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When many people hear or read the term accountant, the acronym CPA
immediately comes to mind. Although these two expressions are related and
may even have identical meaning in some cases, there are differences
between them. These differences can be illustrated by discussing what an
accountant is and what a "Certified Public Accountant" (CPA) is.
What is an Accountant?
Although job titles vary by employer, an accountant is essentially any
person working in an accounting field with sufficient responsibilities to
be considered an accountant, as opposed to someone that is entering data
or in more of a clerk position. Common accountant duties may include
journal entries, account reconciliations and period closings.
Depending on the type of accounting job, the accountant’s duties may vary
greatly from these activities. Also, the type of accounting position will
cause the duties to vary greatly. For example, a management accountant’s
job will be much different from a financial accountant’s job. Both of
these will probably not resemble an accounting auditor’s job for the most
part.
For many accounting positions, a person with a license is preferred.
However, there are many accounting jobs that do not require a CPA or other
accounting license.
What is a Certified Public Accountant?
One way to look at the CPA designation is that not all accountants are
CPAs, but all CPAs are accountants. A person that is a CPA may have the
job title of Accountant in many cases, whereas the term CPA is a license
they have earned. The CPA license is very difficult to earn and anyone
who has completed the testing, education and experience required for it
will nearly always have a great deal of knowledge about most aspects of
public accounting.
There are also accounting functions that cannot be performed by
non-certified accountants in many states. For example, certain auditing
and attestation functions must be performed by a CPA in many states. These
rules vary by state; some are more restrictive than others.
While many individuals and companies seek CPAs when they are looking for
an accountant, a person with the training for this type of license is not
necessarily the best person for every type of accounting job out there.
For example, individuals with a Certified Management Accountant (CMA)
license may be better qualified for internal accounting and finance
positions than a CPA. Individuals with a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)
certification may be more qualified than individuals with a CPA or CMA
license for internal auditing and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) focused jobs.
