Thanks to a state law passed in 1955, accounting graduates who served their country in World War II or Korea were given an opportunity that defending the country prevented them: the chance to work as public accountants.
But not certified public accountants. The unique distinction offered by the law gave returning servicemen the chance to work without having to sit for the CPA exam.
Chester M. Katzman, 82, who served as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army until 1951, took advantage of the program after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting following his discharge. He received his certificate in 1957 and started his own firm in Hamden, which he sold to retire four years ago.
He said he chose the field because he enjoyed the accounting courses he took and that it was one of the few professions that didn’t require graduate school.
“That was a pretty good deal,” he said.
The alternate status offered Katzman and others the chance to earn a living. What it didn’t provide was equal standing in the eyes of those who passed the exam. So although the veterans who became PAs –- there are only 24 still registered — are regarded as heroes by their country, many have been viewed as second rate within their industry for 50 years or more.
This summer, for those that remain, that finally will change.
The original law stipulated that the state grant public accountant status to any Connecticut resident who was working primarily as an accountant before entering military service or who was of “good moral character” and could show proof of being prepared to enter the field from coursework at a college or university.
On Par
That’s where the difference ends. Once they were initially accepted, PAs ever after had to fulfill the same requirements as CPAs to have their licenses renewed each year, including 40 hours of continuing education on an annual basis and undergoing any necessary peer reviews, according to David L. Guay, executive director of the state Board of Accountancy.
“There are all the same conditions and requirements to hang on to a PA license as there are to hang to a CPA license. The only difference is the way that they came into the profession,” he said.
But Guay said that many PAs never forgot the difference, even as they joined the same networking organizations and worked at the same firms.
“Their lives had been essentially disrupted by the second world war and by the Korean War,” he said. But “they were considered a sort of second class of CPAs just because they didn’t pass the exam.”
Katzman went on to serve as secretary for the Connecticut Association of Public Accountants, a trade group formed in 1941 that counted both classes of professionals as members. In fact, he said the group opted to change the word “Public” in its name to “Professional” to account for the many CPAs that were joining, many of them running their own practices.
He said the idea of giving PAs preferred status as CPAs as a way of recognizing their service never sat well with most CPAs. Though it “wasn’t full blown animosity,” in their mind, he said, anyone who wanted to be a CPA should take the test.
“It came up often. But it always got knocked down,” Katzman said of the idea.
At Long Last
The objections prevented the rule from being changed until last year, when Rep. Ryan Barry (D-Manchester) received a call from a constituent and one of the few remaining PAs, Calvin Vinnick, 77, of Manchester, who thought the idea might succeed all these years later.
Barry viewed the idea as a way of recognizing public service.
“I felt that going and fighting overseas should not preclude people from being CPAs, because of their service and because when they come back they are working two jobs and running a household,” he said.
This time, when the bill was submitted, Barry didn’t hear from the Connecticut Society of CPAs, which had opposed the idea in the past because of concern that it would dilute the meaning of certification. It became law last year and is in the final stages of approval.
Soon the PAs, who were risking their lives to defend the country while others were at home studying, will have their day in the sun.
Katzman, a North Haven resident who lugged all his files and office furniture home with him when he retired, said he is still in touch with a few of the PAs. Some, like Raymond Nitkin, of Hamden, are still working.
But there are fewer every year. The professional group, which had Katzman to the White House to join President Lyndon B. Johnson for a bill signing, dissolved in 2001, the year of its 60th anniversary.
“Because I was able to get licensed as a PA, I never took the CPA exam,” Katzman said. “And then I practiced for 54 years.”
