The American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy have given their approval to new model legislation providing an alternative path to a CPA license in an effort to attract more people to the accounting profession.

The optional path aims to maintain public protection while offering additional flexibility and options for CPA candidates. The changes will add an extra pathway to CPA licensure requiring a baccalaureate degree, including an accounting concentration, along with two years of experience, and passage of the Uniform CPA Examination. 

Other revisions to the model legislation, which can be used by states, include a shift from state-based mobility to an individual-based practice privilege that would maintain a CPA’s ability to practice across state lines with just one license. There’s also new safe harbor language allowing CPAs who were licensed under differing education, experience and exam requirements as of Dec. 31, 2024, to continue to have practice privileges under mobility.

The AICPA and NASBA proposed the changes to the UAA last September and an alternative path to CPA licensure in February.

“By aligning our model legislative framework with the laws recently adopted in certain states, we’re encouraging removal of outdated barriers and reaffirming our commitment to a truly mobile CPA profession,” said Susan Coffey, the AICPA’s CEO of public accounting, in a statement Wednesday. “Businesses today demand seamless practice across state lines, and this action provides legislators and regulators with a model under which CPAs can meet that need without disruption. This is how we protect the public while keeping the profession strong, relevant, and ready for what’s next.”

The additional path will be included in the amended Uniform Accountancy Act to be released early this summer by AICPA and NASBA. The UAA offers state legislatures and boards of accountancy a national model that can be adopted in whole or in part to meet the needs of each individual jurisdiction.

“NASBA and Boards of Accountancy remain committed to maintaining public protection while implementing these changes to the UAA,” said NASBA president and CEO Daniel Dustin in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with state boards as the new pathway and changes to CPA mobility are implemented.”

The new pathway envisions a wider role for experience to be determined at the jurisdiction level. Individual states will still need to formally enact legislation and/or adopt rules and regulations, depending on the jurisdiction, before candidates can pursue this path. To date, 14 states have done so.

The new pathway would be added to the existing pathways:

Post-baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration plus one year of experience plus passage of the CPA Exam;

Baccalaureate degree with an accounting concentration plus 30 credits plus one year of experience + passage of the CPA Exam.

The updated edition of the UAA maintains that oversight and disciplinary authority over licensees continues with a state board of accountancy.

The AICPA and NASBA asked for feedback on the proposals in March, and the various comments on the proposals can be found on the NASBA and AICPA  websites. They intend to continue to have discussions on maintaining the relevance of the UAA while also exploring the knowledge and skills needed for a newly licensed CPA to serve the public, promote public protection, and be positioned for a career as a CPA. The organizations said they’re discussing conducting a wide-ranging study that will include research and engagement with stakeholders, including regulators and the CPA profession.

As they begin this new phase, the AICPA and NASBA are also exploring opportunities for how to help CPAs navigate practice mobility as states enact legislation.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Microsoft’s Recall AI tool — which captures and indexes screenshots of user activity every three seconds — is being reintroduced after facing significant privacy concerns when it was initially announced in 2024. Now available to Windows 11 Insiders, the feature requires users to opt-in and authenticate via Windows Hello, aiming to address earlier criticisms. However, privacy advocates remain apprehensive, noting that even with these measures, sensitive information from non-users can still be inadvertently captured and stored on others’ devices. This raises ongoing concerns about data security and the potential for misuse, despite Microsoft’s efforts to enhance privacy controls. (Source: Wired) 

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Of course there’s data and privacy issues. Think about it: If you opt-in, then all of the activity on your device is being captured by Microsoft and then stored who-knows-where in the cloud. But on the upside, it will make recovering from a problem — a malware attack, a natural disaster — much faster, which could reduce losses. Like everything in tech, there’s a trade-off. Do you give up your privacy and your confidential information for increased productivity? There’s no right or wrong answer. Everything is judged by risk vs. reward. In case you’re wondering, I’ll opt-in. 

President Donald Trump’s signature economic package took a major step toward becoming law when the House Ways and Means Committee approved trillions in new tax cuts for corporations, households and small businesses on a party-line vote. 

The bill, once it clears procedural steps, will head to the House floor for passage. But crucial issues — including an unresolved battle over the state and local tax deduction — threaten to delay or imperil Republicans’ legislative agenda. Lawmakers are continuing to meet behind closed doors to negotiate the SALT write-off and spending cuts in the bill as they aim to pass the legislation in the House by the end of the month. 

“The one big beautiful bill is the key to making America great again,” Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith said on Tuesday, kicking off the debate on the legislation.

The bill would permanently extend the lower individual tax rates enacted under Trump in 2017 including a lower 37% rate for the highest earners, after Republicans debated the possibility of raising levies on millionaires. The legislation also brings to life many of the promises Trump floated as a presidential candidate: eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay and creating new deductions for seniors and car buyers.

Those tax cuts begin this year and will last through 2028, coinciding with Trump’s time in the White House.

The plan also calls for a slew of cuts for companies, including expanding or renewing write-offs for business profits, loan expenses, equipment investments and research costs.

The biggest open question is how to address the SALT deduction. The bill calls for increasing the $10,000 cap on SALT to $30,000, with a phaseout for most filers making more than $400,000. Republicans representing high-tax areas have rejected that amount and have threatened to block the bill unless the write-off is made even bigger.

“There’s going to be bumps along the way in this process,” Smith told reporters Tuesday. 

The vote in the House tax committee came after a marathon session in which Democrats assailed the bill, casting it as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy and large corporations while adding trillions to the national debt.  

“This isn’t about growth or economic prosperity, it’s about protecting the ultra-wealthy,” Representative Richard Neal, the committee’s top Democrat, said. “It’s a tax cut for billionaires.”

The tax provisions are projected to add $3.8 trillion to deficits over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Spending cuts approved by other House committees do not come close to offsetting those reductions. Republicans argue that economic growth stemming from the tax cuts would ultimately erase those deficit increases, but economists are skeptical of that claim. 

The bill also increases the child tax credit to $2,500 from $2,000 on a short-term basis, broadens health savings accounts and creates a new tax-preferred savings plan for children.

These breaks are partially paid for by ending many of the renewable energy tax benefits enacted under former President Joe Biden, including a credit for buying electric vehicles. University endowments, private foundations, sports team franchises and immigrants sending money to their home countries also face higher levies. Proposals to increase taxes on other businesses, including an increase in taxes on carried interest, were beaten back in a lobbying frenzy.

The House is aiming to vote next week. Republican lawmakers are hoping to move the package without the help of Democrats through the Senate and to Trump’s desk by July 4.  

Senate leaders have said the real deadline is the federal borrowing limit. The Treasury Department has said they will run out of borrowing authority as soon as August.

— With assistance from Derek Wallbank, Emily Birnbaum and Billy House