CPA violations.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: CapitolBeat - Interview

Q&A with the CBA's Enforcement Division Chief

Last year there was a significant spike in citations and fines issued by the California Board or Accountancy, and the trend is continuing in this fiscal year. At a recent CBA meeting, Rafael Ixta, Chief of the CBA's Enforcement Division, reported that the top violation resulting in an enforcement action is failing to respond to an inquiry from the CBA. violation is due almost entirely to licensees failing to report whether or not they are required to have a peer review because they perform audits. reviews or compilations.

Peer review became mandatory in 2010 for firms perform those services. The CBA does not register sole practitioners as firms, so every active and delinquent licensed CPA received a letter from the CBA. Many did not respond.

The second most common violation is failure to meet the continuing education requirements. The CBA is concerned with the spike in these violations and is focusing on reversing the trend. To find out more about the situation and the CBAs plans to address them, CalCPA's Government: Relations Department sat down with Ixta for a brief question and answer session.

Q 1. The largest source of the enforcement violations is peer review related. What steps are the CBA taking to reach out to licensees and educate them about peer review requirement reporting?

Since the peer review legislation was enacted in 2009, we reached out to licensees to inform them of the new legislation and how they would be impacted. Initially, this was done through letters and the CBNs (Taal: publication. We continue to use letters and our UPDATE publication to communicate with licensees.

In 2010, we created a peer review webpage on the CBA website. The webpage has forms, brochures. FAQs and other valuable resources for licensees. It even has a video on how to meet the peer review reporting requirements. The video is less than five minutes long and provides ct incise information that can assist licensees in meeting their peer review reporting requirements.

Since July 2010 we mail each licensee (except inactive licensees) one to three peer review letters. The first letter notifies he licensee of their peer review reporting requirement date. Each licensee is given approximately 12 months notice prior 10 their reporting date. Licensees who have not met their reporting requirements receive a reminder letter in April and a deficiency letter in September, if necessary. The letters contain...