24 Del. Admin. Code § 100-5.0 - Designations

5.1 Only the following individuals and entities may use the designation "certified public accountant", the abbreviation "CPA", and other designations which suggest that the individual or entity is a certified public accountant or practicing certified public accountancy:

5.1.1 An individual who is registered with the Board and holds an active permit to practice as a certified public accountant. A permit to practice is considered to be active when the holder has not placed the permit to practice in inactive status pursuant to 24 Del.C. § 106(a), 24 Del.C. § 108(e) or subsection 5.5 of this regulation and when the holder has properly renewed that permit during the most recent renewal period.

5.1.2 A sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or any other entity authorized under Delaware law or a similar statute of another state which is registered with the Board and holds a current firm permit to practice.

5.1.3 An individual who qualifies for a practice privilege under 24 Del.C. § 109.

5.1.4 A sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or any other legal entity that is practicing certified public accountancy in Delaware under a practice privilege.

5.2 Holders of certificates only who have never held a permit to practice may not use the designation "CPA".

5.3 [Reserved]

5.4 After June 30, 2017, the holder of a certificate who previously held a permit to practice and did not reinstate the permit to practice pursuant to 24 Del.C. § 108(g) and Section 7.0 may not use the designation "CPA (not in public practice)".

5.5 The holder of a CPA permit to practice who no longer provides any type of service or advice involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management advisory, financial advisory, tax or consulting skills, regardless of whether that service or advice is compensated for, may notify the Board that they want to place the permit to practice in inactive status pursuant to the following:

5.5.1 Such notification must be made on a form approved by the Board and

5.5.2 Such notification must be done after the holder of the permit to practice is no longer providing the service or advice stated in subsection 5.5.

5.5.3 Inactive status is not effective until the holder is duly notified by the Board that the Board has approved the request for inactive status.

5.5.4 The holder of an inactive permit to practice is exempt from continuing education requirements until they want to change their permit status to active.

5.5.5 The holder of an inactive permit to practice may use the designation "CPA, Inactive".

5.5.6 If the holder of an inactive permit wants to reactivate their permit to practice, they must do so prior to providing any type of service or advice stated in subsection 5.5 and must meet the continuing education requirement then in effect. Such continuing education must have been completed within the 2 years prior to the date of the application for reactivation of the permit to practice.

5.5.7 A request to reactivate a permit to practice active must be done on a form approved by the Board and is not effective until the holder is duly notified by the Board of the Board's acceptance of the request.

5.6 Only the following individuals and entities may use the designation "public accountant," the abbreviation "PA", and other designations which suggest that the user is a public accountant or practices public accountancy.

5.6.1 An individual who is registered with the Board and holds a permit to practice public accountancy in good standing.

5.6.2 A sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or any other entity authorized under Delaware law or a similar statute of another state which is registered with the Board and holds a current firm permit in good standing to practice public accountancy.

5.6.3 An individual may not refer to their business or sign tax returns as "John/Jane Doe, PA" without a permit to practice public accountancy.

5.6.4 Nothing herein shall limit the use of the designation "P.A." when it refers to a "professional association".

5.7 No person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or any other entity authorized under Delaware law or a similar statute of another state shall hold him/her/itself or otherwise use the title or designation "certified accountant", "chartered accountant", "enrolled accountant", "licensed accountant", "registered accountant", "licensed public accountant", "registered public accountant", or any other title or designation likely to be confused with "certified public accountant" or "public accountant", or any other abbreviations of any prohibited titles or designations likely to be confused with "CPA" or "PA". It is not a violation of this clause for an individual on whom has been conferred, by the Internal Revenue Service, the title enrolled agent to use that title or the abbreviation "EA".

5.8 No person, sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation, or any other entity authorized under Delaware law or a similar statute of another state shall use a title, certification or specialized designation that includes the word "accredited" or "certified" or an abbreviation of such a title, certification or designation or otherwise claim a qualification unless that designation has been conferred by a bona fide organization after evaluation of the individual's credentials and competencies. This includes such certifications and designations as "Certified Financial Planner^TM", "CFP", "CVA", "ABV", etc.

Notes

24 Del. Admin. Code § 100-5.0

20 DE Reg. 820 (4/1/2017)
27 DE Reg. 978 (6/1/2024) (Final)