What Is a CPA — and Do I Need One?

I get this question all the time.

“Do I need a CPA?”

It usually comes up when tax season is approaching, when a business is growing, or when something feels slightly out of control financially. Sometimes it follows a frustrating conversation with a CPA. Other times, it comes before reaching out to one at all.

Before answering the question, it helps to be clear about what a CPA actually is, what the license is designed to do, and where it fits in the broader financial landscape.

What CPA Stands For

CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant.

A CPA is a state-licensed accounting professional. The license is governed by statute and professional standards, and it carries legal and ethical obligations that do not apply to unlicensed practitioners.

The CPA credential exists to protect the public by ensuring that certain financial information can be relied upon by third parties. That purpose shapes how CPAs are trained, licensed, and regulated.

Why the License Exists

The CPA license was created to support public trust in financial reporting.

Historically and legally, the credential is tied to work where financial information is relied upon by people outside the business—investors, lenders, regulators, and the public markets. This is why CPAs are authorized to perform audit and other attest engagements, including audits of publicly traded companies.

As part of licensure, CPAs are required to complete formal education, pass a comprehensive examination, and obtain supervised professional experience. That experience is rooted in audit and assurance concepts, reflecting the original purpose of the credential.

Tax preparation and other services developed later as extensions of that foundation, not as the reason the license exists.

How CPAs Commonly Work With Businesses Today

In modern practice, many CPAs provide tax preparation, tax planning, and related professional services for individuals and businesses.

These services are built on an important assumption: that financial records already exist and can be relied upon.

CPAs are trained to evaluate, interpret, and report on financial information. They are not trained to design day-to-day accounting systems or reconstruct disorganized records from scratch.

That distinction is often overlooked, but it matters.

You Do Not Need a CPA to File a Tax Return

This is worth stating plainly.

A CPA is not required to prepare or file a tax return.

Tax returns can also be prepared by other qualified professionals, including:

• Enrolled Agents (EAs), who are federally licensed by the IRS
• Certified tax preparers and other authorized practitioners

For many individuals and small businesses, these professionals are entirely appropriate and more cost-effective.

The deciding factor is not the credential. It is the condition of the records being handed over.

Where Confusion Usually Arises

Most businesses ask whether they “need a CPA” when:

• tax deadlines are approaching
• records feel unclear or unreliable
• a prior engagement was frustrating
• outside review or scrutiny is imminent

In many of these situations, the issue is not the absence of a CPA.

It is the absence of accounting systems that produce usable, reviewable records in the first place.

What “Accounting Systems” Means

When I refer to accounting systems, I’m not talking about software.

I’m referring to structure:

• how income is recorded and reviewed
• how expenses are categorized and documented
• how accounts are reconciled
• how changes are tracked over time
• how records are prepared for professional review

Without systems, bookkeeping becomes reactive and fragile. With systems, records become predictable and defensible.

Any professional—CPA, EA, or tax preparer—works more effectively when those systems are in place.

So Do You Need a CPA?

The more useful question is not whether you need a CPA.

It’s whether your records are supported by accounting systems that make them reliable.

When they are, engaging a CPA or other tax professional is usually straightforward. When they aren’t, the engagement often becomes slower, more expensive, and more stressful—regardless of who is involved.

Where Projexions Fits

Projexions focuses on the work before professional services begin.

That includes assessing the condition of existing records, identifying gaps, restoring structure, and preparing information for review or filing.

This work helps clarify what is actually required before engaging a CPA or other tax professional, and it provides a foundation that makes those engagements more effective once they begin.

Closing Thought

Understanding what the CPA credential is designed to do—and what it is not—removes much of the confusion around when to involve one.

Credentials matter. But systems determine whether those credentials can be used effectively.

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If tax season is approaching and your bookkeeping isn’t clearly usable, Projexions offers a Tax Season Bookkeeping Readiness — a one-time, paid review to identify what’s blocking a CPA from filing and what can wait.

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