A professional accounting body is an
organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
or
association of accountants in a particular
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...
. Usually a person needs to be a member of such
professional body
A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) is a group that usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in ...
to hold out to the public of the jurisdiction as an accountant. The designations for qualified accountants vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, such as Cost and Management Accountant (CMA),
Chartered Accountant (CA/ACA),
Chartered Certified Accountant (CCA),
Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA),
Certified Public Accountant (CPA),
Certified Practising Accountant
Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...
(CPA),
Certified Management Accountant (CMA),
Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) or
Chartered Public Finance Accountant (CPFA).
Some countries have a single professional accounting body while others have several. If there is more than one body, such bodies may or may not compete with each other; in some countries, professional accounting bodies are divided according to their field of activity. For example, India has two professional accounting bodies: the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India deals with only
financial accounting
Financial accounting is a branch of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of Financial statement audit, financial statements available for pu ...
,while the
Institute of Cost Accountants of India deals with
cost accounting &
management accounting
In management accounting or managerial accounting, managers use accounting information in decision-making and to assist in the management and performance of their control functions.
Definition
One simple definition of management accounting is th ...
.
References
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Accounting organizations