What You Need Know Between Certified Public Accountant and Enrolled Agent
One of the thing that bother many business people is accounting and tax matter, this part in business give many nightmares because of complex process and strict deadlines involved, this is especially true where one is inept in accounting or finance. Big businesses generally do not struggle much with accounting and tax matters because they have a dedicated accounting department for this, however, small businesses struggles to choose between certified public account (CPA) and Enrolled Agent (EA) to assist them with accounting and tax matters. This article outlines some information that can help you pick the right professional for your accounting or tax matters especially if you run a small business.
One of the distinctions between CPA and EA agents are accounting or financial services they can provide, CPA professionals are permitted to provide a variety of accounting and finance-related matters where EA can only help you in tax-related matters, their licensing authorities differ significantly, in some countries CPA agents are licensed by the state while EA professionals are licensed by the federal government see more on this homepage.
It also good to know that the process of becoming a CPA or EA professional varies to a great extent, becoming a CPA professional is relatively lengthy and the requirements are quite high, one needs to have a Bsc degree in accounting or finance-related course with about 120 to 150 credit hours to be allowed to sit for a CPA certification exam, once this is completed it is mandatory to work under the supervision of qualified and experienced CPA profession for a given amount of time before a license is issued, however, to become an EA a degree is not a requirement, all that is needed is to pass a three part exam in the area of taxation, representation, and ethics, to keep their status active, EA professionals are required to renew their taxation knowledge after every three years view here for more about EA and CPA agents.
The question now is who to choose between CPA and EA, if you run a big business you know very well the law demand you prepare an annual financial statement that is verified by an independent auditor, for this reasons you need to consider services of CPA agents, given that CPA professionals can provide tax-related services it is worthwhile to utilize their services because of financial complexity involved in big corporations, however, if you run a small business you are not required to audit it by law if you need services related to tax EA professionals are ideal for you. Those are some differences between CPA and EA professionals.
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