September 21, 2009
On Saturday, September 19, 2009, over sixty accounting alumni,
as well as, accounting faculty members of the Tobin College of
Business, attended an information session on the Accounting Reform
Law. The new law was signed by Governor Patterson on January 27,
2009, and became effective on July 26, 2009. The law is the
first major overhaul of legislation affecting certified public
accountants (CPAs) in over one hundred years.
Drs. Victoria Shoaf, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and James
Thompson, Chairman of the Department of Accounting and Taxation in
the Tobin College, welcomed the alumni and invited them to
participate in the continuing professional education (CPE) events
that the Tobin College and the Department of Accounting and
Taxation will be sponsoring. They noted that on May 19, 2010,
a one-day accounting and auditing conference, co-sponsored with the
New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA),
will be held at the University to update accounting alumni about
recent changes in standards.
For the information session, the NYSSCPA provided two very
knowledgeable and insightful speakers, Dennis O’Leary and Dominic
Yung. Dennis O’Leary is the Counsel at NYSSCPA and has served
as Director of the Administrative Regulations Review Commission in
the New York State Assembly for 25 years. He joined the staff
of NYSSCPA in December 2000, and has worked closely with the
Society’s Legislative Task Force and Political Action
Committee. Dominic Yung is the director of industry programs
at NYSSCPA, where he is responsible for all programs and activities
within the State Society that relate to CPAs in industry,
government, and academia.
At the information session, the NYSSCPA speakers discussed the
effects of the new Accounting Reform Law on CPAs in industry,
government, not-for-profits and academia. The law requires those
CPAs outside of public practice to register with the State
Education Department as active CPAs and to fulfill 40 hours (24
hours in a designated specialization) of CPE each year. They
noted that the use of inactive and retired status for a CPA has
been restricted to those who do not engage in any of the “skills
and competencies” of a CPA. Those skills and competencies
have been expanded by the law and now include a wide range of
services. The “scope of practice” of a CPA has also been
expanded, allowing CPA candidates to obtain their work experience
requirement in industry, public practice, government,
not-for-profits, and academia.
At the end of the presentation, alumni and faculty had time to
discuss their time at St. John’s and to network with fellow
alumni.