Display that CPA

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

If you possess the skill, smarts, and persistence to become a licensed CPA, that should be something to celebrate and declare in your business dealings.

The CPA license is a powerful, proven differentiator — a mark of public trust, professional rigor, and long-term career value.

In every business area in which CPAs work, including consulting and advisory, maintaining your CPA license signals an elite level of accountability, competency, integrity, and objectivity.

When trust is scarce, these qualities aren’t just valuable — they’re essential.

The CPA grants the profession the ability to provide audit and attest services. In every other service area, we work with market permission. CPA licensure helped build that market permission. And that permission equates to tremendous value for us as individuals, for the businesses we work in and serve clients in, and for the CPA profession.

Over time, we’ve heard reports that some accounting firms, most recently those with private-equity backing, are recommending that partners and employees remove “CPA” from their public profiles. I think this is a mistake. It is a detriment to our value and public standing because it negates the hard work we’ve done to build trust and respect and earn recognition for the CPA.

This isn’t just an issue for current CPAs. There could be unintended consequences for our future talent. Eighty-two percent of accounting majors felt the CPA license would be extremely valuable or very valuable for their career goals, according to a 2023 report by the Center for Audit Quality and Edge Research. Limiting the use of “CPA” would negatively impact our ability to recruit young talent who see great value in CPA. Why would a young professional work hard to acquire the CPA, only to have their employer tell them they can’t use it?

It’s worth noting that alternative practice structures, which encompass private-equity investment and other nontraditional business models, have existed in the accounting profession for decades, and the CPA license has consistently endured as the gold standard. Clients and investors continue to expect — and demand — the unique value that only a CPA can provide.

A task force of the AICPA’s Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) recently issued a discussion memo proposing updates to independence rules around alternative practice structures, grounded in extensive real-world experience and stakeholder feedback. We are committed to ensuring that evolving business models align with the integrity and high standards that define the CPA profession.

As a CPA and a leader within the profession, I continue to explore the risk concerns that are driving decisions to remove CPA listings from some profiles.

Our clients and the public are best served when an individual’s training is readily apparent and their commitment to our profession’s core values and lifelong education is declared with their CPA.

If you have a perspective on this, please share it with me through this quick poll. I welcome your insights.

— 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.