Public accountancy legislation
(Date is approximate.)
Abstract
Public accounting consists, in general, of the verification and analysis of financial records and their interpretation thru statements and reports, the installation of bookkeeping and accounting systems, the preparation and correction of tax returns, particularly those pertaining to income tax, and the conduct of special investigations. Bookkeeping, on the other hand, pertains mainly to recording financial transactions in books of account. The public, as such, is not interested in the fitness of the bookkeeper, that being a matter of concern only to the employer. In the work of the public accountant, however, the public usually becomes an interested third party. For instance, when a corporation engages a public accountant to audit its books, the resultant audit report may be used as a basis for obtaining credit from banks and others, and for the sale of its stocks or bonds. The Government is interested in the integrity of the work done by public accountants in income tax matters. As a consequence all of the States have enacted laws pertaining to the practice of public accounting. The oldest of such laws was passed 33 years ago. These laws, in general, created Boards of Accountancy which were authorized to grant certificates as Certified Public Accountants to applicants able to pass written examinations, and to revoke such certificates for cause.