{"id":65032,"date":"2019-08-26t13:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-26t17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=65032"},"modified":"2019-09-13t15:29:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13t19:29:06","slug":"accounting-services-arent-what-you-think-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2019\/08\/26\/accounting-services-arent-what-you-think-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"accounting services aren\u2019t what you think they are"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"when anyone can do taxes & accounting, what’s left for cpas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

by donny c. shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma<\/em><\/p>\n

when most people hear the word \u201caccountant\u201d they immediately think of taxes or bookkeeping\u2026and the nerdy introvert glued to a spreadsheet on their computer screen.<\/p>\n

but in reality, you don\u2019t have to be an accountant to prepare tax returns or record accounting transactions. neither of those tasks requires any kind of accounting license, credential or certification.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

shift to someone who knows more about accountants and they\u2019ll probably add \u201caudits\u201d to the list of services. taxes, bookkeeping, and audits\u2026 that\u2019s what accountants do.<\/p>\n

well, providing an audit opinion is definitely within the domain of a certified public accountant or chartered accountant, as they are the licenses that an accountant must hold to issue an audit report that is intended for public consumption.<\/p>\n

in fact, the issuance of these opinions is the only<\/em> service that’s the exclusive domain of accountants. but there are other types of audits, such as those performed by internal auditors, regulatory auditors, or tax agency auditors that do not require these licenses to perform.<\/p>\n

so what exactly are accounting services?<\/p>\n

the historical view of accounting services<\/strong><\/p>\n

in the late 1990s, the aicpa and the cpa state societies collaborated on a big research project they called the cpa vision project<\/a>. the intention of this project was to \u201cto develop an unprecedented grassroots vision for the profession for the 21st century and beyond.” one of the products of this effort was the identification of core services of the profession:<\/p>\n