Mr. Weatherford Goes to Sacramento
More than 300 CPAs descended on Sacramento in May armed with compelling arguments regarding mobility and other important issues for California CPAs—for CalCPA’s CPA Day at the Capitol, and William B. Weatherford, a CPA candidate with PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Jose, was among them.
Tell us about your CPA Day experience.
I spent the day at the Capitol meeting with legislators and their staff and educating them about the issues that CalCPA had identified as important to the profession this year. I had a great time meeting with the legislators and advocating for the issues that I support. It was also a good networking opportunity because there were CPAs and accounting professionals from all around the state at the event. Surprisingly, I ran into a lot of people that I went to school with.
Did you believe you had a good message to deliver?
CalCPA picked important issues to advocate for this year, such as the mobility and substantial equivalency initiatives. Many other states already have adopted these new standards or are moving toward doing so; therefore, it is important that our state do the same, or California CPAs may be at a competitive disadvantage when dealing with clients that do business across state lines.
What does it mean to you, as an emerging professional, to have a CPA license that is accepted in all 50 states?
This is extremely important to me. In my line of work, I regularly deal with clients that have a presence in multiple states (and countries, for that matter). If I can’t assist clients with tax matters that arise in the jurisdictions that they operate in, then what use am I to them?
How do you think your message was received?
The legislators that I met with were very interested in what I was advocating for, even though they are in the midst of dealing with some major issues at the moment, such as the budget deficit. I think they understood that our message not only impacts the profession, but also small businesses and regular California families as well.
If you had the ability to change one aspect of the political process, no questions asked, what would you change?
I would like to see money become less of a factor in the political process. Our elected leaders spend a significant amount of time fundraising for the next election, and I think we would be better served if they focused their attention and energy on solving the numerous problems currently facing our state and country.
How do you really feel about politicians?
I’m sure that most of them are genuinely committed to promoting the best interests of their constituents.
Know any interesting CalCPA members? Or quirky facets of the profession that could be featured on this page? E-mail us: damien.english@calcpa.org.
