oklahoma cpas start voting today on non-cpa ownership

you might have thought this was settled in the 1990’s.

but oklahoma remains one of six states left in the u.s. that still (technically, at least) bans non-cpas from owning a piece of a cpa firm.

today the oklahoma society of cpas will be emailing a survey to members to see if they want to bring their state’s rules into the mainstream. in a straw poll of directors and committee chairs, 40 out of 45 voted in favor of lifting the ban.

under the proposed change:

• a majority of the ownership of any cpa firm must be cpas.
• non-cpa owners must be active participants in the firm; passive ownership is not permitted.
• a licensed cpa must be designated and identified to the state board as the individual responsible for registration of the firm.
• the partner/owner in charge of attest services must be a licensed cpa.

the state society says small to mid-sized firms will benefit from the change because it will allow them to “increase the scope of services to their clients” and “offer attractive partnership positions to non-cpa specialists in areas such as information technology or estate planning.”

but it’s always been the small and mid-sized firms who have traditionally opposed opening up cpa firms to non-cpas, fearing larger firms were more able to take advantage of the strategy.

only alaska, hawaii, new york, connecticut and delaware remain in oklahoma’s camp.

posted on october 16, 2009