Dive Brief:

• North Carolina’s state lawmakers on Tuesday passed legislation out of the House that provides an alternative path to obtaining a certified public accounting license in the state that doesn’t require 150 college credit hours, or effectively five years of post-secondary education, according to the NC General Assembly website. 
• The Accounting Workforce Development Act (Senate Bill 321), which must still be signed into law by Gov. Josh Stein, would enable CPA licensure for candidates with a bachelor’s or higher degree as well as an accounting concentration, two years of experience in the accounting field, and passage of the CPA exam. The law retains the existing licensure route option requiring 150 semester hours and a bachelor’s with an accounting concentration, one year of experience and passage of the CPA exam. It is poised to go into effect Jan. 1.
• The North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants called the passage a milestone that “marks a major win in strengthening the accounting talent pipeline in our state,” according to a statement on the professional organization’s website.

Dive Insight:

Including North Carolina, at least 20 states have passed CPA pathways legislation that have sought to ease the accounting talent shortage, typically by substituting an extra year of professional experience for the additional year of college that 150 college credit hours typically equals. Proponents of the push to lower the credit-hour hurdle have said it deters many students from choosing the accounting field. 

North Carolina’s vote comes on the heels of New York legislators passing similar legislation earlier this month. Since late last year, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Connecticut, New York and now North Carolina have passed CPA pathways legislation. 

The bill sailed through both bodies of the NC legislature with unanimous support, passing the House Tuesday by a vote of 109-0 and the state’s Senate with a 45-0 vote on April 3. The bill was sponsored by four Republican state senators: Danny Britt, Jr., Brad Overcash, Tim Moffitt and Michael Lazzara. 

Other states like Virginia have also had success positioning similar measures as workforce development initiatives. Emily Walker, vice president, advocacy and pipeline at the Virginia Society of CPAs, previously told CFO Dive that her state’s CPA law was also unanimously approved and drew bipartisan support in part because the bill was positioned as a way to remove barriers to work. At the same time, CPA bills stalled this year in some states, including Florida, as well as Maine.

In North Carolina the bill was presented to the state’s House as a jobs bill, according to Robert Broome, vice president of advocacy and outreach with the NCACPA. The state mirrors national trends in that it is struggling to replace the babyboomer accountants who are retiring, he said.

But unlike some other states, the new legislation did not need to change how it handles CPAs licensed in other states who want to work in North Carolina. That's because NC already has an automatic mobility system in place: accountants with out-of-state licenses in good standing can work there without having to either pay a fee or notify the state, so long as they have no criminal convictions and follow the law, Broome said. 

“North Carolina is a model for how automatic mobility can work,” Broome said in an interview. “We were in a different place from a lot of other states.”

Keep up with CPA licensure changes with CFO Dive’s tracker on the topic here.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from the North Carolina Association of CPAs.