Under the AICPA bylaws, CPAs who are not licensed by a state board of accountancy to hold themlselves out as CPAs cannot identify themselves as such strictly on the basis of their AICPA membership.
AICPA Members Approve Admission Update
NEW YORK - Members of the American Institute of CPAs have approved changing the organization's bylaws to modernize admission requirements with 81.39 percent favoring the update. The 60-day voting period ended on October 8 with 70,388 in favor of the change and 16,096 opposed. The approval of two thirds of those voting was required to adopt the by-law amendment.
The new requirements align the AICPA rules with those of the Uniform Accountancy Act for CPA certification, which has been approved by both the AICPA and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Individuals may now join as voting members if they hold or previously held a CPA license that has not been or if they meet the requirements for CPA certification as outlined in the Uniform Accountancy Act, including passing the CPA Exam. This enables those who passed the CPA exam, but never sought to practice, and those in industry who are no longer hold active licenses to be voting members. The organization will begin taking applications for those eligible late in December.
