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Proponent Testimony - House Bill 442, Edelstein, Abdallah and Whitt (February 12, 2020)

Summary

Proponent testimony on House Bill 442 by Cassandra Edelstein, Olivia Abdallah and Travis Whitt, accounting majors at The Ohio State University, to the House Commerce & Labor Committee, dated February 12, 2020. They support allowing Ohio residents to sit for the CPA Exam with a bachelor's degree or its equivalent of 120 semester hours. The testimony reports a 2020 survey of OSCPA student members, in which over 90% of respondents said they plan to take the CPA Exam and 73% were not aware that scores can be sent to an existing 120-hour state. It closes by urging passage of HB 442.

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“Proponent Testimony - House Bill 442, Edelstein, Abdallah and Whitt (February 12, 2020).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2020-02-12-commerce-labor-testimony-hb442osustudentsproponent-ce0a619791/, SHA-256 802add6ad5a04ef39f1715f02fd36c0f38eb29c409ee70a02a5c8357743c777e.

Full text

                              Proponent Testimony – HB 442
                   By Cassandra Edelstein, Olivia Abdallah and Travis Whitt
                          To House Commerce & Labor Committee
                                    February 12, 2020


Chair Manning, Vice Chair Dean, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan and members of the
Committee, we appreciate this chance to share why we think it’s important for Ohio to enact
House Bill 442.
I’m Cassandra Edelstein, an accounting major at The Ohio State University. I’m here today with
fellow OSU accounting majors Olivia Abdallah and Travis Whitt. We know that you have a full
schedule today so we will be testifying together, but each of us will share our reasons for why
we support allowing Ohio residents to sit for the CPA Exam when they have a bachelor’s degree
or its equivalent of 120 semester hours.
Olivia and I also serve as student ambassadors for The Ohio Society of CPAs. In that role, we
regularly talk with students on our campus about the opportunities and benefits that come with
an accounting degree to help keep the pipeline of future Ohio CPAs as full as possible.
OSCPA’s Foundation funds the program and has ambassadors in 17 other Ohio colleges and
universities.
A 2020 survey of OSCPA student members revealed what we’ve also seen at OSU:

   •   Over 90% of all who responded said they plan to take the CPA Exam.
   •   73% were not aware that currently they can get around Ohio’s 150-hour law by sending
       their scores to an existing 120-hour state.
   •   58.5% said they do not want to wait as long as Ohio law requires to take the Exam;
       30.4% are fine waiting per current Ohio law, and 10% say it is not an issue because they
       will be working out of state. That makes sense, because each person will be ready to
       take the test when it works best for them, and this bill allows for that flexibility.
   •   48.6% said if they send their scores out of Ohio, they will transfer them back to Ohio for
       licensure because they plan to work in Ohio. Also, 89% said they would be more likely
       to transfer their scores back to Ohio if Ohio were to become a 120 state.
   •   80% believe the doubled experience requirement and red tape required to be licensed in
       Ohio (if they sent their scores to an existing 120 state) are a disincentive to work as a
       CPA in Ohio.
In summary, earning the Certified Public Accountant designation is a career goal thousands of
Ohio college students – including us – are working toward. We’re all willing to put in the hard
work necessary but having to deal with academic hurdles that students in 37 other states don’t
have just doesn’t make sense. Please support passage of HB 442.
Thank you for listening to our views on this important issue. We would be happy to answer any
questions.

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