IMGCAP(1)] What were they thinking?
I woke up one day last week shocked, speechless, and seriously appalled!
Across my morning Facebook feed I saw this article stating that one of the top CPA firms in the United States isnot accepting credit cardsdue to security concerns.
Really? Come on.
The whole world accepts credit cards but a top CPA firm that likely performs PCI DSS compliance audits can’t figure it out?
What am I missing here?
Doesn’t this firm advise their clients on this exact same issue? Are they saying that most of their customers should just stop accepting credit cards? If they cannot keep their clients’ credit card data safe, can they realistically keep any of their data safe? Social Security numbers, checking accounts, or any sensitive data for that matter?
Of course they can!
But the firm really screwed up here. Their public statement puts ALL CPAs back at least 10 years. I am quite frankly disgusted and feel they need to retract the statement or provide clarification. CPAs are called upon frequently for their judgment.
This, in my opinion, is a complete lack of professional judgment.
As CPAs, we have a duty not to increase the data fearmongering. I’m sure they did their risk analysis, but why on earth would you position a decision in that way? It makes no sense and makes them look ridiculous.
CPAs, please think before you speak out about something like this. Bold public statements can have consequences that are greater than just your individual circumstance.
And who knows? Perhaps they made that decision not because of security issues but because they wanted to dodge the 2 percent fees. Just sayin’.
Jody L. Padar, CPA, MST, is the CEO and Principal at
