Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous

countries in the English-speaking world. In the United States they will have passed
theUniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and will have met additional state
education and experience requirements for membership in their respective professional
accounting bodies and certification as a CPA. Individuals who have passed the exam but
have not either accomplished the required on-the-job experience or have previously met
it and who have lapsed their continuing professional education or have requested to be
converted to inactive status are, in many states, permitted the designation "CPA
Inactive" or an equivalent phrase. In most U.S. states, only CPAs who are licensed are
able to provide to the public attestation (including auditing) opinions on financial
statements. The exceptions to this rule are Arizona, Kansas, and North Carolina where
the "CPA" designation and the practice of auditing are not restricted. Many CPAs are
members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or their state CPA
society.
Many states have (or have had) a lower tier of accountant qualification below that of
CPA, usually entitled "Public Accountant" or "Licensed Public Accountant" (with
designatory letters "PA" or "LPA"), although other titles have included "Registered Public
Accountant" (RPA), "Accounting Practitioner" (AP), and "Registered Accounting
Practitioner" (RAP). Such designations were originally intended to license non-certified
accountants who were practicing public accounting before a state law was enacted
which would serve to regulate the practice of public accounting in that state. The
majority of states have closed the designation "Public Accountant" (PA) to new entrants,
with only six states continuing to offer the designation. Many PAs belong to the National
Society of Accountants.
Many states prohibit the use of the designations "Certified Public Accountant" or "Public
Accountant"/"Licensed Public Accountant" (or the abbreviations "CPA" or "PA"/"LPA") by
a person who is not certified as a CPA or PA in that state. As a result, in many
circumstances, an out-of-state CPA is restricted from using the CPA designation or
designators letters until a license or certificate from that state is obtained.
Texas additionally prohibits the use of the designations "accountant" and "auditor" by a
person not certified as a Texas CPA, unless that person is a CPA in another state, is a
non-resident of Texas, and otherwise meets the requirements for practice in Texas by
out-of-state CPA firms and practitioners.[1]
Many other countries also use the title CPA to designate local public accountants.
Contents
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1 Services provided

2 CPA exam

3 Other licensing and certification requirements

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3.1 Work experience requirement

3.2 Ethics

3.3 Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

4 Inter-state practice
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4.1 Practice mobility

5 AICPA membership

6 State CPA association membership

7 See also

8 References

9 External links

Services provided[edit]
The primary functions performed by CPAs relate to assurance services. In assurance
services, also known as financial audit services, CPAs attest to the reasonableness of
disclosures, the freedom from material misstatement, and the adherence to the
applicable generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in financial statements.