CIA vs CPA

CIA vs CPA: which certification should you hold?

I get this question quite a bit from new auditors who want to take their career to the next level. When it comes to the question of CIA vs CPA, it ultimately boils down to your education and career goals. But there are other factors to consider depending on personal preference.

So, before I answer, here are the questions I ask in response to the question, “Should I become a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) or a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)?” Plus, I add a little bit about why I ask them.

Do you have an accounting degree?

Or at least have gobs of college credit hours in accounting? If not, you can’t be a CPA.

CPAs are subject matter experts when it comes to accounting records and data by studying the very granular details of accounting. In Texas, the requirement to become a CPA is no fewer than 120 or 150 semester hours of college coursework taken at an accredited college or university depending on the pathway you selected for CPA certification. A 150-hour degree program in accounting equates to a master’s degree.

I chose to study accounting at the University of Texas by process of elimination. My father opposed my first choice, art history, and I wasn’t math savvy enough for the engineering school. I got my CPA license just before they raised the hours from 120 to 150 hours. This is very fortuitous, because I couldn’t tolerate another two years of accounting studies.

Can you handle that many accounting classes?

On the other hand, CIAs don’t need a degree. If you have five years of experience as an internal auditor, you can get your certification (after passing the exam, of course) with a high school diploma. If you have a bachelors degree of any sort (including art history!) you can get your CIA after two years of internal audit experience.

A few universities offer programs for internal auditors specifically. The University of Houston’s program comes to mind.

Where do you see your career headed?

Next I ask, “Do you want to stay in internal audit for your entire career?” If the answer is “no,” I suggest they may prefer the flexibility of a CPA license.

A CPA can work in the finance and accounting department of any type of entity, and perform any type of audit including financial and performance audits. They can also prepare tax returns, plan estates, and advise business owners and program managers. A CPA license opens lots of doors.

The CIA is designed for internal auditing only.

And while a CPA can be an internal auditor, a CIA cannot be an external financial auditor.

How does tight regulation sit with you?

Did you notice the reference to my CPA ‘license?’ The complete term for my designation is a Certified Public Accounting license. I did not add that term to the CIA designation, Certified Internal Auditor. The term ‘license’ implies government regulation. The term ‘certification’ does not.

CPAs hold a license awarded by state boards of public accountancy if the CPA satisfies state laws regarding CPAs. The state can also revoke your license if you fail to meet those terms.

For instance, although I am a CPA, I cannot audit at will. I must establish and register my CPA firm, and undergo a peer review every three years mandated and overseen by the state. If I do something outside of the state’s stringent boundaries, my license will be revoked.

And in an effort to scare all of us CPAs into compliance (and this works like a charm!) the State Board publishes a list of all CPAs with revoked licenses and sends it to the other CPAs in the state on a regular basis!

In addition, my license also only carries weight in Texas, where I took the exam. I cannot practice public accountancy in any other state without registering with that state and meeting their requirements.

On the other hand, The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), who issues the CIA, proudly states they are an international organization so no one government can regulate them. They are also a member organization meaning they want to make their members, including their CIAs, happy. I never heard of the IIA going after a CIA and revoking their license.

CIAs are supposed to undergo a peer review every five years, but many do not. I saw data on how many internal audit shops miss this requirement at one point (and I want to say it was half) but I can’t find that data now. The IIA definitely won’t publish a list of all their uncompliant members in an effort to shame them.

Would you rather get sued or fired?

Due to the nature of auditing, somewhere along the way an auditor will miss something significant. We aren’t omnipotent, all-knowing sorcerers who have their heads in everything. We don’t have time or the magical powers for that!

So, when something bad happens, the auditors often get blamed and then suffer some kind of consequence. Would you prefer the consequence to be getting sued, fired, and shamed or would you prefer to simply be fired?

CPAs can get sued, fired, and shamed.

CPAs are public accountants with emphasis on the word ‘public.’ This means we have a responsibility to the public when we do our work.

Let’s say a CPA performs a financial audit of a corporation and misses something major and bad in the financial statements. The shareholders and the bank who relied on those financial statements will sue the CPA and seek to revoke their license. So the CPA will lose money, possibly lose their business, lose their license, and then publicly shamed. Fun!

A CIA is an internal auditor. Catch the word ‘internal.’ This means if the users of their reports (the managers and leaders inside the organization in which the auditor works) want to sue them, they will be suing themselves. This is very unlikely, to say the least. Might they fire the internal auditor? Sure. But I doubt disgruntled leaders publicly flog them and wipe them out financially.

A CPA license has its benefits

Man, I made being a CPA sound really scary, right? I am quaking in my own boots. So, to remain a CPA after you pass that really difficult exam, you must keep your nose clean.

But in that holds one of the main benefits of being a CPA. People who must keep clean noses are generally trusted. A CPA’s clients can trust their CPA. For that very reason, many organizations who understand the difference between these two designations prefer to populate their internal audit shop with CPAs instead of CIAs.

A CIA is powerful, and dare I say it… fun?

However, few internal audit projects center on financial data, so an accounting background isn’t required. But a big brain with a breadth of knowledge is. And that is why the subject matter for the CIA exam is so far reaching and why having any education that challenges you to think (even my coveted art history degree) will help you be an internal auditor.

The IIA does a great job keeping its members current and looking to the future of the audit profession. The IIA is also a great place to meet like minds and share experience and have fun. Yes, I said fun. IIA conferences are luxurious blasts.

The IIA community encourages leadership, growth, sharing, and innovation. And being a CIA is the pinnacle of professional achievement in that community. So, if that sounds like your kind of people, I highly recommend the CIA.

I bet you have things to say: CIA vs CPA

If you lean one way or the other, or are personally invested in the choice CIA vs CPA, I welcome your comments at info@yellowbook-cpe.com. So, who wins in the choice, CIA vs CPA? You can’t go wrong either way.

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