After 14 states passed legislation or regulation allowing for alternative pathways to CPA licensure, the AICPA and NASBA have decided to get on the bandwagon.

The associations were once staunch proponents of the “150-hour rule”: the requirement that candidates for CPA licensure have taken 150 hours of college credit, or 30 more hours than are required for a bachelor’s degree. Some states (*cough*Minnesota*cough*), believing this requirement too burdensome, did an end run around them by introducing legislation that would allow for different pathways to licensure.

The associations softened their stance, and, now, they’ve taken another key step toward approving an alternative to the 150-hour rule. The boards of both associations have agreed to amend the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) to allow candidates to earn CPA licensure with a bachelor’s degree plus two years’ professional experience in lieu of 150 hours of college credit, the Journal of Accountancy reported.

The 150-hour pathways (a bachelor’s degree plus either a master’s degree in accounting or 30 additional credit hours, plus one year of work experience) are still an option for those who want to pursue them. All pathways require that candidates have a bachelor’s degree and pass the CPA Exam.

The UAA acts as a model legislation that states can customize. It’s up to the states to define what the professional experience requirement means in their jurisdictions.

For more on the new CPA requirements, click here.—CV

If you’ve ever driven over a toll bridge in a rental car, or had a parking permit when you were a college student, or been caught running a red light by a traffic camera, you’ve probably interacted with Verra Mobility. The public company’s transportation monitoring software is integrated with city governments, schools, and law enforcement.

Verra Mobility CFO Craig Conti has been with the company for three years, after a long career working across industries like healthcare and the aluminum industry. He spoke with CFO Brew about his transition and the role of the CFO in 2025.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The cliche about CFOs is they’re CF-Nos. How do you feel that term should be updated in 2025?

Maybe it should be CF-how? It’s very rarely CF-yes. Just by the very nature of the role, the CFO needs to be a gatekeeper of resources. But it comes back to the path to getting a yes. If you’re the wizard behind the curtain, you’re not going to build followership. You’re not going to build trust. You’re not going to build independent thought. Never be yes, no, and then go away. It’s always how. How could we get there and bring people along? Once you do that, you build the critical thinking of the organization, and the quality of the asks you get starts to get increasingly better.

Click here to keep reading.—JK

Springtime. Time for all those home improvement projects that had to wait for warmer weather. And time for…Home Depot’s first earnings report for fiscal 2025. How very convenient.

In Q1 2025, Home Depot posted sales of $39.9 billion, a 9.4% increase from the same quarter last year.

Comparable sales, or what existing stores sold, fell 0.3% overall, while comparable sales in the US climbed a slim 0.2%.

“This backs our previous view that the US home improvement market has likely reached the nadir of its decline after a very sluggish period,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told CFO Brew over email. “However, it is also clear that there is not yet sufficient momentum to power up the hill at the other side of the trough. As such, it is likely that Home Depot and its rivals in the sector will linger in the valley of low growth for most of this year.”

Home Depot reaffirmed its fiscal 2025 guidance, anticipating total sales would grow by 2.8% and comparable sales would climb 1%.

That forecast takes into account that the US and China entered a temporary agreement to lower reciprocal import tariffs. Notably, Home Depot’s finance chief told CNBC the retailer has no intention of raising prices due to tariffs.

For more on Home Depot’s plans for tariffs, click here.—NP

From strategy to setbacks, finance leaders reveal what really happens when you automate. On May 28, learn how they tackled data cleanup, upskilling, and ROI pressure—and what they’d do differently. This isn’t theory. It’s hindsight you can actually use. Register here.

From the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) to the rise of cloud accounting and AI-driven analytics, CFOs have evolved into strategic leaders. Our quarter-century project explores the pivotal events that reshaped finance, regulation, and the CFO role. See how the past has forged the future of financial leadership.