[SerenityNow]

Not to be a debbie downer, but yeah, you definitely can’t do that.

You must be LICENSED and that is a pretty extensive process in and of itself, and the state boards are really nitpicky about this.

[Mick]

Years ago I went to a required professional liability insurance seminar and heard the story of someone who passed the exam and then posted they were a CPA on Facebook. The person's state board found out and disqualified the person from getting the license because they claimed this person was holding themselves out as a CPA when they weren't one yet.

REG 55,53
AUD 80
BEC 60
FAR 74, 70

[CPAHOPE]

Seriously? State board of accountancy should've just given that person a warning, he or she probably werent fully aware of it, thus making it unintentional. Unintentional act shouldn't be punished this harshly in my opinion.

[ellabella]

What would be the proper way to say that you're “on the road to CPA”? That is, that you've been given an NTS and are taking the exam. Would it be a “CPA Candidate” then? I'm on FAR as my first of four, and using UWorld Roger, and would like to add something about this to my Linkedin page to make my profile more professional.

[CH89]

@Ellabella – Honestly, I would not consider putting “CPA Candidate” next to your name. I don't think it would give much value to you. Especially since anyone that meets the minimum requirement to sit for the exams is technically a CPA candidate. I would suggest adding that to your bio or summary page outlining that you are currently working towards passing the CPA exams, or something similar.

Good luck!

[jeff]

“CPA Candidate” seems to be the go-to designation on Linkedin. It's safe and it tells a future employer that you're taking the CPA Exam.

[jojo1]

What then will be the designation in Linkedin if you have passed the exams but yet to be licensed.

[SerenityNow]

There is no formal designation for that. You can certainly add in your profile that you have passed all four parts, but implying that you are a licensed CPA when you are not is against board regulations. This likely won't affect many people, but for the person who has been waiting to apply for a job or has a situation where being a CPA is critical to the matter at hand, it can be misleading and create some heartache if they have mislead someone to think they are a CPA and that party goes on CPA Verify and determines that they are not licensed. Upon passing my exams, it still took another 2.5 months before I was formally licensed. In my case, they were as nitpicky to go as far as saying my letter from my boss regarding my experience needed to be on Company letterhead to count, even though he wrote that he works at my firm. I had to resend my information. My point is, you never know what a State Board may get hung up on.

[Skynet]

I put CPA “Certified Professional @$$hat” in front of my name but nobody had an issue with that. 🙃

[AGI]

Every state has its own rules on how you can use the CPA title. Some state won't even allow you to use the title if your license expired without renewal, while some allow you to keep the title in an inactive status.

In anyhow, pretending to be a CPA when in fact not will get you trouble with the board and might have more serious consequences legally if someone mistake you as one, do business, and then crap happened. Then you will get sue.

I recommended reading the law book and legal regulations… Isn't that part of the test?

New York - NYC
Passed CPA Exam (11/2014)
In search for a position in NYC that will fulfills the license requirement.

[Author]

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