as goes hawaii, so goes the rest of the nation?
the state licensed 2,577 new cpas in 2005, up 5 percent over the previous year, according to the board of public accountancy. that figure also represents a 16 percent jump from 2000 as auditing firms, companies and even the local offices of the internal revenue service rush to hire. it’s no coincidence that the profession has been growing steadily in hawaii since 2002, the same year that the federal sarbanes-oxley securities-overhaul act was passed.
nevertheless, local recruiters still report a shortage of qualified accountants.