Monday, June 8, 2015

Make Sure Your CPA is a CPA

As crazy as it may sound, some people do place the CPA designation after their name and they shouldn't be. I once received a message from a recruiter who placed “CPA” after her name in the e-mail signature. I went to the Board of Accountancy’s website to look her up, and she wasn’t there. What this told me was she did NOT have a license in the state of Arizona. Maybe another state, but definitely not Arizona. Using the CPA designation comes with a lot of rules and I won’t bore you with all of them, but there are some basic facts that everyone needs to know about CPAs:
  • Although everyone in the United States takes the same uniform exam, licensing is handled on a state-by-state basis. If you have your license in one state, then move to another state, you have to apply to get certification in that state if you want to use the CPA designation. People can have multiple certifications in multiple states.
  • The CPA designation cannot be used if the license is inactive, suspended, revoked, or whatever term that particular state uses to mean “it’s not in good standing”.
  • CPA firms must also register with the accountancy board in whatever state it practices. Firm names can also be looked up to determine if they are in good standing.
If you currently use a CPA or are considering using one, it would benefit you to look up their license in whatever state you live in to ensure it’s in good standing and/or the person actually HAS a license. If you cannot locate their name, you can go to www.cpaverify.org to perform a nationwide search to see if perhaps the person is licensed in another state. I always recommend trying with the state board first because the nationwide site may have incomplete or outdated information. It’s up to each state how much information they provide to the site. I have provided links to every state’s CPA license lookup page below.

If you’re going to trust your finances to someone, make sure it is, indeed, someone you can trust. It only takes a minute.


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