Adding More Links to the Chain of Public Protection

Enforcement Newsletter

May 2014

With the ability to discover a CPA’s full license history across multiple Boards in a single search, the availability of disciplinary alerts, deceased alerts and now the CPE Audit Service, we are seeing firsthand how linking licensee records across state lines enables stronger and more efficient administrative processes for Boards and provides a better safety net for the public.

Each additional Board of Accountancy that participates in the Accountancy Licensee Database (ALD) with records that are linked to other records for the same licensee, contributes to the nationwide community of BOAs creating one seamless chain of public protection. To this end, two Boards are taking the extra steps necessary to become linked to that powerful chain.

The Mississippi Board of Accountancy has been participating in the ALD and CPAverify, but needed a bit more licensee data in order to link their records to other Boards’ records. They recognized the value of this linkage, so the Board is launching an independent data collection project beginning this summer to obtain any missing information needed from individuals licensed in their state.

Similarly, the Connecticut Board of Accountancy has decided to collect the information needed for linking its records by amending the CPA license renewal form to include required fields for the missing information. Now licensees can provide those details as part of the next license renewal process.

By taking these proactive steps, both Boards are demonstrating their commitment to the collective effort of Accountancy Boards. They are also demonstrating that gathering the data needed for linking can be done in multiple ways with a little creativity. Kudos to the Mississippi and Connecticut Boards of Accountancy for being two more links in the chain of public protection!