recent Uniform Accountancy Act exposure draft is just one of the solutions proposed. Only working together will we be able to appropriately address the issue without causing any longterm negative effects. Working independently would at best delay and at worst endanger CPA licensure mobility. Rick Reisig of Great Falls, Montana, is chairman of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). He has more than 40 years of experience providing audit and tax services to for-profit, not-for-profit, governmental entities, and individuals, and currently is a principal at Pinion. Reisig is highly active within the accounting profession, from both a regulatory and standardsetting standpoint, helping to shape the ever-changing regulations on a state and national level. In addition to serving as NASBA chairman, he serves on the board of trustees for the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), overseeing the activities of FASB/GASB, has served on FAF’s Private Company Council (PCC), the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board, and was a two-time chairman of the Montana Board of Public Accountants. He also serves as an auditing/accounting instructor for the AICPA. Since 1908, NASBA has served as a forum for the nation’s Boards of Accountancy, which administer the Uniform CPA Examination, license more than 665,600 certified public accountants, and regulate the practice of public accountancy in the United States. 52 2021 TRENDS REPORT SECTION 05 UNIFORM CPA EXAMINATION® 5.1 Trends in the number of new CPA candidates by year | 2006-2021 Source: AICPA Exams Team 39,083 42,157 42,890 42,453 48,004 36,078 38,513 40,839 44,204 49,597 39,436 36,827 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 36,670 30,385 32,186 41,086 If history is any indication, overall candidate volumes will increase in advance of the launch of the CPA Evolution aligned exam (get more information here) in January 2024. even today, but those that will be needed for tomorrow! How can relying on the experience earned “yesterday” be an effective replacement for the education necessary to prepare our staff for what will be needed tomorrow? Many suggestions currently being offered by accounting groups and/or firms aim to address our immediate need. Certainly, credit goes to all who are attempting to do something. However, pipeline enhancement efforts that neglect to consider substantial equivalency and CPA licensure mobility will ultimately do more harm to the profession than good, when measured over the long-term. The AICPA and State CPA Societies, along with NASBA and State Boards of Accountancy, have been working together to come up with both short-term and long-term solutions to address the pipeline crisis, and have been in discussion with various stakeholder groups seeking feedback. The most The graph above shows the trends in the number of new CPA candidates. 11 www.nescpa.org
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