The Maryland Association of CPAs has joined together with other state CPA societies across the country and the AICPA to encourage support for legislation recognizing accounting as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) field.
A letter sent to leadership in both chambers of Congress requests co-sponsorship of bipartisan, bicameral legislation — H.R.3541, the "STEM Accounting Pursuit Act," and S.1705, the "STEM Education in Accounting Act." These companion bills would allow accounting programs access to existing STEM K-12 grant funding for accounting awareness and education and would help to strengthen the accounting pipeline. Last spring, the MACPA joined CPA societies and the AICPA on Capitol Hill to discuss this legislation with members of Congress.
“There is increasing concern surrounding the accounting pipeline, and it's encouraging to hear the reasoned arguments and thoughtful ideas for how to strengthen our profession," MACPA CEO Rebekah Olson, CPA. "The MACPA continues to seek insightful ideas to add to the conversation. Among those ideas are H.R. 3541 and S. 1705, which would help the profession address those challenges and should reinforce the relationship between accounting, math and technology — all of which are STEM fields."
The letter notes the decline in the number of U.S. students who completed a bachelor’s degree in accounting and the knowledge gap that most high school students have about a career in accounting. It also highlights the need to increase access to high-quality accounting courses for students through grade 12 who are members of underrepresented groups.
The MACPA has supported and joined in previous efforts by the AICPA and other state CPA societies to recognize accounting as a STEM field and will continue to advocate on this important pipeline initiative.
Join the 'Accounting is STEM' effort
If you'd like to join the effort to have accounting recognized as a STEM field, please consider sending your elected officials a letter asking them to co-sponsor these bills. Here's how:
- Visit Congress.gov/members to find your representatives' contact information.
- Check the House bill and Senate bill to see if your representatives have already signed on as co-sponsors.
- Use these sample letters to contact your lawmakers and ask for their help.
Learn more about the profession's STEM initiative and how you can help by visiting the AICPA's "Accounting is STEM" online toolkit.
