CBA qualifications committee approves minutes, reviews licensing activity and CONNECT pilot for online renewals

The Qualifications Committee of the California Board of Accountancy approved the committee minutes from its Oct. 20, 2021 meeting and received reports on licensing activity and a business modernization pilot during a virtual meeting.

Committee members voted to approve the Oct. 20, 2021 minutes after a motion from committee member Nazzi; the committee recorded seven approvals, two abstentions and two members not present. Michael Williams, chair of the Qualifications Committee, cast an approving vote and Timothy Jones recorded an approving vote; Pradeep Birkiraja and Angela Hanzick were recorded as abstaining. The chair announced the final tally as "7 votes approving, 2 abstentions, and 2 not present."

The vote cleared minutes and the meeting moved to staff briefings. Michelle Center, chief of the Initial Licensing Unit, reported that roughly 89% of initial license applications are now submitted through the board's online application and that staff are processing applications in about 13 days, well under the board's 30-day goal. "So a board priority continues to be the processing of our applications within 30 days. We are well below that goal right now. We're processing at about 13 days, so we're doing awesome in that regard," Center said.

Center pointed to data in the licensing activity report covering July 1 through Sept. 30. Of approximately 4,000 CPA licenses issued during that period, about 1,255 were issued with the authority to sign reports on attest engagements; 101 of those were granted via the conversion application process. Center said the conversion application accounted for a "very small percentage" of attest-authority issuances.

The committee also heard an update on the Department of Consumer Affairs' business modernization initiative (referred to in the meeting as the pilot using the CONNECT platform). Suzanne Gracia described a pilot that began in October 2021 using CONNECT (a Lumen product) to automate two product increments: online license renewal and online complaint submission. Gracia said the CONNECT pilot will initially allow online CPA license renewal and payment, validation of continuing education, and correspondence between licensees and CBA staff, with an anticipated launch in March 2022; online complaint submission was expected to follow in May 2022. She said the pilot's maintenance and operations phase would continue through October 2022 to incorporate stakeholder feedback.

Committee members did not take formal action on the licensing report or the modernization pilot; both items were presented for information. The chair and staff noted a related task force at the full CBA level to evaluate attest and general-accounting experience requirements; staff said the task force's first meeting was planned for March and that updates would be provided to the committee as the board proceeds.

No members of the public registered to speak during the public-comment portions of the meeting.

The committee adjourned after the scheduled items; staff invited committee members who have renewal dates in March to test the new online renewal system once launched and provide feedback to staff.