When is a CPA certificate required to practice accounting?
A. Generally, if a person practices in Wisconsin as a certified public accountant (CPA), holds himself or herself out as a CPA or provides attest services, the person and the person’s firm must be licensed as certified public accountants. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in 1965 in Tom Welch Accounting Service v. Walby , 29 Wis. 2d 123; 138 N.W.2d 139 (1965) that non-CPAs may keep books, and make trial balances or statements and genera ll y practice accountancy, but the use of their audits or reports under the guise that they were made by a CPA or public accountant is prohibited. These general provisions are identified in Wis. Stat. ch. 442. Wisconsin law provides in Wis. Stat. ยง 442.03 that, No person may lawfully practice in this state as a certified public accountant either in the person’s own name, or under an assumed name, or as a member of a firm, unless the person has been granted by the examining board a certificate as a certified public accountant, and unless the person and f
