Changes to CPA licensure considered
The Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee heard testimony Jan. 20 on a measure intended to increase licensure access to those seeking to become certified public accountants in Nebraska.
North Platte Sen. Mike Jacobson, sponsor of LB718, said the measure would expand and modernize pathways to licensure while maintaining strong professional standards and public safeguards.
“We want our students to stay in Nebraska, test in Nebraska and start their careers in Nebraska,” Jacobson said.
Currently, to sit for the CPA exam in Nebraska, one must have completed 150 semester-hours of postsecondary academic credit, earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university and demonstrated professional competency.
Jacobson said the 150 credit-hour requirement essentially is 30 credits beyond what is required to earn a bachelor’s degree and is a barrier to entry for the profession.
LB718 instead would create three distinct licensure pathways in the state:
• a master’s degree plus one year of experience;
• a bachelor’s degree plus 30 additional credit hours and one year of experience;
• a bachelor’s degree plus two years of professional experience.
The measure also would clarify that passing the exam is not the same as being credentialed as a CPA, align Nebraska law with the Uniform Accountancy Act and provide a distinction between administrative lapses and ethical violations.
“This protects the professional reputation of our accountants by ensuring that a simple failure to review a permit isn’t categorized alongside serious misconduct like fraud,” Jacobson said.
Jodi Eckhout, licensed CPA and chair of the Nebraska Society of CPAs, testified in favor of the proposal. Seventy-five percent of today’s CPAs will retire in the next 15 years, she said, and the growing shortage of professionals requires a way to make the licensure process more accessible.
For more than 20 years there’s been only one path into the profession in Nebraska, Eckhout said, which has become a barrier to many students due to tuition costs and delayed entry into the workforce.
Under the bill, every CPA in Nebraska, regardless of pathway, still must complete the same core accounting coursework, pass the same national exam and demonstrate real-world competence under the supervision of a licensed CPA,” she said.
Andrew Blossom, vice chair of the Nebraska Board of Public Accountancy, also supported the bill on behalf of the board. He said that as a member of the state agency that regulates CPAs in Nebraska, he served on the licensure task force that developed LB718.
Twenty-two states already have passed similar legislation, Blossom said, and the measure would strengthen the profession and align Nebraska CPA licensure with the rest of the nation.
No one testified in opposition to the proposal and the committee took no immediate action on the measure.
