Keeping you EA designation while a CPA
I was asked an interesting question the other day: “So once you have your CPA, you’re going to let the EA designation go?”
The short answer to this is, “No.”
“Why?”
There are a couple of reasons, actually. First and foremost, I worked hard to get the Enrolled Agent designation. I don’t just want to toss it away and say, “I don’t need it anymore.” As I discussed in EA vs. CPA it can be useful beyond what a Certified Professional Accountant is able to do regarding state tax issues in jurisdictions where their CPA license wouldn’t be recognized. An EA specializes in taxes and that’s what I do–the designation shows that I’ve gone beyond the CPA to have a specialty.
Honestly, it’s not that much more work to keep up the continuing education for EAs along with the requirements for the CPA. Sure, the tax CPE requirements are a little more strict for EAs, but who wants to go take basic tax courses for credit, anyway?
Several years ago, it wasn’t possible to keep both at the same time. If you started with an EA, once you passed the CPA and were licensed in your state, you had to give it up. I like that there’s flexibility in this area now because my final reason is purely silly: I like having letters after my name. Lots of them.