AICPA and NASBA presidents set the record straight on 150-hour education requirement.

Philip B. Chenok, president of the American Institute of CPAs and David A. Costello, president of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, sharply criticized a report by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) (a bipartisan, nonprofit public policy and educational association of state legislators) that opposes the 150-hour education requirement. This requirement is an official AICPA and NASBA position and is part of the AICPA/NASBA Uniform Accountancy Act, a model bill to regulate the practice of public accountancy in the United States.

In a letter to Samuel A. Brunelli, executive director of ALEC, Chenok and Costello said the organization "did a less-than-diligent job" researching its paper, The 150 Hour Law: Unnecessary Restriction on the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Profession. The letter said, "As an association of state legislators who represent the public, you have a duty to get the facts straight before publishing a position paper for public dissemination."

The letter rebutted statements in the ALEC paper that the 150-hour requirement was an unnecessary burden on CPA candidates. The letter said that research in several states had shown that the average CPA candidate would need only about one semester's additional coursework to reach 150 hours, and it referred to a New York Times study that found that each year of education at any stage adds 16% to an individual's lifetime earnings.

The letter pointed out several statements in the paper that were either incorrect or based on false information. Contrary to predictions in the ALEC paper, there has been no drop in the number of people desiring to study accounting in the five states that have implemented the 150-hour requirement. In Florida, where the education requirement went into effect in 1984, schools have been forced to raise entrance requirements to offset the growth of applicants majoring in accounting.

The ALEC paper also predicted that legislation mandating additional education for entry into the CPA profession would eliminate many small firms. The presidents' letter said this statement was "outrageous" and that the paper "provided no evidence to back it up. The requirement has been in effect for more than 10 years in Florida and there is no evidence that small firms there have been run out of the marketplace. In fact, smaller firms have been growing in number at a faster rate than any other segment."

The letter also expressed some surprise at ALEC's position, noting that 150-hour legislation passed by a wide bipartisan margin in the states that have adopted the requirement.

Chenok and Costello said that the 150-hour requirement helped CPAs keep up with "subtleties and complexities never dreamt of when the old educational requirements were installed."