The AICPA is the largest professional organization for accountants in the world. It sets ethical standards for the accounting profession and U.S. auditing standards. The AICPA advocates for legislative bodies and public interests. It was founded in 1887 and has established numerous credentials for accountants, including the CPA, PFS, ABV, CFF, CITP, CEIV, and CVFI. The AICPA provides benefits like advocacy, networking opportunities, professional development resources, and discounts to its members.
The AICPA is the largest professional organization for accountants in the world. It sets ethical standards for the accounting profession and U.S. auditing standards. The AICPA advocates for legislative bodies and public interests. It was founded in 1887 and has established numerous credentials for accountants, including the CPA, PFS, ABV, CFF, CITP, CEIV, and CVFI. The AICPA provides benefits like advocacy, networking opportunities, professional development resources, and discounts to its members.
The AICPA is the largest professional organization for accountants in the world. It sets ethical standards for the accounting profession and U.S. auditing standards. The AICPA advocates for legislative bodies and public interests. It was founded in 1887 and has established numerous credentials for accountants, including the CPA, PFS, ABV, CFF, CITP, CEIV, and CVFI. The AICPA provides benefits like advocacy, networking opportunities, professional development resources, and discounts to its members.
The AICPA is the largest professional organization for accountants in the world. It sets ethical standards for the accounting profession and U.S. auditing standards. The AICPA advocates for legislative bodies and public interests. It was founded in 1887 and has established numerous credentials for accountants, including the CPA, PFS, ABV, CFF, CITP, CEIV, and CVFI. The AICPA provides benefits like advocacy, networking opportunities, professional development resources, and discounts to its members.
AICPA- (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)
It is the world’s largest member association that sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations, federal, state and local governments. The AICPA also serves as an advocate for legislative bodies and public interest group. The Board of Directors of AICPA are the one who leads the organization. The Board of Directors serves as the executive committees for the governing council and the one that establishes organization policies.
HISTORY
In the year 1887, the association was formed and was called as American Association of Public Accountants (AAPA). Since then, it became the rule-making and standard-setting organization to maintain uniform standard in CPA profession. AICPA was the first organization to create the original Financial Accounting Standard under GAAP before it was handed over to Financial Accounting Standard Board or the FASB. The founders were mainly English and Scottish chartered accountants who also practices accounting in the United States. It was in the year 1916 when the American Association of Public Accountants was succeeded by the Institute of Public Accountants and had a membership of 1,150. The AAPA consist of committees, the first Bylaws of AAPA established three committees, the Finance and Audit, Committee on Elections, Qualifications and Examination, and the Committee on Bylaws. These committees are of great help in terms of the purpose of the organization. The number of committees continuously grew up until now. The AICPA establishes the world's largest accounting database in 2000. The name changed into American Institute of Accountants in 1917 and remained so until 1957 when it was again changed to its official land current organization name. The American Society of Certified Public Accountants was formed in 1921 and acted as a federation of state societies. The Society was merged into the Institute in 1936 and, at that time, the Institute agreed to restrict its future members to CPAs.
PURPOSE
The AICPA is responsible for:
1. Establishing professional standards
The association sets the standards in financial statement auditing, private practice, CPA firm quality control, business valuation, financial planning, and professional ethics. It also disciplines members who are accused of misconduct while in active professional practice. 2. Recruiting and educating prospective members AICPA develops the Uniform Certified Public Accountants examination for CPA practitioners. Students and other individuals seeking to practice as Certified Public Accountants are required to pass the CPA examination. AIPCA also publishes journals and newsletters to educate and inform CPAs on any issues that are of concern to CPAs. The association also conducts seminars on a continuous basis to update its members on any developments in the profession and changes in laws that may affect them. 3. Certification and licensing of new members AICPA grants the CPA designation to accounting professionals who pass a series of accounting exams and meet the experience requirements before venturing into private practice. The body also offers credentialing programs for members who specialize in certain areas. 4. Public interest campaigns The AICPA is involved in various public interest programs, including: Feed the Pig Campaign With this program, the AICPA encourages the Americans aged 24- 35 years to take control of their finances and attain financial stability. It also has website that provides saving tips and free resources to help Americans manage their spending habits and work towards reducing debts and growing their savings. 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy The campaign is a national volunteer effort sponsored by the AICPA and Ad Council to help Americans understand their finances and develop money management skills. It recognizes financial education as a lifelong process and it provides money management resources for all categories of people, from teens, students, employed, parents, homeowners, to retirees.
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
1. ADVOCACY- AICPA also protects the profession of its members in the
legislative, regulatory and public policy arenas and report to them all the issues that can affect their firm, business and career. 2. COMMUNITY- AICPA also expands the networking opportunities of its members by providing conferences, volunteer groups and task forces. 3. DISCOUNTS- The association has the program called Member Discount Program that offers savings on the products and services that their members are using every day such as Lenovo, FedEx and more. 4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELPOMENT- AICPA also helps their member to develop their professions by giving up-to-date information and guidance on standards, an annual subscription to journal of Accountancy, career information, tools and more. 5. PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE- AICPA also gives resources and key developments, new rules, hot topics, and emerging trends in the CPA profession and the ever- changing accounting world. 6. NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS- They also give their members a newsletters and magazines from the Journal of Accountancy to CPA Letter Daily, for the latest news and developments in the accounting profession. CERTIFICATES AND CREDENTIALS
1. CPA ( Certified Public Accountant)
The CPA Exam consists of four, four-hour sections: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Business Environment and Concepts (BEC), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) and Regulation (REG). The examiner must pass all four sections within 18 months, earning a minimum score of 75 on each part. 2. Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) Allows CPAs to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise in personal financial planning. Whether a CPA specializes in personal financial planning with their clients or interacts with other financial planning professionals, the CPA/PFS credential adds credibility. CPA/PFS credential holders have a specific experience, education and examination requirement that sets them apart from other CPAs and financial planners. 3. Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) Is granted to the CPAs and qualified valuation professionals who demonstrate considerable expertise in valuation through their knowledge, skill, experience and adherence to professional standards. Candidates for examination must have passed the ASA credential exam of the American Society of Appraisers, CFA exam level III of the CFA Institute or CBV credential exam of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators. 4. Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) Positions forensic accounting professionals for increased demand in one of the fastest-growing specialty areas for CPAs. To become a CFF Credential holder, the CFF Roadmap serves as a step-by-step guide illustrating how a CPA, at any level of expertise, can utilize the resources provided to FVS Section members to embark on the journey of obtaining the AICPA's CPA-exclusive forensic accounting credential. 5. Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) Acknowledges the CPA professional who has received additional training in the areas of Emerging Trends, Security and Privacy, Business Solutions, IT Assurance and Risk and Data Analytics. 6. Certified in Entity and Intangible Valuations (CEIV) Credential for CPAs and Finance Professionals who perform fair value measurements for entities and intangible assets for financial reporting purposes. This includes business combinations, testing goodwill and other long-lived assets for impairment, estimating the fair value of intangible assets such as customer relationships, patents and more 7. Certified in the Valuation of Financial Instruments (CVFI) This will be granted by the AICPA to qualified individuals who demonstrate considerable expertise in performing and or reporting on fair value estimates of financial instruments for financial reporting purposes through their knowledge, skills and experience. CPAs and valuation professionals who want to apply for the CVFI credential must: maintain AICPA membership in good standing, hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and meet minimum education, experience and examination requirements.
