Number of CPAs in Congress expected to grow to 5 this fall.

• Position: Accounting & auditing news - Certified Public Accountant

If the 2004 fall elections go according to most expert prognostications, the number of CPAs holding a seat when the 109th Congress convenes in Jan. 2005 will grow from 4 to 5. While that may not seem significant when looking at the 100-member Senate or the 435-member House of Representatives, it is a significant fact when compared to other professions. Lawyers, many of whom have a political science background or education, obviously are the most popular segment of professionals in the Congress. However, with 5 CPAs, the accounting profession would trail physicians (6) and tie the engineers (5).

Stepping up CPA representation in Congress will be Mike Conaway, if the election goes as anticipated. Conaway, who is running in the newly created Texas 11th Congressional District, is a Republican and expects to join fellow CPAs Clay Shaw (R-Fla.), Colin Peterson (D-Minn.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.).

Conaway believes in public service. He was appointed to the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy by then Governor George W. Bush in 1997 and served as chairman for more than 5 years. He also has served as a board member of the Texas Society of CPAs and is the immediate past chair of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.

The AICPA's Political Action Committee, and other professional PACs, supported Conaway in his hard-fought path to win a seat in Congress. While he lost a...