About the MSCPA

The Montana Society of CPAs (MSCPA), founded in 1913, is the statewide professional organization of certified public accountants. With over 1700 members, the Society is divided, geographically, into eight chapters. Nearly 70 percent of the certified public accountants in the State of Montana belong to MSCPA.  

• The Society sponsors and conducts an extensive continuing education program for members and their employees.
• The Society's purposes are to promote advancement of the profession, maintain high professional and ethical standards, expand professional knowledge and render public service to the community.
• MSCPA is directed by a 12-member volunteer board elected by the membership. Service on the board is among the highest honors in the profession. A full-time staff, headed by an executive director, administers the group's activities. Offices are located in Helena.
• The Society provides numerous services for its members, including forums for peer contact, continuing professional education, insurance plans, legislative representation and relationships with the media, state and local governments, colleges and universities and other professional associations.
• Montana Society members, including a former American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Chair, also are involved in national professional associations.
• The history of Montana's professional accounting organizations began in Butte, in 1908, with the formation of the Montana Society of Public Accountants, a group centered around the mining interests of William A. Clark and the Anaconda Company. The state's first accounting law, based on regulations developed in New York, passed during the 1909 legislative session. The law was revised in 1919, 1933, 1969, 1979, 1983 and 1989.
• The Montana Society of CPAs established formal offices in Helena in 1969, staffed with a part-time secretary who also worked with the state board. In 1972, the Society hired a full time executive secretary and, in 1977, a full time executive director.