State Agrees to HANYS/HTNYS Request on Retired CPA Role on Governing Boards

This week, the State Education Department (SED) posted an advisory enabling retired Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to continue to serve on non-profit boards without having to register and complete continuing education requirements.

Last month, Healthcare Trustees of New York State and HANYS sent letters to SED urging it to reconsider a proposed rule that would require retired CPAs serving on non-profit governing boards or audit committees to complete 40 hours of continuing professional education to continue to serve. While HANYS and HTNYS fully embrace the value of health care trustee education, this proposal would have resulted in the resignation of many CPAs from boards and committees to which they have devoted years of valuable volunteer service.

SED’s advisory permits retired CPAs to serve on boards of directors of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations as long as they do not provide attestation or compilation services, and are not a designated financial expert where required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Inactive CPAs may also serve as members of officially designated committees of the board without being a board member, provided that the committees do not have independent authority to act and instead gives advice to the board for action.

Inactive CPAs must disclose to the board and to any third parties with whom they communicate on behalf of the board the fact that they are not actively registered or required to take continuing education. Contact: Sue Ellen Wagner