SED Streamlines Discipline Process

New Procedures for CPA Profession to Begin in January

By Danielle D'Angelo

Deputy Commissioner for the
Professions Johanna Duncan-Poitier

The State Education Department's Office of the Professions has made significant changes and improvements to its handling of disciplinary actions. It will expand its pilot program to streamline administrative processes to all 38 licensed professions-- including CPAs--in January.

The improvements were discussed in the office's November report, State of the Art Public Protection in New York State, which stated that disciplinary investigations were completed in just six months for 98 percent of the four professions included in the pilot. In addition, new Informal Settlement Conferences (ISCs), which involve earlier collaboration among the investigator, prosecutor, and state professional board, have resulted in completing the average case in six months, versus three years without ISCs. In just over 18 months, 82 percent of cases with ISCs were resolved without a formal hearing,16 percent were referred for a hearing, and less than two percent are pending. The streamlined process reduces the average cost from $7,500 to $500. The Office of Professions reports that members of the State Board for Public Accountancy already have been trained in the new ISC procedures.

"Nineteen ninety-eight has been a very productive year for professional regulation in New York state," said Johanna Duncan-Poitier, deputy commissioner for the professions, in her introduction to the report. "The Office of the Professions has been able to accomplish many important things to ... monumentally improve the professional discipline process. This has been accomplished without any additional resources and with active assistance of the professional state boards and the input of the state legislature, professional associations, consumer groups and the public we serve."

Other highlights from the report include an overhaul to the license restoration process that expedites petitions, offers swifter justice to petitioners, and enhances public protection; an 84 percent reduction in the caseload of intractable professional discipline cases (those pending prosecution for more than 18 months); and a new training program for both SED staff and state board members.

Watch future issues of The Trusted Professional for updates on the SED's new disciplinary process, including the status of implementing the procedures for the CPA profession. *