On your side: CalCPA'S GR team has one special interest--you!

• Author: Ascierto, Jerry

ON A SWELTERING SPRING DAY in Sacramento last year, hundreds of CalCPA members--outfitted with pins that pronounced "CPAs: Committed to Excellence"--flooded the State Capitol corridors.

Unfettered by the heat outside and buoyed by a singularity of purpose, members applied a little heat of their own as they spoke to legislators about their opposition to Assembly Bill 1995.

These members helped shape an important chapter in the profession's history in California. The concerns voiced that day--and in earlier deluges of faxes and e-mail from other members--helped defeat AB 1995 just two days later.

The bill would have restricted the scope of services that CPAs could provide to audit clients by specifying a narrow list of permissible non-audit services and prohibiting all others.

The introduction of AB 1995 was considered "fallout" from the several high-profile corporate meltdowns that prompted California legislators to launch fundamental changes to public accounting, often without any distinction between public and privately held companies--or without any understanding of their proposals' unintended consequences.

But the AB 1995 story is just one of the more public chapters in CalCPA's nonstop pursuit of fair and reasonable legislation and regulation of California CPAs and businesses.

PROTECTING THE PROFESSION

According to a recent survey of California CPAs conducted by Voter/Consumer Research, the two most important issues facing CPAs are improving the profession's image and strengthening its voice in the regulatory process.

And the third most important issue is forever tied to the first two: electing officials who understand the profession.

CalCPA's Government Relations team--including the staff in CalCPA's Sacramento office, our member-driven Government Relations Committee and our grassroots member network--works toward these ends by influencing and helping to shape legislation and regulation on the profession's behalf.

"We see more restrictions on the practice environment, and the AICPA can't help us on a state level," Silicon Valley CPA Bob Petersen says.

And while every CPA is important, doors don't always swing open for a lone Member--but they do for a veteran Sacramento lobbyist like CalCPA Government Relations Director Bruce Allen.

"Access to regulators and legislators is a key benefit of membership," says former CalCPA Chair David George. "As a small practitioner, I don't have in-house lobbyists like a national CPA firm, but as a CalCPA member, I know that our government relations team is working on my behalf to tackle the issues that matter most to me as a CPA and business owner."

After aggressive efforts a year ago to protect our profession from extreme so-called "reforms," the first half of 2003 was spent largely in discussion with California Board of Accountancy staff and testifying at CBA hearings and task force meetings regarding technical clarifications and regulations arising from 2002 legislation.

"We represent all our CPA members, and as such, we must present a united front," says Allen. "Our messages can't be confused or contradictory. They can't be conservative or liberal They must apply to all members, all philosophies."

Legislators have commented to Allen that they recognize...