In case you haven't heard, there is a major budget crisis facing Federal, State & Local governments. Deep under the headlines is the crumbling of infrastructure and it could have affected you.
Many states are eliminating their state boards of accountancy and other professional licensing boards to help solve their budget crisis.
That means nobody to process CPA exam applications, answer questions, and worst of all, enforce the laws against those few “bad apples” that show up from time to time.
That won't be the case in Maryland. We had the foresight to enact separate funding legislation(HB 103) in 2006 that established an independent fund (outside the reach of the general fund) within our State Board of Public Accountancy. This fund would account for the revenues from exam fees and licensing fees and then match the costs of operating the Board. This actually allowed the DLLR to have funds for additional staff and IT budgets over the past few years.
CPAs were the third licensing board to get separate funding and we were the last to be granted this important and sensible status in 2006. Separate funding was part of our Accounting Reform Task Force recommendations from the post-Enron era (Download Accounting Standards Task Force) , to strengthen the existing regulatory oversight of our state-based regulatory system. We did not know then, the significance of having this in place when the Great Recession of 2008 hit us.
The bill was sponsored by Delegate Brian Feldman and Delegate Susan Krebs and passed unanimously through both the House & Senate.
Another pothole repaired, paving the way for CPAs in Maryland.
That is what we mean by our job as your association to keep your infrastructure in good condition so you can do what you do as CPAs!
Or as we like to say, CPA – Connect – Protect – Achieve!
Aren't you glad we did it?
Don't forget to come out and meet the DLLR and State Board representatives and welcome newl;y licensed CPAs with us at our Maryland CPA Summit on June 2-3, 2011 (reception is June 2nd) at the BWI Hilton Hotel.