Global Credential, AICPA Membership Alienation Dominate Accounting Club Discussion

On Nov. 14 at a breakfast meeting in midtown Manhattan, John Hunnicutt, senior vice president of public affairs for the American Institute of CPAs, updated the Accounting Club of America’s (ACA) members on current Institute priorities. Although the discussion period included questions about the Institute’s recruitment campaign and other aspects of the future generation of CPAs, most of the questions and comments concerned the AICPA’s management and leadership and its controversial proposed global business credential

Hunnicutt stated that the Institute does not know either the running count or the return rate on the ballot for the global credential proposal, and that the entire membership will hear the results as soon as possible after all votes are tabulated. The voting deadline is Dec. 28.

When asked how the Institute justified mailing letters to its industry and tax members encouraging votes in favor of the proposal, after the ballot had been mailed to the membership, Hunnicutt said he believed that all communications on the issue should have ceased once the ballot was out. He explained that the AICPA’s Industry and Tax committees planned and carried out the mailings on their own initiative.

When asked by ACA President Robert L. Israeloff whether his AICPA membership dues helped pay for the controversial mailings, Hunnicutt said they did.

“In my personal view,” he said, “there was too much communication on this issue, and many things got out of our hands. We think the booklet included with the ballot is a fair and faithful representation of the proposal.

“It’s now in the hands of the members,” Hunnicutt concluded.

Many in the audience expressed serious concerns about a growing perception that the Institute is increasingly led and managed from the top down, rather than from the grassroots membership up. Israeloff asked, “What will the Institute do with these comments? Will it listen, or is it just ‘full speed ahead’?”

Hunnicutt responded, “We’ll listen. My pet peeve is that people refer to the Institute in the third person. Members should use ‘we,’ and take possession of the Institute. They have an obligation to say, ‘We need to change this.’” He added that he appreciated Neil Gibgot’s candor, who said, “We need non-totalitarian-state management of the AICPA.”

“Perceptions about staff differ, and that’s partly our own fault,” Hunnicutt said, adding that “Competing with all of the other information out there, we still run into large segments of the membership who are relatively uninformed about what’s happening and what’s planned. I don’t know the answer, but it isn’t for lack of trying.”

Israeloff, the meeting’s moderator, asked, “Does the AICPA leadership know the depth of animosity felt by many of its members? The leadership has to have noticed that it isn’t just ‘New York radicals’ with extreme points of view. The state societies in California, Florida and Texas have all joined the cause and feel disenfranchised,” he said.

“Whether the global credential proposal passes or fails, I’m not sure what the Institute can do to repair the damage,” Hunnicutt said. “Many staff do appreciate that depth of feeling. It’s serious and needs to be dealt with, and it’s clear that many members are very uneasy about the last two years.”

George Foundotos noted that, going back to 1995, when Barry Melancon said the rollout of a new program should move quickly, the impression has been that the AICPA leadership is disrespectful of the membership. Hunnicutt responded: “Attacks made at that time and since impugned our motives and blatantly misrepresented the concept. We got defensive and angry, and that affected our—and my—behavior.”

NYSSCPA Executive Director Lou Grumet concluded the conversation by observing that the essence of leadership is often difficult. “John Hunnicutt is trying very hard to ‘curve the edges’ during very difficult times, and we are grateful to him for trying to move the AICPA and the profession forward,” he said.

Other Topics of Discussion

In addition to the global business credential, the meeting, held at the Yale Club, addressed other Institute objectives.

Discussing how consistency of accounting regulations across 53 jurisdictions is increasingly problematic, Hunnicutt noted that many states are pursuing the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) with varying degrees of success. Computerizing the CPA exam, he said, will represent a huge change. He announced that the vendor contract is expected to be signed early next year, with the computerized exam due to be completed by November 2003.

Hunnicutt also reported that the Institute is looking carefully at its political apparatus. He explained that the Institute would like the state societies to be involved in plans to renovate the AICPA’s grassroots-focused “key-person program” that relies on CPAs who have strong relationships with members of Congress.

Resources, Hunnicutt said, are the “nuts and bolts” of the organization’s work, although the Institute needs to make trade-offs in member services because its membership of 350,000 is very diverse and the organization’s resources are limited.

In the recruitment area, “The AICPA is doing all the right things but the downward trend isn’t changing,” Hunnicutt said. To combat this problem, the Institute recently approved a $25 million marketing program focusing on student recruitment.