Chapter 1, Problem 18Q

The Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam is a uniform exam that is administered by a national organization. Licenses, however, are issued by individual states.

A. Explain why you think each state is responsible for issuing CPA licenses.

B. Choose two to three states, and compare and contrast the requirements to become a CPA. Are they fairly consistent or drastically different from each other? A helpful resource is https://www.thiswaytocpa.com/. You may also find it helpful to search the board of accountancy for each state.

C. Tax preparation is a large part of what many CPAs do. Students may be interested to know that a CPA (or any other licensing) is not required to prepare tax returns. Assume you know two friends who prepare tax returns for others, one is a CPA and one is not. Assume that both friends intend to move next year and will, therefore, prepare taxes in another state. Analyze this situation.