A new leader: CalCPA member takes on CBA presidency and mission to protect the public.

• Position: Q&A with Katrina Salazar - Cover story

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Katrina Salazar is the next from among our 40,000 strong CalCPA membership to step in as California Board of Accountancy president.

Salazar, controller for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, was appointed to the CBA in December 2012 by Gov. Jerry Brown and served as vice president and secretary/treasurer before her election as president in November. Prior to joining the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, she served as executive director of the Rotary Club of Sacramento, CFO at the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and the American Red Cross Sacramento Sierra Chapter. Salazar also held several positions in public accounting, including senior audit manager for Reznick Group and has been an adjunct accounting professor for the Los Rios Community College District.

As we usually do this time of year, we interviewed the new CBA president to see what is in store for the profession--and you.

When did you know the CPA profession was for you?

It wasn't until after I graduated from college and began working in a CPA firm that I truly started to understand how much value a CPA could offer a business. I saw that by providing attest and tax work, as well as consulting and litigation support, we were able to offer our clients a level of trust that they could rely upon. For me, contributing to that trusted relationship by rolling up my sleeves and working in the field with clients really helped me embrace the public accounting profession.

How has the profession changed since you became licensed?

The educational and experience requirements to enter the profession have changed along with the way the work itself is conducted.

When I was first licensed, legislation had been passed that created two educational pathways to licensure. One required 120 semester units of education and two years of experience, and the second required 150 semester units of education and one year of experience. In 2014, to ensure that California was substantially equivalent to other states' requirements for purposes of cross-border practice, the first pathway was eliminated. Now there is only one pathway to licensure of 150 semester units of education and one year of experience.

Additionally, the Legislature created a method by which applicants could gain the required experience for licensure through general accounting experience rather than completing the attest experience requirement. However, only those...