Accountancy profession celebrates 100 years

ON March 17, the Board of Accountancy in collaboration with the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants and other sectoral organizations celebrate the centenary of the accountancy profession in the country. It is the culmination of the year-long celebration which was launched on March 17, 2022. Organizers adopted “Celebrating the Past, Transforming the Present, Shaping the Future” as theme of the centennial celebration.

Accounting is defined as the system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and reporting the results (https://www.merriam-webster.com/). It plays an important role not only in business but in government as well as enables government to monitor and control its resources in the most efficient way.

Accountancy was recognized as a profession on March 17, 1923 when the Philippine Legislature enacted Act No. 3105, also known as the Accountancy Act of 1923. With the passage of the law, Filipinos were empowered to practice accountancy in the country, a profession that was once limited to foreign accountants. The law also created the Board of Accountancy tasks with the regulation of the profession and is responsible for the Certified Public Accountants licensure examinations.

In 1967, the Accountancy Act of 1967 was passed. Under this legislation, only Filipinos and citizens of countries offering the same privileges to Filipinos can become Certified Public Accountants in the Philippines. The law was later superseded by the Revised Accountancy Law of 1975. The new law stipulated that only registered Filipino CPAs are allowed to be partners in accountancy firms in the country. On May 13, 2004, Congress passed Republic Act No. 9298, the Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004, which now governs the practice of accountancy in the country.

The current Board of Accountancy is chaired by Dr. Noe Quiñanola, PhD. Other members of the board are Samuel Padilla, Gloria Baysa, Thelma Ciudadano, Rosalinda Evangelista, Gervacio IPiator, and Maria Teresita Zuñiga-Dimaculangan.

Under Dr. Quiñanola’s leadership, the Board of Accountancy follows the mandate set forth by the Philippine Accountancy Act of 2004.

“We also abide by some laws relevant to the practice of profession. We continued the programs that were introduced by virtue of the current professional regulatory law like accreditation of CPAs in public practice and those in the academe. We continuously oversee the conduct of professional development programs which are aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of Filipino CPAs. Recently, we implemented Quality Assurance Review which is an oversight activity over the quality of audit of financial statements done by public practitioners.”

He added that the Board is implementing the Career Progression and Specialization Program as provided for under RA 10968, The Philippine Qualifications Framework Law.

Since its founding, the Board has done its best to address challenges that beset the accountancy profession. Dr. Quiñanola identified one of the biggest challenges of the profession as “the presence of ‘notarial auditors’ who issue audit report without adhering to prescribed auditing standards.” To address this concern, the Board implements the Quality Assurance Review (QAR) aimed to strengthen the practice and eliminate the so-called “notarial auditors”.

Like other professions regulated by the PRC, accountants are required to undertake Continuing Professional Development. This is to ensure they are updated on new developments in the field of accounting, abreast with major developments in information technology, and compliant with new provisions required by regulatory bodies. On the present CPD program, Dr. Quiñanola believes there is always room for improvement. “The delivery of CPD programs is not perfect. However imperfect it may be, the effectiveness of CPD programs also depends on the participant. CPD should be treated as something personal and is premised on the professional’s desire to improve his craft and not only complying with required number of units.”

Another mandate of the Board is the administration of the licensure examination for CPAs. Questions given in the licensure examinations are formulated by the BOA based on subject syllabus. “It is our objective to formulate questions that will test the examinees’ knowledge and proficiency in concepts and principles related to the various areas in the examination,” Dr. Quiñanola said.

Accountancy is one of the more popular degree programs among Filipino students. There are around 540 colleges and universities offering the program. The CPA licensure examination is also among the most difficult. In the May 2022 CPALE, only 990 out of 4,442 examinees representing 22.29 percent passed the exams. For the October 2022 exams, only 25.84 percent or 1,722 from 6,665 aspiring accountants passed.

While the Commission on Higher Education has direct supervision over colleges and universities, the Board of Accountancy conducts inspection of schools offering Accountancy “to check on compliance of existing orders and regulations aimed at maintaining high standard of the accountancy education in the country.” This is also a way of arresting the low passing percentage in the boards by some schools.

“We give them suggestions on how the program can be handled. The educational institutions must strive to maintain high standards of instruction cognizant of the needs of the industry which is summarized in the exam syllabus that is made available to everyone,” the chairman said.

Since 1923 both the Board and the accountancy profession in the country have evolved and their memberships have increased. Many local accounting firms have ventured overseas. Many Filipino accountants have distinguished themselves here and internationally.

As highlight of the centennial celebration, 100 Filipino CPAs will be recognized with the Accountancy Centenary Award of Excellence in ceremonies at the Manila Hotel on March 17. They are “the Filipino CPAs who demonstrated unquestionable integrity, contributed immensely in the advancement of the accountancy profession, and participated remarkably in national development,” the Board said. The awardees are Marilene Acosta, Antonio Acyatan, Estelita Aguirre, Manuel Alba, Carlos Alindada, Froilan Ampil, Emilio Aquino, Jose Araullo, Pio D. Baconga, Benedicta Du. Balabad, David Balangue, Pascasio Banaria Sr., Jaime Bautista, Rosario Bernaldo, Emilia Boncodin, Alexander Cabrera, Ma. Elenita Cabrera, Guillermo Carague, Luzvi Chatto, Gloria Tan Climaco, J. Carlitos Cruz, Leonardo Cuaresma Jr., Joaquin Cunanan, Herminio Dagohoy, Francisco Dalupan, Eduardo De Guia, Ramon Del Rosario, Corazon De La Paz-Bernardo, Luis Diaz, Jose Diokno, Cecilio Dizon, Baltazar Endriga, Salvador Enriquez Jr., Maria Victoria Espano, Basilio Estanislao, Vicente Fabella, Celso Gangan, Aurora Geotina-Garcia, Belen Gutierrez, Kim Jacinto-Henares, Antonieta Fortuna Ibe, Jerry Isla, William Larkin, Jaime Laya, Ester Ledesma, Mariano Lerin, Gregorio Licaros, Jeffrey Lim, Roque Lim, Tomasa Lipana, Luis Liwanag 2nd, Judith V Lopez, Ma. Concepcion Lupisan, Conchita Manabat, Roberto Manabat, Mario Mananghaya, Eugene Mateo, Leonardo Matignas Jr., Felipe Medalla, Rufo Mendoza, Heidi LLoceMendoza, Gregorio Navarro, Rizalino Navarro, Cirilo Noel, Felipe Ollada, Ongpin, Raul Pagdanganan, Erlinda Pefianco, Gilda Pico, Hermogenes Pobre, Cleotilde Protomartir, Benjamin Punongbayan, Cesar Antonio Purisima, June Cheryl Revilla, Eugenio Reyes, Alicia LL. Reyes, Alberto Romulo, Antonio Sanchez, Petronilo Santos, Jose Sio, Lucito Sioson, Josefe Sorrera-Ty, Washington Sycip, Protacio Tacandong, Maria Gracia Tan, Nestor Tan, Wilson Tan, Joel Tan-Torres, Joaquin P. Tolentino, Jose Torres, Guillermo Torres Sr., Artemio Tulio, Arnel Onesimo Uy, Carlos Valdes, Carlota Valenzuela, Conrado Valix, Alfredo Velayo, Ma. Violeta Vicente, Eduardo Villanueva, and Manuel Villa Jr.

The Board aims for Filipino accountants to be globally competitive. “We will benchmark with practices of other advanced countries in the world and introduce programs that will give our CPAs the exposure so that they will become globally competitive. The accountancy profession is very dynamic and we should not be contented with the status quo, but instead we should be keeping ourselves abreast with global developments affecting the profession,” Dr. Quiñanola said.