By Grant Lockhart
On January 22 and 23, 2026, the California Board of Accountancy (CBA) held its first board meeting of the year in Sacramento, California. CBA is responsible for licensing and disciplining certified public accountants (CPAs), with a mission to protect consumers by ensuring that only qualified licensees practice public accountancy in accordance with established professional standards.
The Board voted 10–1 to approve a Committee on Professional Conduct comment letter regarding the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Private Equity Task Force concerning private equity (PE) investment in CPA firms. PE firms have increased investments in large accounting firms nationwide through Alternative Practice Structures (APS), where a PE-backed entity owns the non-audit side, while a separate CPA-owned entity handles audits. Regulators have raised concerns that these structures may threaten auditor independence. NASBA established the task force in early 2025 to study these issues and released a white paper on October 24, 2025, to solicit input from state boards on independence and professional standards, disclosure and public understanding, and regulatory oversight and enforcement.
In its approved letter, the CBA emphasized that CPAs must remain the final decision-makers with respect to all day-to-day operations of licensed CPA firms and APS firms should provide increased transparency in consumer-facing disclosures. In addition, regulators nationally should modernize oversight frameworks to address complex firm ownership structures. CBA Executive Officer Dominic Franzella serves as a member of the NASBA Private Equity Task Force, giving California direct representation in the national discussion. Further developments on this issue will be presented to the board at its March 2026 meeting.
The meeting marked the beginning of a new leadership term, with Kristian Latta, CPA, serving as president, Doug Aguilera, CPA, as vice president, and Patricia R. Batchelor, CPA, as secretary-treasurer. It was also the first meeting for newly appointed board member Abigail Zelenski, Esquire, whom Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas appointed on December 22, 2025. Zelenski brings a legal background and a record of community service in the Los Angeles area, including serving as chair of the Los Angeles Civil and Human Rights Commission and past president of the Philippine-American Bar Association.
Secretary-Treasurer Patricia R. Batchelor reported that the CBA’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026–27 is $19,603,000 (Agenda Item 4). The governor released the proposed budget on January 9, 2026, and the Legislature will review it through June 15, 2026, with a May Revision expected before the budget takes effect July 1, 2026.
During the administration activity report, the CBA shared several operational updates (Agenda Item 5A). The CBA launched a new credit card payment option for CPA exam applicants in late November 2025, processing approximately 3,000 transactions in less than two months. The CBA also launched a new continuing education (CE) self-certification process under which licensees no longer must submit a full itemized list of completed CE courses.
In 2026 the CBA celebrates its 125th anniversary, commemorating its founding by statute in March 1901 (Agenda Item 2C). On February 2, 2026, the California Senate adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 111, introduced by Senator Roger Niello, CPA, recognizing the anniversary.
At the time of this writing, CBA held an additional meeting on March 12 and 13, 2026, on the campus of California State University, East Bay, in Hayward, California, and will hold its next meeting on May 14 and 15, 2026, with a location to be announced.