Dive Brief:
- Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed certified public accountant licensing reform legislation into law Thursday, effective immediately, according to a Friday press release from the Wisconsin Institute of CPAs. The new law gives aspiring Wisconsin CPAs graduating with a bachelor’s degree the option to choose a new path to certification that includes passing the CPA exam and two years of relevant experience but doesn’t require further schooling.
- Assembly Bill 696, which is now 2025 Wisconsin Act 166, modifies various requirements for CPA examination and practices and adds “flexible pathways that better balance education and work experience…aligning Wisconsin with other Midwest states to encourage more individuals to enter the profession,” according to a statement from the governor’s office emailed to CFO Dive by WICPA.
- The industry-driven nationwide reforms seek to reverse a decline in those choosing accounting by offering alternative routes to certification that don’t require 150 credit hours or five years of post-secondary education, which has been the standard. “The number of new CPAs entering the profession remains a hot topic and is a challenge for firms and organizations, both large and small,” Tammy Hofstede, president and CEO of WICPA, said in a statement. “Tackling the workforce development issue is complex and includes many variables, and making a CPA license more accessible is critical to ensuring the future of the profession.”
Dive Insight:
The Badger State’s new CPA law comes as a surge of state legislatures have passed and sent similar licensing reform bills to their governors to be signed.
Late last month, New Hampshire lawmakers sent their respective CPA bill to Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk to be signed. This week Arizona lawmakers sent a CPA licensing bill to Gov. Katie Hobbs on Wednesday and on Friday a Kansas CPA pathways bill was presented Friday to Gov. Laura Kelly while Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed his state’s legislation.
“The 120 hours rule is functionally the status quo now,” Jack Castonguay, an associate accounting professor at Hofstra University in New York, said in an email, noting that the states are all effectively repealing the 150 hour credit rule that never should have been passed in the first place. “Underclassmen today won’t know a world where they needed...150 hours. When someone says CPA they’ll know that means graduate, pass the exam and work a couple of years.”
In all, about 34 states have put new laws or rules offering the alternative path on their books since early last year, according to the tally by Robert J. Pawlewicz, an assistant professor of accounting at the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond in Virginia, who has been tracking the nationwide licensing changes.
The pace of adoption has been much faster than many had originally anticipated even just a few months ago.
For example, some experts closely watching the issue had forecast there would still be a handful of states on the sidelines by the end of the year. But as it currently stands there are no true holdouts. Even the states that haven’t yet introduced legislation — Maine, North Dakota and Wyoming — have signaled that they have plans to make the changes, according to the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Keep up with CPA licensure changes by accessing CFO Dive’s tracker on the topic here.
