Accountancy legislation;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 29
Accountancy Legislation
NEW YORK State may or may not
have a satisfactory law governing the
practice of accountancy as this is being
read. For two successive years legisla­tion
has been attempted with a view to
bringing some order out of the chaos which
has existed. New York State has had a
law governing the issuance of C. P. A.
certificates since 1896. It was the first
State in the country to make such legal
provision. The designation of C. P. A.
has grown in significance, even though the
law of the State has not prohibited the
practice of accountancy by those not so
designated. State control of those prac­ticing
within the confines of New York
admittedly has been impossible, because
there has been no restriction of practice
based on a legal requirement as to license.
Now it is proposed, by a bill before the
Legislature, to let down the bars, so to
speak, by granting the C. P. A. certifi­cate
to those who have had a certain
amount of experience, but without having
to meet the educational requirements
heretofore imposed by the Board of
Regents. This, of course, will admit a
large number of individuals whose quali­fications
for practice are questionable, but
it will have the effect of bringing under the
control of the State all persons recognized
as eligible to practice, to the exclusion of
all others except those who in the future
are able to qualify for certification by the
State Board of Accountancy.
Certified public accountants of standing
cannot but view with mixed emotions this
proposed action of expediency. There
are hundreds of men who have studied
diligently and under tremendous handi­caps
to fulfill the preliminary requirements
and to fit themselves to pass the examina­tions
set by the Board. These same
individuals have acquired, through years