The Philippines Board of Accountancy now has the pre-requisite four (4) board members to "officially transact business" as stated in the Philippines Accountancy Act of 2004. This after the new members had their oath taking a couple of days ago. The new Board of Accountancy members are:
- JOEL L. TAN-TORRES, Chairman
- GERARD B. SANVICTORES
- BETTY C. SIY-YAP
- ELISEO A. AURELLADO
This means that the CPA licensure exams will finally push through; although the date as to when is unclear as of writing.
As every May 2014 CPA Board Examinee (and their parents) can painfully remember, on April 21, 2014, the PRC posted an article on their website indefinitely postponing the May edition of this year's CPA Board Exams. This news was not only shocking but bewildering as well. The May edition of the exams is composed mostly of accountancy students who graduated last October 2013 which means a lot of them have been reviewing since November. And just a few weeks before the scheduled exams they're met with 'sorry guys, we know you're ready, but unfortunately, we're not' by the BOA. To say that this is disheartening is an understatement at best.
I personally think the BOA could have done better. Surely there's enough time between October and April (and even before that) to come up with at least 4 members to proceed with the exam as scheduled. That the existing active members has been whittled down to two(2) could not have happened overnight. For a country that produces at least 6000 new CPAs every year how difficult could it be to come up with new BOA members?
I feel for the examinees who have to endure the agony of waiting for the final schedule and whose career plans will have to wait a little longer. And I feel for the parents who have already pawned their carabaos to finance their children's review.
This postponement is a sordid business; one that I can only hope will not happen again.
