October 2011

By: Douglas Warren, CPA, CFF, CFE, CBM, FCPA
Board Member — Tennessee Board of Accountancy

The financial world is growing and becoming more and more complex as time goes by. Additional regulations and requirements have made it extremely difficult for the average man on the street to prepare financial statements or complete and file forms for local, state and federal governments. Logically, most Americans with a return that is more complex than a 1040EZ or small business owners seek the assistance of an accounting professional to help them wade through the paperwork.

Once the decision is made to hire an accountant, how is a determination made as to which one to hire/choose? Should a recommendation be taken from a neighbor, or should the old friend from school be entrusted with the job? Either way, since this individual will be dealing with financial materials, the more information available about them, the better. How is that accomplished? Simple! Go to CPAverify and review the information in the database.
The accountant who is an old friend from school moved away from home after college, and set up shop in a city out of state. He returned to our home town two years ago. CPAverify reveals that while living in another state, his license was suspended for gross negligence in the performance of his duties. It’s safe to say that he is probably out of the running to be the accounting professional! When the individual recommended by my neighbor is researched, the discovery is made that her license to practice public accountancy had been revoked in another state! Clear examples of two individuals that are probably not going to be hired.

CPAverify does reveal that the CPA practicing down the street is licensed in three states, has an active license, and has no disciplinary actions on record. That individual is definitely on the list of professionals to interview for the job — and is probably going to be the one hired (given all the choices at hand). By the touch of a few buttons, CPAverify has given the consumer peace of mind about their accounting professional. Isn’t this the fulfillment of our objective of protecting the public? As a board of accountancy, we should allow the public access to as much information as possible so that an informed decision may be made about the accounting professionals to be engaged. We must ensure that the information available to the public is accurate and up to date, but limited to information that is considered public record. CPAverify puts all information about individual CPAs in one location so that 55 different websites do not have to be researched in order to secure all pertinent information — what a boon to mankind and a great way to achieve our mission of protecting the public!

The new mantra of boards of accountancy everywhere will be:

“Trust — but verify YOUR CPA through CPAverify!”