American Bankers Association VP Dan Martini today participated in an American Institute of Certified Public Accountants webinar on Thursday with thousands of CPAs interested in the Paycheck Protection Program on the line. Among other things, Martini discussed the latest round of PPP funding and a letter that ABA sent to the Small Business Administration on Monday flagging several significant issues that are preventing the program from fully supporting small businesses in need.
Martini noted that SBA hasn’t addressed all the issues that were raised in the letter, but said he is hopeful it will help the incoming Biden administration, which will be directing the SBA and Treasury going forward. He also added that more upfront clarity and transparency would be better for borrowers, lenders and CPA’s that are working with both borrowers and lenders.
“If they can provide upfront notice on a lot of these issues that would save a lot of time and effort because as a lender, and as a CPA, [if you] know what the rules are going in, you can counsel the borrower as to what they can actually apply for,” said Martini. “That should hopefully streamline the process on the front-end before the application even gets put into SBA’s system.”
Most of all, Martini also stressed the need for patience. “For those individuals that are getting some anxious customers and anxious borrowers, I would just reiterate the patience aspect of this process,” he said. “I am hopeful that things get better as the weeks move on here, and particularly now that it seems SBA is providing more transparency and more clarity and we hope that process continues.”
