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TOWARD A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT FOR THE LICENSURE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS: A DELPHI APPROACH
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to define relevant practical experience for licensure as a certified public accountant, to develop alternative administrative procedures to control and evaluate experience, and to raise and discuss pertinent issues. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage forty foreign accounting societies and six U.S. professions were surveyed to determine the role of experience in professional qualification and the procedures used to administer such experience. In the second stage a panel of professional accountants systematically considered the objectives using the Delphi technique. Twenty-five to thirty-one panelists completed three successive questionnares. The surveys of foreign accounting societies and other professions indicated practical experience is an important component of admission. Experience is generally of longer duration than in public accounting in the U.S. and a wider variety of administrative procedures are used to control and evaluate experience. The Delphi panel defined relevant experience to include the application of diversified audit procedures and the exercise of audit judgment. The panel considered ten administrative procedures. Most significant was the strong support given to the use of a diary by the candidate. A majority of the panel voted to restrict experience to public accounting and to require nonaudit specialists to obtain auditing experience. The question of a two-tier system separating the award of the CPA certificate from the license split the panel evenly. It is expected that this rigorous and restrictive definition of experience and any new administrative procedures would meet significant opposition. It is recommended that a joint task force of the AICPA and the NASBA develop a unified experience requirement. If compromise is necessary, the two-tier system is recommended as a vehicle for achieving uniformity.
Subject Area
Business community
Recommended Citation
HEASTON, PATRICK HARVE, "TOWARD A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT FOR THE LICENSURE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS: A DELPHI APPROACH" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8306483.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8306483