My state is moving towards removing the 150 credit hour requirement for CPA licensure. Personally, I think removing the education requirement is ridiculous and will not resolve the pipeline issue. There are more substantial and serious issues that keep people from becoming and staying a CPA. #1 Pay as a tax accountant, I see what people make - yes, there are jobs that pay less, but there are so many other jobs that pay much more for much less work which ties into #2 Work-Life Balance.

You have to understand the AICPA first of all. They are a lobbying group for the partners of the firms not the staff-SMs. Secondly they’ve been diminishing the value of our credential by allowing non US people, talking about Philippines and soon probably India, to receive the US designation. Why, because they want continue to have cheap labor. They don’t want to fix the salary issue that accounting no longer competes with other career paths. If accountants stopped bidding their work to the bottom just to win the work rather than putting an actual value in it then maybe everyone could eat. The low level would make more and so could the partners. But people won’t do that unfortunately.

Removing the extra credits it’s a great idea. I got my extra credits on online community basket weaving classes. Absolutely nothing to do with accounting.

I have 34 years experience as a tax accountant and CPA. The 150 hour requirement for CPA licensure is a waste of time. I guarantee you I have much more experience and knowledge than most CPAs and only took 120 hours of credits in college. Knowledge is gained on the job, not in the classroom.

The biggest barrier to entry is the $390 exam fee. 4x is almost $1,600 they should lower the fee

Sure it’ll help with pipeline. By lowering the bar and barriers to entry, the bookkeepers and AP clerks of today will be the new CPA’s of tomorrow!

The state requested feedback on their public forum board -- Haha, like I'd want to publicly state that public accounting (ie. my firm) sucks and we need better pay and better work-life balance in a place that everyone above me will not only see, but get an email notification

Removing the 150 doesn’t lower the bar. A masters degree doesn’t make someone more qualified and someone without a masters. I work with partners who don’t have masters degrees, and I don’t have one, so I don’t think it hurts to remove it, but like you’ve said, there are broader issues than barriers to entry.

I have never given much credence to the things you are considering important. Thankfully, I hope this country is headed back towards common sense.

I did my internship under a CPA who didn't go to college. He was self educated and passed the exam before credits were a requirement. I'm thankful for that. He was one of my three greatest mentors. You couldn't get anything past him.

My first real job in business I worked for a self-made millionaire. He started building model homes with a couple of buddies right out of high school. By the time I went to work for him, he was a real estate mogul, owner of an amusement park, Sat on the board at a large bank and was friends with the Governor. The second of my great mentors.

The third was less "formally educated" than the first two. He was my father. A man who, in 1929, dropped out of 8th grade to raise his younger siblings after losing his parents to yellow fever. He will always remain the smartest man I have ever known.

CCollege credits will never replace intelligence or common sense. I have been appalled at some of the CPAs I have encountered over the past few years.

As far as the AICPA goes, they don't care about you or this industry. They hhave been selling you out to businesses like Intuit for years.

I didn’t know about the designation of Filipinos to US CPAs. I am for removing the 150 hours requirement. It was in place to make the accounting profession more “exclusive” to those that could afford an extra year of school. It’s not the solution but one step. The good thing about tax though is that you can start your own practice much easier than other accounting professions.

I think the hours reductions is a good thing. And I agree with you in that I think the impact will be minor on imporveing the pipeline.

I took so many filler classes to get to the hours requirement. Stuff like nutrition, geology and bowling. All interesting and fun classes. But they are doing me almost zero benefits with my tax specialty.

My nephew is getting an accounting degree. I told him to go into finance. He was split between the two and I honestly believe it is the better career track right now.

Pay needs to increase for starting salaries but what people always leave out is the stability of the profession. If you are decent at your job, there are always positions available. That’s not the case in tech, marketing, etc. There’s value in having a stable job regardless of market ebbs and flows

Well go get one of those so many other jobs that pay much more (both in the short term and long term) for much less work.

Removing the credential waters down the cert and puts downward pressure on comp. It accomplishes the exact opposite of solving the shortage of CPAs and addressing the root cause.

I wonder how that will affect reciprocity with other states?

IF the candidate can pass ALL the CPA sections so what. How many of the candidates come with 150 + hours and Masters degrees and retake the sections over and over? I dare say that so many newly minted CPA’s can’t do any fundamental bookkeeping, audit or tax.

Personally IF someone has learned on the job, studied their a$$e$ off to pass, I’d hire them in a hot minute without the 150 hours.

Work is life that’s the balance. Plus, money is just enough not to starve.

Removing the requirement is absolutely not ridiculous. It was ridiculous when they began implementing it many years ago. They didn’t require that you fulfill those extra credits by taking accounting or business level classes. Those extra credits could all be fluff electives. All it did was put people more in unnecessary college debt. If people did go the masters route it would be for something like MACC or MBA which really don’t mean much in our profession. At least on the tax side it doesn’t, they’d rather see a masters in tax which isn’t want people were going for.

I can’t wait for the requirements to change. Saves me a masters degree cost or random community college classes that would eat up time/money.

Personally, I think that the 150 credit hour requirement for CPA licensure should be lowered to 120. But I don't think that it should be totally removed. While the education requirement seems to be an initial barrier, I agree that pay and work-life balance are also major issues.

I agree that it won't help the problem. They act like the extra 30 credits is a huge barrier to entry but you could literally take a couple more community college classes to get them. The talent issue deals with pay, image, and work life balance for sure.