Strong feelings on limiting the use of CPA

Note: Coffey is CEO–Public Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

I touched a nerve with my recent article, “Display That CPA.” Thousands of people read the article, and many went on to comment on social media or share thoughts with me through a poll.

The response, sometimes heated, confirmed that this is an issue that employers and individual CPAs are wrestling with. I appreciated hearing from everyone.

To recap the issue: Some accounting firms, including some with private-equity backing, are recommending that partners and employees remove “CPA” from their public profiles. This is not a new request, but it appears to have picked up pace.

In the quick poll that I asked readers of the article to take, 14% of respondents said their employer had asked them not to display their CPA. Some said this included their email signature and business cards.  While some worked in private-equity-backed firms, others did not.

Where CPA had been limited at work, 47% reported working in tax and 17% in advisory. Others worked in audit, assurance, and even in corporate finance teams.

Another 70% of respondents had not been asked to do so. The remaining respondents said the question did not apply to them.

The majority of people who responded in open-ended comments opposed employer-mandated limitations on the use of CPA. Many worried, as I do, that such limitations have the potential to dilute the value of the CPA brand. Many spoke of the hard work they’d put into attaining their CPA license.

On the flip side, several respondents saw the decision to limit the use of CPA as an employer business decision. Those individuals pointed out that certain states assert that a licensee cannot hold out to the public as a CPA when working for an unlicensed professional services firm without a prominent disclosure that the firm is not licensed. Some respondents felt that, for alternative practice structure firms, removing CPA from emails and other profiles is rooted in a desire to comply with state rules and policies and limit enforcement risk.  

How states view this seems counterintuitive to our need to attract quality talent into our profession and to serve clients and employers in all facets of business. This may be something taken up by a private-equity task force announced this month by National Association of State Boards of Accountancy Chair Maria Caldwell.

The AICPA’s focus in the area of alternative practice structures, including private equity, is twofold: facilitating compliance with applicable rules by firms of all structures and developing and promoting best practices for firms to modernize and transform their business models, no matter what operating structure they choose.

A task force of the Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) has been studying potential revisions to independence rules related to alternative practice structures within the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (the Code). PEEC’s recommendations — some of which, for example, clarify the treatment of portfolio companies from an independence standpoint — are in a discussion memo out for comment until June 15 (see also the article “AICPA Seeks Feedback on Independence Rules Related to Private Equity,” JofA, March 10, 2025). That will be followed by a comprehensive exposure draft incorporating all relevant rules of the Code in the fall, with final code of conduct updates expected in Q1 2026.

Please continue to share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas on these topics — both through official comments periods and with me directly.

Working together, we’ll identify solutions that continue to honor the CPA as a powerful marker of an individual’s commitment to trust, integrity, and professional excellence and one that sets CPAs apart in the businesses they serve.

— Susan S. Coffey, CPA, CGMA, is CEO–Public Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. She leads the Association’s strategy to advance the practice of public accounting, including strengthening the talent pipeline and competencies of U.S. licensed CPAs. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Jeff Drew at Jeff.Drew@aicpa-cima.com.