Many students who major in accounting seek to be certified as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). You already identified accounting professionals who are CPAs when you located the firm that audited the financial reports of your assigned SEC company. Most large public companies are audited by the 4 largest audit firms in the world.

They are:

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Deloitte and Touche (D&T)

Klynveld Peat Main Goerdeler (KPMG)

Ernst and Young (E&Y)

Only CPA firms can audit the financial statements of publicly traded accounting firms. Why get certified? In accounting and related fields, there are a number of certifications in the accounting profession beyond the CPA available.

Here are three certifications commonly sought by accounting professionals who do not want to be CPAs.

Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) – Certifying body is the Institute of Internal Auditors CIA Certification requirements:

Certified Management Accountant (CMA) – Certifying body is the Institute of Management Accountants

CMA Certification:

Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) – Certifying body is the Association of Fraud Examiners

CFE Certification

DIRECTIONS

Choose one of the 3 certifications. Then, answer the following questions.

(a) What do professionals with this certification do?

(b) What did you find their main function to be?

(c) Besides passing the exam, what are the educational and work experience requirements to be certified?

(d) What are the continuing education requirements after you are certified? How could professionals with this certification be used in either the organization that you work for, or in the SEC company you were assigned to study?