NASBA annual meeting: state boards as catalysts for quality.

NASBA ANNUAL MEETING: STATE BOARDS AS CATALYSTS FOR QUALITY

Calls for greater uniformity among all 54 accounting jurisdictions were sounded by leaders of the profession at the 82nd annual meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy in Minneapolis. Some 150 representatives from 44 boards heard Robert C. Ellyson and others urge NASBA and its member boards to increase uniformity in both the profession's entry requirements and its regulations. Failure to reach agreement in areas such as the 150-hour education requirement, for example, will make the profession appear "silly and arbitrary," Ellyson warned, and create a push for federal licensing from large firms with interstate practices.

Ellyson, a partner of Coopers & Lybrand in Miami with many years of leadership in the Florida Board of Accountancy, Florida Institute of CPAs, NASBA and the American Institute of CPAs, made his remarks as he accepted NASBA's first William H. Van Rensselaer Public Service Award. The award was given in memory of the association's first executive director.

Oversight activities

Outgoing NASBA President Sam Yellen characterized the association's activities as evolving into an oversight role. "Oversight means looking over things; built into that role is the periodic invocation of criticism," said Yellen, a partner of KPMG Peat Marwick in Los Angeles. "Oversight is a tool for effectiveness, and what we at NASBA are dedicated to is kinder and gentler oversight, which requires understanding and encourages positive attitudes among others."

He cited some of the activities …