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Part Three
Republic Act 9298 (Accountancy Law) was passed in 2004. This most recent piece of legislation that provides for the qualification of certified public accountants (CPA) and rules on the practice of accountancy in the Philippines is now more than 15 years old. The environment where the accountancy profession and its many stakeholders engage in has undergone so many changes over the years. The onset of developments in the areas of globalization, governance and digitalization necessitate revisions in the framework of the accountancy profession in the Philippines.
Sometime in April 2016, the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, with me as chairman, engaged the accountants of the land in consultations to elicit recommendations for the revision of the Accountancy Law. After more than three months of discussions and dialogues with the various accountancy stakeholders, the BOA was able to compile a detailed list of the suggestions on updating the Accountancy Law to make it responsive to the needs of the times.
These suggestions dwelled on several areas, including structural, practice of accountancy, the CPA qualification process and others. For the structural reforms, one suggestion pertains to the separation of the accountancy profession regulation function and the CPA qualification process with the creation of separate agencies for a more effective handling of each broad mandates currently administered solely by the BOA. There is also a suggestion to include all graduates of Commission of Higher Education accredited courses (such as Bachelor of Science in Internal Audit, BS Accounting Information System, BS Management Accounting and Masters in Accountancy) to qualify to take the CPA licensure exams . Currently, only graduates of the BS Accountancy course are qualified to take the CPA examinations. There is a recommendation on the outsourcing of the preparation of the questions for the CPA examination to assist the BOA on its function. The mandate on setting the threshold for CPAs to conduct external audit of financial reports is also recommended to be the sole mandate of the accountancy regulator. With accountancy becoming more and more global, there is a suggestion on the relaxation of the rules on the practice of accountancy by foreign accountants in the Philippines. To assist in the governance of government procurement, there is a suggestion for the mandatory inclusion of independent CPs providing oversight in the public bidding and procurement process.
Incorporating these recommendations, an updated charter or the law for accountants will go a long way toward uplifting the accountancy profession and its many stakeholders in the Philippines. The process for the revision has long started several years ago. Will there be a momentum in the next few years to finally pass a new Accountancy Law that will govern the Philippine accounting community?
To be continued
Joel L. Tan-Torres is a Certified Public Accountant who placed No. 1 in the May 1979 CPA Board Examinations. He is presently a partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. He was the former commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue from 2009 to 2010 and the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy from 2014 to August 2018.
This column accepts contributions from accountants, especially articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com