Yesterday, Broc Romanek wrote in his blog about the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's announcement of settled disciplinary actions against three accountants. In California, accountants are regulated by the California Board of Accountancy.
California's Board currently regulates over 81,000 licensees, which the Board claims is the largest group of licensed accounting professionals in the nation. One would expect that as with any profession or group there are a few bad apples in that very large barrel. It turns out, however, that there are very few indeed. According to the Board, it issued only 26 disciplinary orders in 2010. That represents only .03% of the licensed population. Here's the Board's breakdown of its disciplinary orders:
| Gross Negligence – Audit | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9% |
| Gross Negligence – Tax | 4 | 2 | 6 | 23% |
| Government Suspension | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15% |
| Practice w/o Permit | 4 | 2 | 6 | 23% |
| Criminal Conviction | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15% |
| Theft | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15% |
| Total | 18 | 8 | 26 |
A Promontory Is Lost and the California Legal Community is the Less
This summer, R. Bradbury Clark passed away. His reputation in the legal community was sterling. In person, he was a gentleman whose soft spoken demeanor and cordiality inspired great respect. I encourage you to read this joint resolution by the Nonprofit Organizations Committee of the Business Law Section and the Tax-Exempt Organizations Committee of the Taxation Sectionof the State Bar of California.
