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The Training And Roles Of A Cpa Accountant

By Rosella Campbell


Different countries have various designations for individuals qualified as public accountants.CPA is a title used for local public accountants. In the US, for an individual to be a CPA accountant, he or she ought to have passed a certified public accountant examination which is normally uniform in all states. This has to be accompanied by experience and then proper levels of education required to be a certified public accountant.

Designation CPA can only be used by an individual certified in that particular state. Out of state accountants have to be licensed in other states before they are allowed to use the designation. In the states there exists other designations for low tier accountants such as PA (public accountants) and LPA (licensed public accountants)Certified public accountants can work in the private as well as public sector. They may occupy positions such as chief executive officers, chief financing officers or head finance departments depending on their business knowledge and practice. They have a responsibility to ensure that accepted accounting principles that are applicable are adhered to.

CPAs are capable of working both in the private as well as public sector. They may occupy various offices such as heads of financial departments, chief executive officers or even as chief financing officers based on their knowledge and practice in business. When delivering their services, adherence to applicable accounting principles is an important consideration.

Some accountants work as business consultants though in most countries, those accountants carrying out audits are required by the law and by professional standards to ensure a certain degree of independence from the entity they are having an attestation engagement. For this reason, most of those working as consultants are not auditors.

Though CPA examinations may be the same for all students in the country, in others like the US, state governments greatly influence the licensing and certification since they hold the final verdict on the various licensing requirements that are outlined in the laws enacted by the state.

The state set requirements can be generalized as being education, experience and a qualification in the uniform certified public accountants examination . Some of the requirements such as the minimum education levels are met as an individual seeks to meet the eligibility criteria for the examination. Requisite experience is normally the last hurdle an accountant has to overcome in order to be certified.

Examinations for those seeking to be CPAs are divided into four; Regulation(examines candidates on tax ethics business law, federal procedures and state procedures, general business law and much more) Financial accounting and reporting, Business environment and concepts(entails matters of corporate governance, information systems a and strategic planning) and finally audit and attestation(covers topics like evaluating evidence, professional responsibilities, communicating audit findings, ethics and performing audits). Though aspects of the examination may be different in different countries, these remain the primary areas of examination.

Ethics remain a critical area of study for an accounting student. In fact before one is a certified public accountant, he or she must sit a special ethics examination which evaluates ones understanding of professional ethics and might be a mandatory requirement when joining accounting professional bodies.




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