REPLY The Demand for 150-Hours: Let the Market Decide.

Abstract The article focuses on issues related to auditing in the U.S. The only way to identify qualified auditors would be through brand names of firms or other organizations that offered audits. Competition among the firms would tend to control cost for large audits but the cost of audits for small companies, municipalities, non-profits and any entity outside a large city would soar. A credible licensing system is necessary because without it small entities and third parties needing the comfort of an audit before investing or lending would be faced with a chaotic bazaar of small firms and individuals making all sorts of claims, justified or not, about their ability to perform audits. It would be nearly impossible for a really qualified small firm or individual practitioner to compete with the constant influx of charlatans and incompetents who could advertise themselves as qualified auditors. A survey of CPA candidates conducted by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy in 1994 found that about one-third of the candidates had completed 150 semester hours or more and the average candidate had over 130 hours.