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Legislative Alert |
If passed, TSCPA believes this proposal would weaken accountancy regulations in Tennessee by lowering the standards for selecting the members and professional staff of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy. In addition, much of the accountancy regulatory authority will move away from the State Board of Accountancy and become buried in the bureaucracy of the Department of Commerce & Insurance.
Below is a breakdown of the changes proposed by this new legislation:
| Current Accountancy Law Provisions | Proposed Changes |
| CPA members of the Board "shall" be appointed from a list submitted by TSCPA. | CPA members of the Board "may" be appointed from a list submitted by TSCPA. |
| Board will continue to serve as previously appointed. | Current Board will be replaced by new political appointments at the Governor's discretion. |
| The executive director and other professional staff are hired by Board. | The executive director and other professional staff are hired by the Commissioner of Commerce & Insurance. |
| Compensation of the executive director and other professional staff is set by the Board. | Compensation of the executive director is set by the Commissioner of Commerce & Insurance. |
| Investigators are actively licensed CPAs appointed by the Board. | Investigations, if any, will likely be conducted by employees in another state office. |
| Board has authority to set its own budget, licensing fees and professional staff. | Budgeting and allocation of overhead expense will be set by the Department of Commerce & Insurance, which will dictate the amount of future licensing fees for CPAs in Tennessee. |
| Board has the authority to oversee the conduct and competence of licensees and those using the title of CPA. | Transfers significant regulatory authority from Board of Accountancy and gives it to employees within the Department of Commerce and Insurance Commission, who do not posses the technical expertise to oversee the Accountancy profession. |
For a full background of the risk to the regulation of the CPA profession posed by this legislation, please see this article on the TSCPA website.
Contact Your Legislators!
Please click here to find your state legislator to email or call with your opposition to these changes in the accountancy laws. TSCPA has generated an email template that you may consider when crafting your message. Please copy TSCPA (tscpa@tscpa.com) on your email.
Please email or call the TSCPA office at 615/377-3825 if you need further information. Thank you for your support!