KSCPA Advocates for Accounting as STEM Field

August 10, 2021

The KSCPA called on each member of Kansas’ U.S. House delegation to cosponsor H.R. 3855, the Accounting STEM Pursuit Act. The bill recognizes accounting in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum in the the technology field. The bill, introduced by Reps. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN), specifically allows for federal funding to be used to strengthen accounting education in K-12 schools, particularly by providing high-quality accounting programs and courses for students who are members of groups underrepresented in the accounting profession. The bill recognizes accounting as a STEM field under Technology, which reinforces the future of the workforce and job trends. Further, the bill supports the profession’s work to create more diversity in the future accounting workforce.

In contacting federal lawmakers, KSCPA wrote, “CPAs and others that work in the accounting profession utilize technology skills in areas that are integral to the audit function as well as other services for American businesses, including IT auditing (which demands high-level technology knowledge and skills to evaluate IT infrastructure), artificial intelligence, blockchain, data analytics, forensic and predictive accounting, and cybersecurity.”

The KSCPA will continue to work with AICPA to secure bipartisan cosponsorship of H.R. 3855.