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A CPA's perspective on certification



I am a newcomer to archiving but have over 25 years experience as a Certified Public Accountant and therefore, perhaps, a slightly different viewpoint.

The CPA exam is administered nationally, twice a year as I recall.  The exam takes two and a half days and covers auditing, law, tax, theory, some financial reporting and some public (not-for-profit) accounting.  It is strictly an academic exam, in the worst sense of the term:  it has little or nothing to do with the real world.  Those of us who are CPAs rarely work in more than one area of accounting: tax, FASB, audit, whatever.  Each area is highly specialized and requires a level of knowledge far in excess of what may be tested on the CPA exam.  Few of us oculd pass the test 5 years later because it tests things, concepts, ideas that we do not use in our practice.

Certification requires passing the exam and some work experience.  The certification is actually delivered or apporved by each state board of public accountancy and the state requirements are not uniform.  A CPA license is required to perform financial audits; otherwise it should serve as a means of assuring a basic level of integrity and competence, but you cannot count on it.  (One former supervisor of mine is currently a guest of the state.)

Maintaining certification in most (probably all) states requires 40 hours/year of continuing education.  It is often difficult to come up with 40 useful, worthwhile hours but that is irrelevant.  All you need are 40 hours a year of approved courses, most of which are grossly over-priced.

I am currently working setting up the archives for the National Athletic Trainers Asso. (NATA).  I had never heard of NATA or athletic training as a respectable discipline prior to my coming here and have found it fascinating to see how the profession has evolved from men in dirty white clothes whose knuckles scraped the ground when they walked  into a respected vital part of the medical team caring for athletes. I believe that part of the reason for this evolution has been the practice of certifying athletic trainers (ATC: athletic trainer, certified to void possible infringement on CAT for Catepillar equipment logo/slogan). 

I will admit being a bit non-plussed at the concept of "re-certifying" as an archivist as opposed to maintaining certification as CPAs do.  The good people in any profession will stay on top of their field and a formal requirement to "re-certify" suggests a distrust by the "managers" of the profession of the practitioners, which would not instill confidence in the public as I see it.

I would suggest that if a CA designation is to be meaningful there should be a comprehensive test of archival principles and practices.  If developments and changes really occur of much significance then I would think the appropriate response is continuing education. 

As I said, I am new to the field.  I would doubt that most practicing archivists need to be "up-to-date" with the latest technology in all areas that could affect archiving any more than I need to know a thing about the latest wrinkles in Financial Accounting Standards for public reporting (i.e. publicly traded companies) if my practice is limited to tax work.

Nick Gilliam

 



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