# CPA-ownership rule

A term used when buying accounting or bookkeeping practice.

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

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](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/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.

Part of: Buying an Accounting or Bookkeeping Practice (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-accounting-or-bookkeeping-practice)

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-an-accounting-or-bookkeeping-practice/terms/cpa-ownership-rule
Not dated: The same editorial definitions as the glossary, inside a trade.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt