I wish to look up whether a particular person is licensed (or
registered, etc.) to practice accountancy in a particular State. I
found a web site that appears to have the data for New York State
(http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm) but not for the other U.S.
States.

Also I wish to learn whether it is the CPA firm that must be licensed
instead of and/or in addition to the individual CPA. If so, I wish to
know where I can find whether a given CPA firm is licensed in each
U.S. State.

Hi gollum9701,

"I wish to look up whether a particular person is licensed (or
registered, etc.) to practice accountancy in a particular State. I
found a web site that appears to have the data for New York State
(http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm) but not for the other U.S.
States."

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) has a
complete list of state boards including website addresses.

List of state Boards of Accountancy
http://www.nasba.org/nasbaweb.nsf/lp

Here is an example for finding CPA license verifications for the first four states.

1. Alabama - CPAs
Search by City, Name or any combination of these fields. To get a
complete list, leave fields blank and click on SEARCH button.
http://www.asbpa.alabama.gov/register/register.asp

2. Alaska
Occupational Licensing Data Retrieval
Choose: Public Accountants
http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ/apps/ODQuery.cfm

Alaska 
Search for Occupational Licenses - CPA
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/OccSearch/main.cfm?CFID=2845278&CFTOKEN=993019a2c51f4863-39D00D67-E24A-7B3F-332F2B819BBEA325

3. Arizona
Search Type: Individual
http://www.azaccountancy.gov/scripts/BOAsearch.exe

4. Arkansas
Choose: Certified Public Accountants
http://www.state.ar.us/asbpa/


"Also I wish to learn whether it is the CPA firm that must be licensed
instead of and/or in addition to the individual CPA. If so, I wish to
know where I can find whether a given CPA firm is licensed in each
U.S. State."

Both are licensed with the same state Boards of Accountancy, you will
be able to search for firms at the same websites.

1. Alabama - Firms
Search by firm name, city or any combination of these fields. To get a
complete list, leave fields blank and click on SEARCH button."
http://www.asbpa.alabama.gov/register/firm.asp

2. Alaska
541211: Offices of Certified Public Accountants
http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ/bussearch/BusMain.cfm

3. Arizona
Search Type: Firm
http://www.azaccountancy.gov/scripts/BOAsearch.exe

4. Arkansas
Choose: Corporations & Partnerships CPA's
http://www.state.ar.us/asbpa/

Additional Links of Interest:

US Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
Accountants and Auditors
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos001.htm

I was glad to work on this for you. If you have any questions, please
post a clarification request and wait for me to respond before
closing/rating my answer.

Thank you,
hummer

Google Search Terms Used: state boards of accountancy

---

Request for Answer Clarification by gollum9701-ga on 04 Jul 2006 18:41 PDT

Please proceed.

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 05 Jul 2006 06:34 PDT

Hi gollum9701,

I'm sorry, I hadn't noticed that the URL doesn't change as you click
through the website.

http://www.nasba.org/nasbaweb.nsf/lp
Click: Site Map
Click: Boards of Accountancy
Click <here> for an entire State Board listing
http://www.nasba.org/nasbambrp.nsf/SB+Web+Full?OpenPage

There is a list of links to the state boards here too:
http://www.aicpa.org/yellow/ypsboa.htm

I've gone through the entire list of state boards for you and have
compiled a list of links to the license search pages for each.  Hope
that helps! hummer


Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy
* Find a CPA
* Find a Firm
http://www.asbpa.alabama.gov/register/register.asp

Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy
* Occupational License Search
* Business License Search
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/

Arizona State Board of Accountancy
* Individual
* Firm
http://www.azaccountancy.gov/scripts/BOAsearch.exe

Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy
* Certified Public Accountants
* Corporations & Partnerships CPA's
http://www.state.ar.us/asbpa/

California Board of Accountancy
* Individual Licenses
* Licensed Firms
http://www.dca.ca.gov/cba/lookup.htm

Colorado State Board of Accountancy
* Certified Public Accountant
* Public Accounting Firm
https://www.doradls.state.co.us/lic_database_req.php

Connecticut State Board of Accountancy
* Active Certified Public Accountants:
* Active Firms
http://www.ct.gov/sboa/cwp/view.asp?a=2184&q=295716

Delaware State Board of Accountancy
* Accountancy
* Click <Here> for Firm
https://dpronline.delaware.gov/mylicense%20weblookup/Search.aspx

District of Columbia Board of Accountancy
"You must fill out a <License Information Request Form>*, available on
this site as a PDF document, for all license information requests. The
form must be signed and dated by the customer before it is considered
a valid request for information."
http://dcra.dc.gov/dcra/cwp/view,a,1343,q,602017,dcraNav_GID,1691,dcraNav,|33408|.asp

Florida Board of Accountancy
* Certified Public Accountant
* Certified Public Accountant Provider
http://www.myflorida.com/licensee/

Georgia State Board of Accountancy
* Accountancy
* Corporations > Verify Certification
https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/myverification/

Hawaii Board of Public Accountancy
http://pvl.ehawaii.gov/pvlsearch/app

Idaho State Board of Accountancy
* Certified Public Accountant
* Firm
http://www.isba.idaho.gov/htm/databasesearch.htm

Illinois Department of Financial And Professional Regulation
Public Accountancy Section
* Form to request verification of CPA Certificate
* Candidates Certified from January - March, 2006
* Candidates Certified from January 2004 - December 2005 
http://www.ilboa.org/

Indiana Board of Accountancy
* License Search
* Facility Search
https://extranet.in.gov/mylicense/Login.aspx

Iowa Accountancy Examining Board
https://eservices.iowa.gov/licensediniowa/index.php?pgname=pubsearch

Kansas Board of Accountancy
* Individual Search
* Firm Search
http://www.ksboa.org/

Kentucky State Board of Accountancy
* CPA Licensee Search
* CPA Firm Seach
http://cpa.ky.gov/

State Board of CPAs of Louisiana
http://www.cpaboard.state.la.us
  Try here:
  http://www.cpadirectory.com/cpadirectory/article_adv_search.cfm

Maine Board of Accountancy
http://www.state.me.us/pfr/olr/olr_disclaimer.htm

Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy
https://www.dllr.state.md.us/cgi-bin/ElectronicLicensing/verification/ver1.cgi?board=CPA

Massachusetts Board of Public Accountancy
http://license.reg.state.ma.us/public/licque.asp?color=red&Board=PA

Michigan Board of Accountancy
http://www.cis.state.mi.us/verify.htm

Minnesota State Board of Accountancy
* CPA Directory
* Firm Directory
http://www.boa.state.mn.us/

Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy
http://www.msbpa.state.ms.us/licsearch.html

Missouri State Board of Accountancy
http://pr.mo.gov/licensee-search.asp

Montana State Board of Public Accountants
http://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/lookup/licenseLookup.cgi

Nebraska State Board of Public Accountancy
http://www.nbpa.ne.gov/search/index.phtml

Nevada State Board of Accountancy
http://www.nvaccountancy.com/

New Hampshire Board of Accountancy
http://www.nh.gov/accountancy/index.html
  Try here:
  http://www.cpadirectory.com/cpadirectory/article_adv_search.cfm

New Jersey State Board of Accountancy
http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/consumeraffairs/search/searchentry.pl

New Mexico Public Accountancy Board
http://www.rld.state.nm.us/b&c/accountancy/Licensee%20Search/licensee_search.asp

New York State Board for Public Accountancy
http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm

North Carolina State Board of CPA Examiners
http://www.nccpaboard.gov/Clients/NCBOA/Public/Static/index.html

North Dakota State Board of Accountancy
http://www.state.nd.us/ndsba//database/sbasearch.asp

Accountancy Board of Ohio
http://www.acc.ohio.gov/lookup.html

Oklahoma Accountancy Board
http://www.ok.gov/oab/search.php?type=individual

Oregon State Board of Accountancy
http://boahost.com/egovlicsearch.lasso

Pennsylvania State Board of Accountancy
http://www.licensepa.state.pa.us/default.asp?bpoaNav=|

Rhode Island Board of Accountancy
* Licensed CPAs and PAs
http://www.dbr.state.ri.us/

South Carolina Board of Accountancy
http://verify.llronline.com/LicLookup/LookupMain.aspx

South Dakota Board of Accountancy
http://www.state.sd.us/dol/boards/accountancy/Annual%20Registry%20December%202005.htm

Tennessee State Board of Accountancy
http://licsrch.state.tn.us/

Texas State Board of Public Accountancy
* Search for a Licensed Individual 
* Search for a Licensed Firm  
http://www.tsbpa.state.tx.us/srcmain.htm

Utah Board of Accountancy
https://secure.utah.gov/llv/llv

Vermont Board of Public Accountancy
http://www.sec.state.vt.us/seek/lrspseek.htm

Virginia Board of Accountancy
https://secure.boa.virginia.gov/cpalookup.asp?l_type=

Washington State Board of Accountancy
* Individual
* CPA Firm
http://www.cpaboard.wa.gov/search/default.htm

West Virginia Board of Accountancy
* Verify a Licensee
* Verify a Firm
http://www.wvboacc.org/

Wisconsin Accounting Examining Board
* Business professionals
* Business entities
http://drl.wi.gov/drl/drllookup/LicenseLookupServlet

Wyoming Board of Certified Public Accountants
* Certificate Holders
* Firms
http://cpaboard.state.wy.us/database.aspx

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 08 Jul 2006 14:55 PDT

Well, I wish you had posted a clarification request before you gave
such a poor rating, I would've been more than happy to go through any
states you had questions about.

New York: scroll down to this box at the same link:
Search for Professional Business Entity, by Name:
http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm

Regards,
hummer

Thank you.

I note that in some states (e.g., New York) you have provided a way to
verify the license of an individual CPA (e.g., John Smith), but not
the license of the CPA firm (e.g., PriceWaterhouseCoopers). Perhaps
some states only license the individual not the firm?