Absurd occupational licensing requirements are costly for the economy and harmful to the workforce, but we don't seem to be able to do much about them.
The Minnesota Society of CPAs has introduced legislation that would allow young accountants to become CPAs without earning five years of college credit.
Legislative threat to CPA licensure stalls in West Virginia journalofaccountancy.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journalofaccountancy.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Alaska, Maine, and Oklahoma weigh CPA firm mobility bills
By George Spencer
Alaska, Maine, and Oklahoma are the latest states to consider CPA firm mobility legislation, which allows CPA firms that meet certain licensing requirements to provide their services across state lines in order to serve clients without the need to obtain an additional license.
If the legislation is enacted, those states would join the 30 that already permit firm mobility; all states currently allow individual CPA mobility.
“A big priority for the AICPA now is firm mobility, which ensures firms can also work from state-to-state,” said Marta Zaniewski, AICPA vice president–State Regulatory & Legislative Affairs. “It’s equally important that clients and the public have access to various firms’ subject-matter expertise and services that may or may not be available to them in their home jurisdictions.”
Value of licensure reaffirmed by new research report
By George Spencer
For years, professional associations and regulatory boards lacked hard data that demonstrated the value of licensing amid state regulatory threats to licensure in highly technical professions. In 2020, the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing (ARPL) sought to fill that information gap by commissioning Oxford Economics to help people better understand the nuanced impacts of licensing on professions, as well as trade and vocational occupations.
The study, published in the 2021 quantitative report
Valuing Professional Licensing in the U.S., found that in fields that require advanced education, women and minorities benefit significantly from current licensing policies. In addition, a license narrows the gender wage gap by about one-third and the race-driven wage gap by about half, according to the study.