CBA proposes eliminating 150-unit requirement, creates new practice-privilege mobility pathway

The California Board of Accountancy's Peer Review Oversight Committee was briefed Dec. 13 on a CBA-approved legislative proposal to modernize licensing requirements and expand mobility for non-California licensees.

"As currently written, the CBA approved legislative proposal would eliminate the 150 semester unit requirement from the licensure requirement," Alfred Burleson, an analyst in the CBA's initial licensing unit, told the committee. The proposal would narrow required accounting coursework to "only relevant subjects," require two years of experience (with options to reduce that requirement via an accounting-related advanced degree or specified certificates), and recognize certain California college degrees as meeting education requirements.

Under the draft, if an author is found and the bill passes in 2025, the legislation would have an effective date of Jan. 1, 2026; the new licensure pathway (a bachelor's degree with an accounting concentration and two years' experience) would take effect six months later on July 1, 2026. The existing pathway would become a legacy pathway and be phased out, with the legacy pathway eliminated Jan. 1, 2029, allowing candidates who choose the legacy route a transition period.

The proposal also would change mobility. Burleson said the mobility proposal would permit "any individual whose principal place of business is not in California and whose license is current and active to practice public accountancy in California under a practice privilege without notice." The CBA would retain authority to remove a state from the no-notice mobility list "when the CBA determines it is in the interest of California consumers," the presentation said.

Burleson stressed these are proposals, not laws. "These are only proposals at this point, and the legislative bills may modify the CBA recommendations or potentially not pass out of the legislature," he said. The committee asked no questions during the presentation and took no formal action on the proposal at the Dec. 13 meeting.

Next steps: the CBA must identify an author for a bill, and language may change during the legislative process. The committee was told staff will continue outreach and implementation planning if the proposal advances.