Board of Accountancy budget hearing spotlights $1 million scholarship to shore up CPA pipeline

The Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government opened a public hearing Feb. 12, 2025, on House Bill 5001, the governor's budget for the Oregon Board of Accountancy, which includes a one-time $1,000,000 special payment proposed for accounting scholarships to help address falling CPA candidate numbers and to reduce the agency's projected 24-month ending balance.

The scholarship proposal is the centerpiece of the Board of Accountancy's policy package and is intended to lower financial barriers to CPA licensure. "The Board of Accountancy is in a healthy position going into the 2527 biennium," Kendra Beck of the Department of Administrative Services' Chief Financial Office said as she summarized the governor's recommendation. Beck told the committee the one-time payment is meant both to increase scholarship support and to partially spend down the board's ending balance.

Martin Petioni, executive director of the Board of Accountancy, and Haley Lyons, board chair, described workforce and licensing trends and how the board proposes to use limited agency resources. Lyons, a CPA and partner at a state accounting firm, told lawmakers, "What we always say in our board meetings is what's our...goal? It's the protection of the public." She framed the…