The following testimony in favor of AB696 was submitted to the Assembly Committee on Regulatory Licensing Reform on Dec. 17, 2025.
To: Chairman and members of the Assembly Committee on Regulatory Licensing Reform
From: Mike Nichols, Badger Institute president
Re: AB696
The numbers don’t lie, and nobody knows that better than all the kids who no longer want to be accountants in Wisconsin.
The number of people getting bachelor’s or master’s degrees in accounting at University of Wisconsin System schools plummeted from 828 ten years ago during the 2014-15 school year to 621 in 2024-25 — a 25 percent drop.
Other states have had the same basic problem. But, unlike Wisconsin, about half have enacted the same basic solution: elimination of unnecessary and expensive CPA licensure requirements that currently cost many kids about $100,000 in extra tuition and lost earnings.
This is an old problem. About 20 years ago, states across America — led by Florida — started to require a minimum of 150 credit hours of coursework plus actual work experience before anyone could sit for the exam to become a certified public accountant. That means, in essence, another year of school beyond what’s needed to get a just single bachelor’s degree with 120 credits.
This unnecessary requirement for 150 credits fences out aspiring accountants who could be working instead of spending money on classes they don’t need to be proficient.
As you know, AB696 would lessen the requirements to a bachelor’s degree and two years of work.
Most of our neighboring states have already made the switch — which means time is of the essence here. Wisconsin will be left in a precarious and isolated position if we don’t move in the same direction.
Why, if we stand still, would any aspiring CPA stay in Wisconsin rather than use reciprocity to go to school in, say, Minnesota — or just take her degree from UW-La Crosse across the river and immediately get a job paying $65,000 or $70,000 instead? Aspiring accountants will just do the math and leave the state.
Please pass AB696. It will keep our accountants here where we need them. We’ve been attracting an influx of residents from both Illinois and Minnesota. Let’s not give high-earning, valuable accountants any reason to go the other way.
