Advocacy Alert: Florida Legislature Passes Bill Creating New Retired CPA Status

By FICPA Governmental Affairs Team

Today, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) commemorated the passage of its priority legislation, CS/House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants by Rep. Mike Caruso (SB 954 by Sen. Joe Gruters). This bill creates a new “retired CPA” license status in Florida statute, which is an extremely meaningful change for CPAs in the state of Florida. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration to be signed into law.

Passed unanimously by the Florida House on February 15, 2024, and by the Florida Senate on March 5, 2024, the legislation allows licensed CPAs who are at least 65 years of age to apply to the Florida Board of Accountancy (BOA) to place their license into retired status. Under this designation, an individual may use “retired CPA” as part of their business card, letterhead or any electronic communication. This allows individuals who have had long and distinguished careers to continue serving, without compensation, on boards or in other mentoring or advisory roles for certain specified charitable or civic organizations. However, with this new status, they may not represent to the public that they have an active CPA license. Should they want to go back into public practice, the bill allows retired CPAs to reactivate their licenses.

“This important change will allow our members who are ready to retire to use the designation ‘retired CPA’ for volunteer work,” said FICPA President & CEO Shelly Weir. “This richly deserved licensure category helps uphold retired CPAs’ profound sense of pride and accomplishment and preserves their professional identity,” Weir added.

“This legislation will allow Florida CPAs to continue adding value by serving their communities while maintaining a title that has meant so much throughout their careers.” said FICPA Chief External Affairs Officer Jason Harrell. “Advocating for the profession is at the center of what we do at the FICPA,” he explained, “and we are happy to have gotten this bill across the finish line. We thank our CPA sponsors, Sen. Gruters and Rep. Caruso, and the entire Legislature for their support.”

Additional Background

Florida CPAs are licensed by the Board of Accountancy (BOA) at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The BOA is the regulatory authority for more than 30,000 licensees statewide. CPAs must complete 80 hours of continuing professional education (CPE) every two years as part of their license-renewal process. CPAs who are not currently practicing, or who do not wish to maintain their license, may request that the BOA place their license in “inactive” status. If designated inactive, an individual is not required to maintain CPE. However, if inactive, they may not use the CPA designation after their name.