As you may have read, Barry Melancon is abandoning the AICPA CEO post he’s held since 1995 at the end of this year. Side note about that, I expected the article we put up about it to be one of the most popular of the week but in fact it seems no one cares going off view count alone. So maybe you didn’t read that, actually.
Totally 100% coincidentally and definitely not at all related to his planned departure, it was announced the day after his big announcement that the AICPA was softening its opposition to making changes to the 150 hour rule in light of the worsening CPA shortage. Now, that article did get a lot of views. The lesson here is that people care much, much more about 150 than they do about a man who has been stubbornly hanging onto it.
So we should just move on and focus on the next chapter. Who will be next CEO? My vote, and this depends on A) if she’s available and B) if she even wants it which honestly that’s asking a lot of anyone right now, is Kimberly Ellison-Taylor. She’d bring a ton of charisma to the role which is exactly what the profession needs right now after 30 years of…you know what, never mind.
At the moment, the AICPA has a trust problem. Over the past several years, I’ve spoken to countless CPAs who express a loss of faith in their representation and that’s not even getting into the brutal social media comments splattered everywhere that everyone sees. But not all is lost. The right leader and the right messaging — REAL messaging, not this self-serving bullshit they’ve been shoveling lately — could go a long way toward righting the ship and heading into the next decade stronger than ever. Damn me and my irrepressible optimism.
Anyway. Sound off in the comments or, if you prefer, let me know your thoughts by email. I’ll say this, I haven’t been this excited about the prospect for real change in…ever?
Adrienne,
Anybody who knew Barry Melancon was CEO of the AICPA wished he wasn’t. The vast majority of members don’t have any idea who runs it. They are very aware the AICPA does not represent the rank and file. So, no clicks for your article about his leaving.
The grassroots of the profession always suspected 150 hours was a bad idea, but there was no crisis so no action. Now we have a crisis and action is coming from the rank and file and State Boards of Accountancy. Who didn’t recognize the crisis? The AICPA. Your article on the AICPA and 150 hours got a lot of clicks because we were curious how the AICPA was going to stall the process.
The actions needed to preserve the profession are for the rank and file to work with their State Legislators and Boards to change the 150-hour rule.
Stephen
Yes, the 150 hour requirement was wrong-headed from inception. There have been numerous other situations where the AICPA could have stepped up to defend the profession and did not do so. The ERTC Mills’ whole marketing pitch was “your CPA doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, the AICPA response was to chide all honest CPAs about their responsibilities under Circ. 230 and remind them of their liability for servicing clients who were scammed by ERTC Mills, just completely inadequate. The reputation of the profession was under open assault. At the congressional hearing on ERTC there were representatives from PEO and Nonprofit membership organizations on behalf of their members complaining that their checks were taking too long and two lone CPAs representing themselves discussing the atrocities being committed on the US Treasury – no one from the AICPA. The largest ERTC Mill of them all had what looked like an AICPA seal of approval on its website – it was a meaningless SOC report seal but it looked (as intended no doubt) like they were AICPA approved.
They just didn’t stick up for us and I have no idea why.
The 150 hour requirement is why I’m not a CPA. I got accepted to grad school so that I could get the 150 hours and couldn’t pay for it. Also, I’m supposed to go tho school during tax season. For many years, tax season was a time of catching up on bills. I worked 7 days a week at two different jobs in order to pay a mortgage and raise two children. I’m an EA now and will likely never try for the CPA license. In addition, the cost of the CPA exam itself went insane. Each part was nearly the cost of the whole paper exam. I understand it’s higher now. I’m of an age where I will barely be able to recoup the cost. The downside is that I get potential clients who want a CPA because they “know more about tax.” I’m literally thinking of getting a master’s degree in logistics and walking away from accounting.
Barry started off badly and was never able to fully climb out of the hole. His big idea back in the late 1990’s was the “XYZ” credential (they couldn’t figure out a real name for it) that would be global – that is, totally unregulated – allowing CPA professionals to make a whole lot more money than was currently being made. While this was being promoted, Arthur Anderson was attempting their own money grab by working both ends of the candle at Enron. Then, poof! There went our sacred self regulation with the creation of the PCAOB (how is that working?) and “XYZ” was destroyed in a landslide vote of the members. So, just as the AICPA was waving the flag of the land of no regulation, the stuff hit the fan and new onerous regulation was foist upon all of us. Oh, and audit fees tripled. So there’s that.