A CPA is a license, not a certification. Despite the word “certified” in the name, the Certified Public Accountant credential is issued by a state government — specifically, a state Board of Accountancy — and carries the legal authority, restrictions, and enforcement power that only a government license can have. Private certifications in accounting exist, and some are well-respected, but they are not the same thing legally and cannot be required, revoked, or protected the way a license can.
License vs. Certification: The Legal Difference
A license is permission from a government authority to do something that would otherwise be illegal. A certification is recognition from a private body that you’ve met a standard of knowledge. Those are different categories of thing, and the CPA sits in the first one.
Every CPA is authorized by a state Board of Accountancy. There are 55 such boards covering the 50 states, Washington D.C., and four U.S. territories, and they coordinate through the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.1NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. Boards of Accountancy Each board sets eligibility rules, issues licenses, and retains the power to suspend or revoke the credential for misconduct. The framework that keeps the boards broadly aligned is the Uniform Accountancy Act, a model licensing law maintained jointly by NASBA and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; states adopt or adapt it, but its structure is the reason CPA requirements look similar from one jurisdiction to the next.2NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. The Uniform Accountancy Act
A private certification has none of that machinery. It comes from a nonprofit or professional association, reflects the group’s own standards, and depends entirely on the member’s voluntary participation. Nothing about it is enforceable by a government.
How the CPA Compares to the CMA and CIA
The confusion is understandable, because accounting has several credentials with “certified” in the name and only one of them is a license.
The Certified Management Accountant is issued by the Institute of Management Accountants. The Certified Internal Auditor comes from The Institute of Internal Auditors. Both are private professional bodies. Both credentials require exams and have real standing in the profession. Neither is a government license. You can work in management accounting or internal audit without either credential, and if you let one lapse, no state agency will penalize you for continuing the work.
The CPA is different in kind. Using the title without a valid state license is illegal. Performing certain accounting services reserved for licensees is illegal. Enforcement can involve administrative fines, cease-and-desist orders, and in some jurisdictions criminal penalties. Government both grants the credential and protects it.
What a CPA License Legally Authorizes
The most consequential privilege of a CPA license is the authority to perform attest services. Attest work includes auditing a company’s financial statements and issuing an independent opinion on whether those statements fairly represent its financial position. No unlicensed person can legally sign an audit report or issue that opinion. For publicly traded companies this is not optional: federal securities law requires audited financial statements in annual reports, and the audit has to come from an independent accountant.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 10-K
A CPA license also grants unlimited practice rights before the IRS. Under Treasury Department Circular No. 230, a CPA can represent any taxpayer, on any tax matter, before any IRS office, including appeals and collections.4Internal Revenue Service. Treasury Department Circular No. 230 Attorneys and enrolled agents have the same unlimited rights.5Internal Revenue Service. Enrolled Agent Information Registered tax return preparers, by contrast, can only represent clients during examinations of returns they personally prepared, and they cannot appear before appeals or collections.
These authorities are legal grants. They exist because a government has said, through statute and regulation, that only certain licensed professionals can perform these acts. A private certification cannot confer that kind of authority, no matter how rigorous its exam.
What a License Requires That a Certification Doesn’t
Because a CPA license is government-issued, it comes with obligations that private certifications typically don’t impose in the same way.
The path to licensure combines education, exam, experience, and ethics. Most states still require 150 semester hours of college coursework with a concentration in accounting and business. A newer pathway in the ninth edition of the Uniform Accountancy Act allows candidates to qualify with a bachelor’s degree of 120 semester hours plus two years of supervised professional experience and a passing exam score, and several states have already enacted versions of it.6AICPA & CIMA. Uniform Accountancy Act: Ninth Edition The exam itself, restructured in 2024 into three core sections and one discipline section, is administered under NASBA’s framework rather than by any single professional association.7NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam Candidate Guide Every jurisdiction also requires supervised professional experience, verified by a licensed CPA, before issuing the license, and most require a separate ethics examination.
Once licensed, the obligations continue. CPE requirements generally fall between 80 and 120 hours over a two- or three-year cycle, often with a mandated ethics component. Renewals require certification of CPE compliance and disclosure of criminal convictions, civil judgments, or discipline from other jurisdictions during the reporting period. Boards conduct random audits of CPE records, and failing an audit can lead to suspension or revocation. A CPA firm that performs attest services typically needs its own permit from the state board, separate from the individual licenses its partners hold, and firms performing attest work are subject to mandatory peer review on a roughly three-year cycle.8AICPA & CIMA. Final Version of New AICPA Peer Review Standards Update Now Available
Letting a license lapse is not a low-stakes event. It means losing the legal right to use the CPA title and perform licensed services. Reinstatement requires back CPE hours covering the lapsed period, a reinstatement application, and a fee that’s usually higher than a routine renewal. Long lapses can trigger a personal appearance before the board.
A private certification has none of this apparatus. Continuing education may be required by the issuing body to keep the credential active, but the enforcement is contractual, not governmental. Nobody is going to court over an expired CMA.
Penalties for Using the CPA Title Without a License
The CPA title is legally protected in every U.S. jurisdiction. Using it without a valid license, or performing services reserved for licensees, triggers enforcement action from the state board. Typical penalties include administrative fines, cease-and-desist orders, and injunctions. For serious violations like performing attest work without a license, fines can reach tens of thousands of dollars. Repeat offenders face escalating penalties, and some states classify unauthorized practice as a criminal offense.
This is the clearest test of the distinction. If a CMA membership lapses, the Institute of Management Accountants can revoke the credential, but no government agency will fine the person for continuing to do management accounting work. If someone uses the CPA title without authorization, the state will act. Government enforcement backed by law is what separates a license from a certification, and the CPA sits firmly on the license side of that line.