California Board of Accountancy holds strategic planning session focused on enforcement, licensing, outreach and DEI

The California Board of Accountancy spent the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2024, in a facilitated strategic planning session that reviewed a 2024 environmental scan and generated proposed objectives across seven goal areas including enforcement, licensing, customer service, outreach and DEI, laws and regulations, emerging technologies and organizational effectiveness.

Facilitators Sarai Rani and David Boy (SOLID Training and Planning Solutions) guided the board through an environmental scan, a DEI video and breakout discussion designed to produce SMART/SMARTE objectives. "This is kind of a brainstorming session, not your final draft," said Sarai Rani as facilitators invited members to prioritize issues and draft outcomes. The DCA DEI trainer Lisa Bacon framed diversity as "all the characteristics and experiences which define each of us," and urged the board to consider DEI across policy, licensing, enforcement and outreach.

Key topics and proposed objectives

- Enforcement: Members flagged unlicensed activity and public perception of enforcement as a top external concern. Staff noted existing citation authority (roughly $100–$5,000 depending on severity) and that criminal sanctions may be pursued by local district attorneys for certain unlicensed activity. Actionable objectives discussed include enhanced public outreach to identify unlicensed practice, updating enforcement procedures, completing an enforcement case management modernization project and refining metrics to assess enforcement effectiveness.

- Licensing: The board debated perceptions that new licensing pathways might ‘‘lower standards’’ and emphasized public education about alternative pathways. Members also discussed processing times, alternative practice structures, and continuing exploration of other pathways to address the candidate pipeline shortage.

- Customer service and business modernization: The board reviewed complaints that callers sometimes have difficulty reaching a live person and discussed measurement tools and automation. Staff described the ongoing roll‑out of CBA Connect dashboards that allow applicants and licensees to check application and renewal status; members proposed evaluating additional automation and promoting short instructional videos to reduce routine phone inquiries.

- Outreach and DEI: Members proposed objectives to "reach and educate a wide audience, grow audience diversity, increase consumer protection and educate the public" — including targeted multilingual outreach, partnerships with colleges and firms to strengthen the pipeline, and more intentional engagement with CPA firms and community groups.

- Laws and regulations: Staff proposed listing as objectives the completion of continuing education (CE) rulemaking and the rulemaking required to implement sponsored legislative proposals on new licensure pathways and mobility. Members noted much of this work is already underway and likely to continue into the next legislative cycle.

- Emerging technologies and AI: Members weighed AI as both an opportunity and a risk. Staff recommended a cautious approach: explore use cases for internal CBA efficiency and monitor evolving state guidance and potential regulation rather than rushing presumptive AI mandates.

- Organizational effectiveness: Board members asked for targeted staff training, cross‑training and opportunities for staff engagement with national counterparts to strengthen capacity.

Time frame and next steps: Members discussed plan length and staff recommended a four‑ to five‑year plan; several members supported a five‑year horizon with a midterm review. President Joe Rosenbaum said, "I would do 5," and staff will draft the strategic plan for board review and final approval.

What happens next: Staff will produce a draft strategic plan that incorporates the objectives identified in the session and circulate it for member review, edits and formal adoption at a future board meeting.