The NYSSCPA's First Legislative Battle

You're likely well aquainted with the NYSSCPA's efforts over the past decade to get the accounting reform bill signed into law. But did you know the NYSSCPA has lobbied politically to protect and advance the profession since its very beginning?

One of the Society's first acts—noted in the minutes to its first annual meeting on May 10, 1897—was the creation of a legislative committee to oppose a change to the  accounting law passed the previous year. The amendment would have offered mobility to foreign accountants, allowing them to become certified in New York state “without taking into consideration their qualifications as public accountants or their standing as to moral character.”

The Society fought the proposal, issuing a resolution at the meeting held on Valentine’s Day 1898 (pictured below):

“There are a number of accountants in this country who have left England and other countries because of dishonest practices, who could and probably would make application for certificates, and under this law, the Regents would be compelled to grant the same,” states the resolution.

It goes on to say that the bill’s passage would “lead to acts detrimental to the dignity of the profession, and will place honest and reputable accountants upon the same plane as embezzlers and fugitives from justice, and will admit to the profession a large number of men who are known to be incompetent and of doubtful moral character.”