CPA-ownership rule

Definition

State rules that a CPA firm be majority-owned by licensed CPAs, which limits who can buy one.

Why It Matters

It is the ownership wall of the trade. A non-CPA buyer typically needs a licensed partner or an alternative-practice structure, so read the state's own rule before writing an LOI rather than after. The rules vary more than people expect, and the workable structures are known ones with known costs. What you cannot do is discover this in underwriting, because the fix is a partner, and finding the right one takes longer than a diligence window.