Imagine driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and at the toll booth is a sign saying it as designed by an engineer with 4.2 rating on Yelp, no license needed!

Now apply the same rating to you as. CPA doing audits and taxes?

It is part of a nationwide effort to lower prices for consumers and businesses, eliminate costly licensing board in states, and reduce barriers to mobility for professionals.

The bad news is that this legislation just showed up at our neighbor in West Virginia and is expected in a lot more states as legislative sessions kick-off around the country. The West Virginia Gazette reported it in this article, Legislature gearing up to take on state occupational licensing requirements. Last year these proposals showed up in nineteen states, none passed with implications to CPAs.

The good news is that we and the Profession at large ‘anticpated’ this #hardtrend ten years ago when we began our CPA License mobility efforts and as recently as last year when we enacted CPA Firm License mobility in Maryland. We are now the most ‘mobile’ Profession in the US (49 states with individual license mobility) with no barriers for CPAs to move freely across state lines while protecting the public with licensure oversight and a formal Peer Review process and Continuing Education.

The AICPA has joined several national professional associations in the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing We are monitoring a ‘trailing spouse’ bill from the MD Department of Labor, but at this point do not feel this is a risk for Maryland CPAs. See this recap from the

We continue to root for our colleagues in other states on the front lines battling these ‘bad bills’. Stay tune.