The author of the article is a) not a CPA and b) wrong. The objective of the testing is to curtail having CPAs having to compete with clerks at used car dealerships who every January advertise "Come in and we will do your tax return and you can use your refund as a down payment on a cart", and stuff like that which we see every day. Accounting is the only licensed profession in which anyone, even without one day's training, can launch a business and compete with licensed professionals. We have to clean up their mess every day. Every CPA may not be 100% competent, but they at least passed the exam and does their CPE every year. We are competing with people who never gradusted high school, never do CPE, but every January walk to their neighborhood Office Depot and buy a copy of Turbo Tax and do returns for money. It is insane.