Institutes of accountants play a major role in the foundation and enhancement of principles related to the profession. These organizations have been established with the main purpose of creating and developing the standards to which accountants in a specific country refer to. In addition, these institutes are responsible for carrying out examinations and evaluations that certify the designation of accountants.
The leading professional institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA’s) in the United states is the AICPA, or the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. AICPA is mainly concerned with the promotion and enhancement of the accountancy profession and has a variety of functions. First of all, AICPA prepares the Uniform CPA Examination, which accountants take in order for them to acquire a CPA status. Furthermore, it develops professional standards for CPA’s and provides technical support to its members in different practice areas. It also represents the profession of accountancy before legal and federal authorities.
Moving on to other countries, another prominent institute of accountants is the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). This institute was founded in 1902 and was previously known as the Dominion Association of Chartered Accountants (DACA). It was latter renamed to Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in 1951. The CICA serves as the umbrella body for the Chartered Accountant profession in Canada as well as Bermuda. It approximately has 80,000 members that are composed of Chartered Accountants and accounting students. Some of the roles of CICA include setting the standards for Canadian auditing and accounting and developing the education standards for entry to the CA profession in the country. The latter role includes the UFE or Uniform Final Evaluation.
