Revisions to the Philippine Accountancy Act

 Mar Lorenz Jamero

 July 5, 2021

Somewhere out there, is one hopeful accounting student who dreams to graduate,
pass the board exam, and practice being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Did
you know that there is such a thing as the Philippine Accountancy Law of 2004? This
is the law that regulates the practice of the accounting profession in the Philippines.
Subsequently, after many years, there have been movements to revise this law to
better adjust to more modern times. However, the law met much contention from the
relevant stakeholders affected by such revisions.

What is RA 9298

Republic Act No 9298 is the Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004. Congress enacted
this law on May 13, 2004. In a nutshell, the law recognizes the importance of
accountants in nation building and development. Hence, the government aims to
develop and nurture world-class accountants who are competent, excellent, and
productive. Thus, the law provides and governs the standardization and regulation of
accounting education. Aside from that, the law also controls regulation of the practice
of accountancy in the Philippines. Additionally, the Philippine Regulation
Commission created the Professional Regulatory Board of Accounting (BOA)
through this law.

5 Reasons for Revision

1. Redefine the practice of accountancy in accordance with current trends in the

practice of the profession.
2. Expressly provide that the BOA has the exclusive oversight over the
registration and the practice of accountancy in the Philippines.
3. Legitimize the creation of Standard Setting Bodies and to justify the
appropriation of 35 funds to carry out its functions.
4. Give emphasis to the relationship of the Professional Regulation Commission
– Board of Accountancy (PRC-PBOA) with the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) and other government agencies in regulating educational
institutions which are offering Accountancy program and for this purpose the
creation of the Education Technical Council (ETC)
5. Amend the requirements for admission to the licensure examinations for
Certified Public Accountants to give Filipino citizens who are graduates of
foreign schools the chance to take the examination. Further, congress
envisions that requiring an examinee to undergo professional experience
before taking the licensure examination would give him/her a greater chance
of passing the licensure examination. Also, this would be a major step of
improving the national passing percentage of the licensure examination.

5 More reasons for Revision

 1. Modify the manner of determining whether an examinee passed or failed the
examination. Eliminate the provision granting conditional status to some
examinees. Discontinue the publication of top performing examinees.
Moreover, congress also seeks to discontinue the conduct of refresher
courses due to the removal of the granting of conditional status to the
examinees.
2. Strengthen the practice of the profession through accreditation and
compliance with continuing professional development requirements.
3. Provide a provision that will specify the integration of the accountancy
profession into 60 one accredited professional organizations.
4. Congress also proposed a provision on Rules of Professional Conduct that
strengthens the enforcement of the Code of Ethics of CPAs in the
Philippines.
5. Provide appropriations for budgetary requirements necessary for the conduct
of the activities of the standard setting bodies of the Accountancy profession
and the Education Technical Council.

The Philippine Accountancy Act has about 17 proposed revisions. These changes
vary from changing the definition of the practice of Accountancy, regulatory reform,
and the powers and authority of the BOA. Additionally, congress is also discussing
revisions to the scope of the CPA Licensure Exams, reporting and disclosure of the
results.

In a Facebook post, the AccountingBytes compiled a list of the most controversial

proposed changes. Consequently, Some of these were met with much resistance
from current accounting students.

Proposed Changes

1. Allowing accountancy graduates of foreign schools to become CPAs;

2. Requiring a candidate for the board exam to have a prior two years of work
experience;
3. Requiring the exam takers to obtain a numerical rating of at least 75% in each
subject in order to pass the licensure exam;
4. Removing “conditional status”. Instead, it only becomes “passed” or “failed”;
5. Reporting of the results of the exam shall not contain any numerical rating;
6. Prohibiting the publication of the top performing examinees;
7. Automatic registration to the integrated professional organization of CPAS
upon passing; and
8. Implementing a strict no mandatory CPD no license renewal policy.

It is not difficult to see where the resistance of the accounting students comes from.
Indeed, becoming a CPA is already a difficult task to begin with yet some of these
policies make the process much harder to traverse.

Importance of getting the voice of stakeholders

As with all law, congress must get the voice of those who will be affected by the
revisions. This is because lawmakers are not the ones affected by the changing of
the laws, their constituents are. Hence, CPAs, accounting students, accounting
organizations, and the academe need to voice out their concerns and opinions so as
to be better served by our lawmakers. On the other hand, lawmakers need to listen
to the voices of their constituents as they are the ones primarily affected. Moreover,
they also have the experience on the ground and know the current situation.

References

AN ACT STRENGHTENING THE PRACTICE OF ACCOUNTANCY IN THE

PHILIPPINES, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9298, 2021
(Philippines).

Philippine Accountancy Act, 2004 (Philippines)

Tan-Torres, J. L. (2021, May 23). Musings on the amendments of the accountancy

law | Joel L. Tan-Torres. BusinessMirror.
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/05/24/musings-on-the-amendments-of-the-
accountancy-law/