<p>Contact your local congressman. Many accountants work close to 80hrs/wk (2 fte’s) and accounting firms are in turn undercharging their clients for accounting/audit work. This is due to the abuse of lax labor laws and proliferation of staffing agencies.</p>
<p>Most accountants/auditors do not (IMO) exercise discretion and independent judgment because they follow the protocols prescribed by the audit program or follow procedures according to GAAP. On the other hand, a person in charge of writing the audit program would be exercising discretion and independent judgment.</p>
<p>The accounting industry is the epitome of shady employment practices. Businesses are requiring degreed accountants so they can be exempt from having to pay overtime and can subject them to long arduous hours. I believe the degradation of the accounting professions is due to the weak laws of the FLSA. At minimum, there should be a predetermined hourly rate like the criteria used to determine exempt computer employees.</p>
<p>Learned Professional Exemption
To qualify for the learned professional employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:
• The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $455 per week;
• The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
• The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
• The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.</p>
<p>Computer Employee Exemption
To qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:
• The employee must be compensated either on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week or, if compensated on an hourly basis, at a rate not less than $27.63 an hour;
• The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field performing the duties described below;
• The employee’s primary duty must consist of:
- The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
- The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
- The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
- A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.</p>
<p>Administrative Exemption
To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:
• The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $455 per week;
• The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers; and
• The employee’s primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.</p>
<p>29 CFR 541.207
Perhaps the most frequent cause of misapplication of the term “discretion and independent judgment” is the failure to distinguish it from the use of skill in various respects. An employee who merely applies his knowledge in following prescribed procedures or determining which procedure to follow, or who determines whether specified standards are met or whether an object falls into one or another of a number of definite grades, classes, or other categories, with or without the use of testing or measuring devices, is not exercising discretion and independent judgment within the meaning of Sec. 541.2. This is true even if there is some leeway in reaching a conclusion, as when an acceptable standard includes a range or a tolerance above or below a specific standard.</p>