Monitoring your state board of accountancy.

A few years ago, I was at an NSA function in Washington, DC, and was speaking with an NSA colleague about State Board of Accountancy matters and monitoring. Jim was on the State Board of Accountancy in his state and during the course of our conversation, he said something that bothered me, and I asked him more about it.

"Jim, a couple of times you said that folks from your state society came into the Board of Accountancy meeting and 'mouthed-off' and embarrassed you. What was that all about?"

Jim said that one time the president of the state society had to put his two cents in about the AICPA proposal concerning their desire to change the format of the CPA exam. Another time, one of the monitors brought up an issue that the society had discussed as a minor matter in executive session. Another time, in the public session of the meeting, one of the monitors asked if he could have a copy of the document that was under discussion. Jim concluded, "This mouthing-off by folks in my own state society was something of an embarrassment to me."

Then I asked, "How do you feel they should act?" He answered, "I feel they should go over there, take a chair, sit down, start observing, and take notes if they feel that there are any notes to take." I replied, "Jim, I 'd like to give you another viewpoint on that. In the beginning, there was no licensing of accountants in the United States. With the exception of one state, New York, all of the licensing of accountants came about in your state and the various other states in the 20th century. At that time, unlicensed accountants in your state were grandfathered-in as licensed accountants. After the initial grandfathering period, future licensed accountants were so made through examination, education, experience and other qualifying factors.

"As soon as the Governor lifted his fountain pen off the bill signing the Accountancy Act into law, it gave the public a right to be present at a government function, the State Board of Accountancy meetings, in a monitoring capacity--not as observers. As a monitor, any member of the public has a right to speak up on an issue. Further, if that person is an accountant, licensed or unlicensed, he has a duty to speak up, and speak out on issues that he feels concern him, his organization, and his profession. This doesn't mean that they have a right to 'blurt' out whenever they want to, but it does mean that they have a right to stick up their hand to be recognized, to pass a note on to someone to be recognized, or so move in a manner that is respectful to the meeting."

Jim asked, "What do you mean by duty?"

My answer was, "Just that. Suppose a police officer on patrol looks into a liquor store and sees a person with a gun sticking up the store manager. That officer can't ignore what he saw. He has a professional duty to pursue the armed robbery incident to a conclusion, even if it results in mortal injury to him. Now consider the accountant who is preparing a routine compilation statement and comes across a document indicating there may be management fraud. The accountant can't ignore what he saw. He has a professional duty to pursue this incident to a conclusion, even if it means the loss of his largest client and his own financial ruin.

"In both cases, failure to so perform will result in admonishment and contempt by the public, his community, and his peers. In the case of the accountant attending a State Board of Accountancy meeting, the matters under discussion affect his occupation, profession, vocation, and organization. Accordingly, he has a duty to speak up.

"It sounds to me like this is just exactly what your state society monitors were doing, speaking out on issues that concerned them. In fact, these are exactly the kind of folks that members of your state society should be proud of. And they weren't 'mouthing off.' When a person speaks out on an issue in a belligerent manner or on matters he doesn't know anything about just to put in his two cents worth, that's 'mouthing off.' These people weren't doing that."

Jim agreed but said, "I still feel that what they should do is get over there, sit down, and start observing. They came into our meeting."

I replied, "This was a public meeting dealing with the administration of public laws, rules, and regulations. Check the U.S. Constitution. There have been more Supreme Court decisions in this one area about 'freedom of speech' and what government shall not do than in any other. This is one of the four freedoms Franklin D. Roosevelt talked about during WWII that appeared on postage stamps and banners--the right for the public to address government. This is why, ever since Nixon, every state in the union has enacted Sunshine Laws of some type. They want 'openness' in government."

Jim and I returned to our rooms for the evening. The next morning, I was having a cup of coffee in the hotel restaurant when Jim came up and sat down. He said, "George, I thought a lot about our conversation yesterday. I guess I never really looked at the situation from that viewpoint. At our next State Board of Accountancy meeting, I'm going to make a point of speaking with our monitors who attend."

Remember, you have a right and a duty to monitor public meetings of your state board of accountancy. So, first, be there. Second, when you speak to an issue or raise a question, be prepared, be relevant, and be respectful. Everyone will benefit.

George Parker operates his own firm in Decatur, Georgia. He serves as Chair of the Quality Assurance Review Committee and is a past member of NSA's Accounting Standards Committee.

--By George M Parker, EA, ATA