Statistics show that precious few of the accounting students who are settling into summer internships at the moment will later become certified public accountants in the state.
But the accounting industry is counting on a new state law to change that.
With the swipe of a pen on April 26, Gov. M. Jodi Rell enacted a new law –- which is a lot like an old law — allowing students to sit for the CPA exam after 120 credit hours (a typical four-year degree).
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Beginning in 2000, students had to complete 150 credit hours before sitting for the exam, generally earning the final 30 credits while working at their new jobs.
But since the change seven years ago, the industry has been unhappy with a dramatic decline in the number of newly minted CPAs. In the last three years, the number of new CPAs dropped from 164 in 2004 to 142 in 2005 to 111 in 2006, according to the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants.
It seemed that a lot of accounting school graduates were opting for other lines of work before they got around to taking the test.
“We have 3.2 million people in the state and 111 [new] CPAs? That’s kind of scary,” said Arthur J. Renner, executive director of the association.
In recent years, the group has pushed the General Assembly for a change back to the days when students could sit for the exam just after getting their 120 hours, leaving most of the testing material fresh in their minds. The final 30 hours, they argued, could still be required for the license, but could come later.
The idea was met with derision by accounting programs at local universities like the University of Connecticut and Fairfield University, partly because of the inference that the fifth year was not important and partly because they believed the rule change would not help. A survey conducted by UConn professor Andrew J. Rosman showed in January that other factors, such as problems with the computerized version of the exam, could have contributed to the drop in new CPAs.
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But on a political scale, at least, the industry has succeeded. Renner said he expects the number of CPAs to increase because of the ease of beginning the exam while one is leaving school and preparing for professional life.
“It introduces flexibility back into people’s lives,” he said.
He also hopes it will encourage accounting graduates to sit for the exam in Connecticut, and ultimately seek work in an accounting office here.
“It really allows students to get started and thinking about starting a career in Connecticut,” he said.
Richard V. Kretz, managing partner for Kostin, Ruffkess & Co., in Farmington, said his firm had hired recent graduates in the past who have put off sitting for the exam because, after a year of working, they were busy getting married or having children.
“I’m hoping that it gives the new graduates the chance to get the exam out of the way, rather than postponing things while they finish the fifth year,” Kretz said.
He expected to see more graduates begin sitting for the exam right away.
“It gives them more options, it really does,” he added.
Academic faculty have suggested that lowering the bar to 120 credit hours before sitting for the exam is likely to drive down the rate of passage.
Renner cast that suggestion aside, saying the computerized exam, because it allows students to take one part at a time, would increase passing rates now that technical glitches had been worked out.
“They’ll even be able to master this to a greater extent,” Renner said.
They won’t be mastering it right away though. In order to implement the new regulations, the State Board of Accountancy has suspended acceptance of all new applications to sit for the exam while it puts the law into practice. So the accounting students who will be donning caps and gowns during the next few weeks may have to wait to take the exam, after all.
