The Big Four firms targeted a portion of their millions in Capitol Hill spending last year on a pivotal problem facing the industry: shoring up a dwindling supply of qualified accountants.
Those efforts, along with a revamped CPA exam and other initiatives, aim to address the deepening drought of accountants in the US and to solidify the field’s standing as a tech-savvy profession.
“They view this as one of many important steps they’re taking to improve the perception of accounting, to get people to understand that it’s really not about punching calculators anymore,” said Liz Kolar, executive vice president of KnowFully Learning Group, of the industry’s efforts. “We are really a technology-driven field.”
The firms also weighed in on artificial intelligence regulation, the financial reporting of Chinese companies, plus perennial matters related to tax policy and auditor oversight. Each firm declined to discuss its federal lobbying agenda.
Linking Accounting to Tech
The American Institute of CPAs for several years has urged Congress to include accounting as a STEM subject as part of its response to the shrinking pool of fresh recruits. The trade group has backed a pair of bipartisan bills that would make federal education funding intended to provide American students with a well-rounded education also available for accounting courses for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Industry leaders have expressed hope the federal education funding would introduce accounting to a new generation and eventually refill college classrooms with future accountants.
The bills “highlight the clear and logical integration between accounting and technology and note the value of accounting professionals, including CPAs, as technological leaders,” the AICPA said in a statement.
Those measures, however, face competition from legislative priorities like border control or tax policy, which have dominated lawmakers’ time entering a presidential election year.
“The AICPA continues to look for opportunities to move the legislation as part of another bill package and we are continuing our advocacy efforts on this issue,” the trade group’s statement said.
But the technology campaign also could allow international accounting graduates to stay and work a few years under a program for STEM-related degrees. The AICPA has filed requests with the Department of Homeland Security to add accounting to its list of approved areas of study.
China, Crypto and Corporate Reporting
Other issues on the firms’ legislative agenda reflect emerging risks to auditors and corporate reporting including regulation of digital assets and oversight of audits for Chinese companies listed on US exchanges.
The firms perennially guard against legislation that could increase auditors’ responsibilities or toughen oversight of their work vetting the books of US companies.
“What they want is just less regulation on them like any business,” said Jenny Brown, an associate accounting professor at Arizona State University.
In December, House and Senate Republicans introduced bills that would impose US trading bars if Chinese companies hire auditors controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The legislation would further tighten restrictions on Chinese auditors after a pair of laws required Chinese stocks to hire auditors routinely inspected by US regulators or face delisting.
A bipartisan House bill filed last summer would shorten that compliance window to one year.
Congress is also weighing a rash of crypto-related legislation that addresses anti-money laundering or would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more oversight of the nascent industry.
Lawmakers filed a resolution earlier this month that would repeal SEC accounting guidance for certain crypto assets companies hold for their customers. Related legislation would also unwind that controversial guidance, known as Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.
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