SAN DIEGO  – The governing council of the American Institute of CPAs has created three membership categories, a move the organization says is designed to draw more qualified people into the accounting profession and widen the availability of AICPA knowledge and resources. The categories are regular/voting members, affiliates and associates.  There were seven categories prior to this action: regular member (a CPA with an active license); Associate, someone who has passed the CPA exam, but is unlicensed; CPA candidate; student affiliate, Non-CPA faculty associate, International associate and Non-CPA section associate

Regular/Voting Members are individuals with full membership privileges and voting rights. Affiliates are Non-CPAs with non-voting status. These include students, CPA-exam candidates and pre-college educators. Associates are CPA peer or professional peers including international professionals and non-CPA associates.

The council also authorized a ballot for members to vote on a bylaw change that would permit professionals to qualify for admission in the AICPA as voting members if they previously held a valid CPA certificate or otherwise meet the education, examination and experience requirements set out in the Uniform Accountancy Act.
The Associate category enables those individuals who have passed the CPA exam but who may have moved into business, industry, government or education to maintain their membership in the AICPA.