What is a CPA?

Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA. 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, North Carolina and Wyoming, where although the "CPA" designation is restricted, the practice of auditing is not.
Many states prohibit the use of the designations "Certified Public Accountant" or "Public Accountant" (or the abbreviations "CPA" or "PA") by a person who is not certified as a CPA in that state. According to the National Society of Accountants, the "public accountant" does exist nationwide subject to certain exceptions. However the majority of states have closed the designation "Public Accountant" to new entrants.
While CPAs are known by the general public in part for their business consultants, finance and tax expertise, as well as for "doing the books" of small organizations, they are uniquely educated for the attestation function discussed above. Because accountants are educated on the foundational levels of a business, they are commonly called upon for general business knowledge. Increasingly, CPAs are employed by corporations in finance functions such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or finance manager, or CPAs are employed as CEOs subject to their full business knowledge and practice, and do not provide services directly to the public.
Although some CPAs serve as business consultants, the consulting role is under scrutiny following the corporate climate in the aftermath of the Enron scandal. This has resulted in divestitures in the consulting divisions by many accounting firms. In audit engagements, CPAs are (and have always been) required by professional standards and Federal and State laws to maintain independence (both in fact and in appearance) from the entity they are conducting an attestation (audit and review) engagement. However, most individual CPAs who work as consultants do not work as auditors, or vice versa.

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