ADVOCACY
Exploring the VSCPA’s advocacy priorities As VSCPA leaders and staff survey the legislative and regulatory landscape each year, a set of guiding principles and positions helps us protect your interests. As a new legislative session begins every January, we must determine the issues that best protect and promote CPAs and the CPA designation. Because complexity, uncertainty and regulatory requirements are often roadblocks to your success, we provide a unified voice for CPAs to advocate for eliminating challenges and barriers.
Luckily it’s not a shot in the dark each time. We have a set of guiding principles we follow, which we recently reviewed and updated. And while in the past we have developed a new legislative agenda each year, we realized that our priorities usually remain the same, so the Board of Directors now has standing legislative and regulatory positions that are reviewed annually and updated as needed, but generally carry over.
Emily Walker, CAE
THE VSCPA ADVOCACY PHILOSOPHY Our philosophy centers around five core areas. Most advocacy-related efforts we take fall into these categories: • Ensure continued rigor of qualifications and experience required for CPA licensure: The laws and regulations governing CPAs and their services should reinforce the value and integrity of the CPA designation. • Support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the CPA profession: The profession should reflect the diverse world around us. • Advance the CPA designation and profession: CPAs can provide a broad array of services beyond the traditional core CPA services, including data analytics, sustainability and cybersecurity. • Promote technical and ethical standards: The laws and regulations governing
8
DISCLOSURES
•
WINTER 2022
CPAs and their services should not put CPAs at risk of being in violation of the uniform professional or ethical standards developed by independent standard-setters. • Support sound fiscal public policy: The expertise of CPAs affords the profession a unique role in society to educate policymakers and the public on the impacts of fiscal policy.
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF VIRGINIA TAX POLICY It comes as no surprise that tax-related issues are a large part of our conversations with legislators. Regarding our philosophy on tax policy, we generally follow the American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA) lead and its Guiding Principles of Good Tax Policy. We also use the below principles as a framework when developing positions on tax-related legislative and regulatory matters at the state level. These guidelines recommend that Virginia tax laws and regulations meet the following guiding principles: • Conformity: Virginia’s tax laws should conform with federal tax laws whenever and as expeditiously as possible. Consideration should be given to minimize lag time for Virginia to adopt federal tax changes as such a delay creates complexity and uncertainty for Virginia taxpayers. • Simplicity: The tax law should be simple so that taxpayers understand the rules and can comply with them correctly and in a cost-efficient manner. • Transparency: Taxpayers should know who and what is being taxed and why. • Equity: The tax system should include both horizontal and vertical equity. Similarly situated
