing for CPAs? I read everything I can find online about the #CPA and in years I’ve seen nothing about this. Where is this happening? @AICPA https://t.co/fyfVbuyDgj
— Blake Oliver (@BlakeTOliver) August 13, 2019
Now seven years after I accused the AICPA of donning tinfoil hats, we have an actual threat to licensure brewing down in Florida. A bill there is moving through the state legislature and the Florida Institute of CPAs says it “has the potential to have catastrophic consequences for the CPA profession.”
On April 22, a proposed committee substitute for HB 991 – Community and Economic Development by Rep. Giallombardo passed the Florida House of Representatives Commerce Committee.
And on April 23, the substance of HB 991 was combined in SB 110 – Rural Communities by Sen. Simon.
This bill – which is the next step on the path to total CPA deregulation – is now ready to be heard by the full Florida House.
To be clear: This legislation has the potential to have catastrophic consequences for the CPA profession.
Thanks to FICPA for putting together a short What’s In the Bill section:
The FICPA is strongly engaged on this issue as we fight to protect the CPA profession. This is a more than 500-page piece of legislation that merges multiple unrelated issues.
With respect to its impact on CPAs, the legislation has three main provisions:
1. The elimination of all professional and occupational licensing boards under DBPR, including the Florida Board of Accountancy, with regulatory responsibilities moving to DBPR staff. The Division of Certified Public Accountancy would also be relocated from Gainesville to Tallahassee.
2. The Removal of all continuing professional education (CPE) requirements for DBPR-regulated professions, including:
- The 80-hour biennial CPE requirement for CPAs.
- All CPE requirements tied to license reactivation.
3. A directive for DBPR to study alternate pathways to licensure, such as experience-only or experience-plus-exam models, without requiring formal education. The study is to be completed by Jan. 1, 2026.
Oh please complete this study, I’m dying to see it.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Tiffany Esposito, said at the meeting that the bill targets those boards that have produced few disciplinary actions against licensees in recent years.
“The DBPR has to pay for travel for board members every time these boards meet, and their work is minimal and it’s often rubber stamping a lot of things,” Esposito said.
She also argued that continuing education, required for most professionals, is often little more than an illusion.
“I think we’ve all been in professions where we have to do continuing education and, quite frankly, we don’t actually do it,” Esposito said at the hearing. “We sit there and we hit a button and wait for the timer to go.” [Ok but where is the lie]
While CE courses may be well-intended, “in execution, I don’t think it’s actually doing anything,” she added. “The very best training is on-the-job training.”
Obviously the situation in Florida, should it go forward, is an actual threat to mobility, not that 150-hour thing that a bunch of states ended up adopting despite the AICPA’s many dramatic protestations. FICPA says the proposal would restrict commerce for Florida CPAs, weaken public protections, create national disadvantages for Florida CPAs, increase bureaucracy and state costs, and isolate Florida from national standards.
Additionally, eliminating the Florida Board of Accountancy and replacing it with general oversight by the Department could delay resolution, increase costs, and reduce effectiveness as well as cut Florida off from the national network of state boards, said FICPA.
There has never been a more appropriate use for this gif.
Here’s what’s happening with the bill as of April 25 courtesy a video from FICPA:
There’s a blog post covering the recent developments here, also from FICPA. You can track HB 991 – Community and Economic Development from the Florida House of Representatives site here.
We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you have thoughts on the bill or deregulation in general you’re welcome to use the comment section, email me privately, or submit a letter to the editor.
