Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is an accountant licensed by a US state board to audit books, sign tax returns, and act for clients before tax agencies. The badge is worth paying for because the CPA carries personal legal risk on every signature.

Every US state runs its own CPA board, so licensure is state-by-state rather than federal. Candidates pass the four-part Uniform CPA Examination, log a year of supervised experience, and finish 150 credit hours before a state board issues the certificate.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Code of Professional Conduct binds every licensee to put the public interest ahead of the paying client. Break it and the state board can suspend the license.

Outside the US, equivalent designations carry the same weight. Chartered Accountant covers the UK and the Commonwealth, and CPA Australia covers the Asia-Pacific region.

In the Philippines, the Board of Accountancy (BOA) licenses the CPAs who anchor Manila’s finance and accounting outsourcing supply. That pool is what most Western buyers actually tap when they move offshore accounting work abroad.

Key takeaways

• CPAs are licensed by US state boards and governed by the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
• Licensure demands 150 credit hours, the four-part Uniform CPA Examination, and roughly one year of supervised experience.
• Only CPAs can sign audit opinions on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered statements or represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
• Precedence Research valued the market at USD 54.79 billion in 2025, rising to USD 85.92 billion by 2031.
• Offshoring CPA-supervised work to the Philippines routinely trims 60–70% off in-house cost.

How it works

A CPA earns the license, then puts their signature on financial statements, tax filings, or attest work in exchange for professional liability and disciplinary risk. That personal accountability, enforceable by a state board, is what buyers pay for.

Here’s the standard path from accounting graduate to signing CPA, with the timing most candidates hit.

Once licensed, a CPA can perform four services no unlicensed accountant may touch: SEC audits, reviews and compilations, IRS representation, and signed attest opinions that lenders and regulators will accept.

Everything else — bookkeeping, payroll, and management accounting — is open to non-CPAs. That’s why outsourced accounting firms staff a CPA-to-junior ratio near 1:6 and route only the signature work upward.

Price follows that ratio. The cheaper the seat, the further it sits from the signature, and the three common delivery options price out roughly like this.

Read the middle column carefully. A blended model keeps one onshore CPA on the signature and pushes preparation offshore, which is where the 60–70% saving actually comes from.

Examples

CPAs show up wherever financial statements need a signature a bank, tax authority, or regulator will accept. These four settings are where the license is either legally required or clearly worth the premium.

Big Four audit teams. Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG staff every US audit engagement with a US CPA as engagement partner.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspected hundreds of audit files across the four firms in 2024 and treated CPA-signed workpapers as the accountability anchor.

Manila offshore accounting providers. MicroSourcing, D&V Philippines, and Booth & Partners pair BOA-licensed Philippine CPAs with US CPA reviewers on cross-border files.

The Philippines’ information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector cleared roughly USD 40 billion in 2025 revenue — finance and accounting is one of its fastest-growing verticals.

Corporate tax departments. Fortune 500 tax teams keep in-house CPAs to sign returns, handle IRS employer identification and filing rules, and build the tax provision behind the annual 10-K.

Solo and small-firm practice. The AICPA counts tens of thousands of US public accounting firms, and most are 1–5 person shops handling local tax, review, and advisory work for owner-managed businesses.

Related terms

CPA work sits inside a wider network of accounting and outsourcing terms. These are the ones you’ll meet first when you scope a finance engagement or compare offshore providers side by side.

• Bookkeeping: the record-keeping layer beneath the CPA’s signed reports.
• Payroll: a recurring task CPAs supervise but rarely process themselves.
• Offshore Accounting: moving CPA-supervised work to lower-cost countries, usually the Philippines or India.
• Business Process Outsourcing: the broader delivery model that finance and accounting outsourcing sits inside.
• Knowledge Process Outsourcing: the higher-judgement tier where CPA-heavy work usually lands.
• Financial Services Company: banks, insurers, and asset managers whose audits legally require a CPA.
• Back Office: the operations layer where CPA-supervised bookkeeping and payroll run day to day.

FAQ

These are the questions buyers ask most when they weigh a CPA hire against an outsourced finance team. Each answer sticks to what the license actually covers, what it costs, and where offshore delivery fits.

What does a CPA do that a regular accountant can’t?

Only a licensed CPA can sign an audit opinion on SEC-registered financial statements or represent a taxpayer before the IRS. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and management accounting stay open to any accountant.

How long does it take to become a CPA?

Most candidates need 5–7 years in total. That covers a 4–5 year degree carrying 150 credit hours, 6–18 months to clear the four-part Uniform CPA Examination, and about a year of supervised experience.

Can I outsource CPA-level work overseas?

Yes. Manila firms pair BOA-licensed Philippine CPAs with US CPA reviewers so workpapers, tax returns, and monthly closes stay compliant. Buyers typically cut 60–70% off in-house cost.

Is a CPA the same as a Chartered Accountant?

They’re close, not identical. CPA licenses are US state-issued and follow US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), while Chartered Accountants report under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the UK, the Commonwealth, and India.

How much do CPAs charge?

Rates split three ways — onshore firms bill USD 150–450 an hour, an in-house senior CPA costs USD 90,000–150,000 fully loaded, and offshore CPA-supervised delivery lands at USD 15–35 an hour.

If you’re weighing whether to hire, offshore, or blend a CPA team, browse Outsource Accelerator’s outsourcing hubs to compare providers by service, country, and price.