A professional accounting body is an

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived f ...

or association of accountants in a particular

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

. Usually a person needs to be a member of such professional body 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 Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

(CPA),

Certified Practising Accountant Certification is 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 attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

(CPA), Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA),

Certified Management Accountant Certified Management Accountant (CMA) is a professional certification credential in the management accounting and financial management fields. The certification signifies that the person possesses knowledge in the areas of financial planning, ...

(CMA), or Chartered Public Finance Accountant (CPFA). Some countries have a single professional accounting body (e.g. Brazil) 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,while the

Institute of Cost Accountants of India The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India (ICMAI), which was also known as The Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) is a professional accountancy body in India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Corpor ...

deals with cost accounting & management accounting.

References

{{Reflist Accounting organizations

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...