[Earla Riopel (NYCARE)]

I am no expert, but reading/learning from current accounting experts, AICPA/NASBA should consider the opinions of future accounting job employers or related business industries. What level of expertise would they require from new CPAs? Not all new CPAs can be in supervisory/managerial positions right away; some of them might only have full-time schooling and writing their CPA exams in the past.

I remember many years ago, I worked for accounting firms on tax season, and they only have a few of supervisory/managerial positions; most are articling students/junior/senior staff accountants with a year contract, and fortunate enough to get renewed the next year. The employee turnover in accounting firms is quite high, especially for part-time, temporary, and seasonal accounting jobs.

As to typical non-experienced new CPAs, tax preparation, bank reconciliation, bookkeeping, and administrative duties are commonly assigned to new employees; sometimes accounting firms even do this for senior accountants. This might sound unfair for new CPAs with many years of experience; but then, it’s the start of a long CPA career journey.

Therefore, NASBA/AICPA must be realistic on the SIMs. It might be just simple SIMs questions such as performing bookkeeping, tax preparation, bank reconciliation, administrative, research work, business and law contracts preparation, which can be learned in the first year of university/college. It would be a humble experience for new CPAs, but then, the SIMs will be more realistic in their first year of practice, either for NPOs and For-profit, including accounting firms.